Rehan Qayoom Mir
Srinagar, Jul 1: Chief Principal Census Officer (CPCO) and Director Census Operations Amit Sharma said on Wednesday said the first phase of Census 2027—House Listing Operations (HLO), stands completed across Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
Sharma, while addressing a news conference here said, “The month-long exercise, conducted from June 1 to June 30, 2026, was carried out in a fully digital and paperless mode for the first time, marking a significant technological shift in India’s census system.”
He said the entire operation was completed smoothly without any major technical disruption, ensuring 100% coverage across both Union Territories.
He said, a total of 24,071 geo-referenced House Listing Blocks and 295 Census Charges in Jammu & Kashmir were covered during the exercise, while in Ladakh 567 House Listing Blocks across 17 Charges were successfully enumerated.
Sharma said the exercise ensured comprehensive coverage of urban, rural, border, tribal, remote and high-altitude areas, reflecting the reach of the digital census framework.
He said extensive capacity building was undertaken before field operations. In Jammu & Kashmir, 30 Master Trainers, 614 Field Trainers and 29,269 Enumerators and Supervisors were trained, while in Ladakh 2 Master Trainers, 20 Field Trainers and 722 field functionaries were trained for digital operations, he said.
Sharma added that more than 27,000 census kits in J&K and around 800 kits in Ladakh were distributed to facilitate fieldwork.
He said special arrangements were made to ensure 100% coverage of tribal and nomadic populations, including Gujar-Bakarwal, Gaddi and Sippi communities, with field teams reaching remote and snow-bound areas using difficult terrain routes.
He said the Self-Enumeration phase witnessed strong public participation, with over 6.67 lakh households in Jammu & Kashmir and 7,009 households in Ladakh submitting their data digitally before field verification.
Sharma said the success of Phase-I was the result of coordinated efforts of the Directorate of Census Operations, district administrations, Principal Census Officers, Charge Officers and thousands of field staff, supported by continuous monitoring and review meetings.
He also shared that preparations for the next phase have already begun. The District Census Handbook (DCHB) exercise will start from August 1, 2026, focusing on infrastructure and civic data at village and town level.
Population Enumeration in snow-bound areas of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh will begin in September 2026, while remaining areas will be covered in February 2027, he said.
Sharma added that Ladakh is expected to achieve 100 percent population enumeration in the September cycle itself, given its climatic conditions, calling it a key milestone in the census schedule.
He said the completion of Phase-I is a historic digital milestone and highlighted end-to-end digital execution, extensive training, coordination and field-level participation. (KNO)
