New Delhi: The Registrar General of India (RGI) has directed its countrywide units in states and union territories not to use or release to the press any data or population figures collected during the Census 2027.
In a communique to chief secretaries of all states and its directorate, RGI and Census Commissioner Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan also underlined that information collected during Census operations is confidential and protected under the provisions of the Census Act, 1948.
Section 15 of the Census Act states that census records are not open to inspection nor admissible in evidence.
“It needs to be mentioned here that the provisional population figures and/or any census figures, based on the enumeration or any other data contained in the household schedules/abstract should not be released to the press or used by any authority, official non-official until further instructions are issued in this regard by the ORGI,” he said.
Narayan said Census 2027 is being conducted digitally, with enumerators and supervisors using their own mobile phones to collect data and submit it to the central server.
Where the census is done on paper, it should be entered on the dedicated portal within seven days, he added.
“…in cases of operational contingencies such as technical issues, connectivity constraints, or other field-level exigencies, data may also be collected using paper schedules. The data collected on paper schedules shall subsequently be entered into the mobile application by the enumerator,” he said.
Narayan said in cases where the enumerator is unable to do so, senior officers including charge officer and principal census officer shall facilitate data entry through the designated data entry module on the specialised portal created for the purpose.
“The charge officer shall ensure that data entry of all enumeration blocks (EBs), where data has been collected in paper mode, is completed within seven days after completion of the PE period. Wherever required, an enumerator-wise schedule for data entry shall be prepared,” he said.
Narayan said the record room where data is stored must have adequate protection against fire, flood, rains, dust, rats, etc.
“An experienced nodal officer, not below the rank of assistant director, shall be designated as the in-charge of the record room. They will also be responsible for ensuring that all documents are received strictly in accordance with the inventory and dispatch details,” he said.
The census, the eighth since Independence, is being conducted in two phases: the first stage is known as house listing and housing census, and the second stage is the population enumeration. The decennial exercise, scheduled for 2021, was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Union Cabinet has approved Rs 11,718 crore for conducting the census, which will be the biggest headcount exercise.
Population enumeration in Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and areas other than snow-bound areas of Uttarakhand will take place from December 1, 2026, to January 4, 2027, because of the assembly elections.
The central government has deferred the house-listing operations for Census 2027 for Manipur, a notification issued by RGI said last month.
The exercise in Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand took place from September 1 to 30.
For the rest of the country, the exercise is likely to begin in February next year, during which data on various demographic, socio-cultural, and economic parameters, along with migration and fertility characteristics of individuals from each household, will be collected.
