J&K, Ladakh to face early enumeration as Centre clears Rs 11,718 Cr digital Census plan

New Delhi, Dec 12: Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will be among the first regions to be covered under India’s maiden fully digital Census, after the Union Cabinet on Friday approved a Rs 11,718.24-crore plan for the country’s 2027 headcount.

Given the harsh winters and large snow-bound zones, the Population Enumeration in J&K, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand will be advanced to September 2026, months ahead of the rest of the country, where enumeration will take place in February 2027.

The House Listing and Housing Census phase will run nationwide between April and September 2026.

The Centre’s decision marks a major administrative milestone for J&K, where the last Census was held in 2011 and the subsequent exercise was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and administrative restructuring after 2019.

Nearly 30 lakh field personnel will be deployed across India, including in J&K’s far-flung and mountainous belts, making it the world’s largest such exercise.

Enumerators, primarily government teachers, will conduct door-to-door visits alongside regular duties.

An additional 18,600 technical staff will be engaged for 550 days, generating an estimated 1.02 crore man-days of employment.

The 2027 edition will be India’s first Census conducted entirely through digital tools, a shift expected to significantly improve coverage and accuracy in difficult terrains like Pir Panjal, Chenab Valley, and the trans-Himalayan regions of Ladakh.

Field workers will use a secure mobile application (Android and iOS) supported by a centralised Census Management and Monitoring System (CMMS) enabling real-time supervision.

A web-based House Listing Block Creator will aid officers, while residents will have the option of self-enumeration.

Officials said end-to-end digital capture will enable faster processing and dissemination of data through user-friendly dashboards and the new Census-as-a-Service (CaaS) model, giving ministries machine-readable datasets for planning and welfare interventions.

As per a prior decision of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, caste enumeration will be part of the Population Enumeration phase.

Officials said that the electronic system will help manage the complexities of India’s vast social and demographic matrix.

Covering the entire population down to the village and ward level, Census 2027 will gather details on housing, amenities, assets, demographics, religion, Scheduled Castes and Tribes, language, education, migration, economic activity, and fertility, in accordance with the Census Act, 1948 and Census Rules, 1990.

The government also announced a nationwide awareness campaign to ensure full participation.

This will be the eighth Census since Independence, and the first to be technology-led end-to-end, generating quicker and more accessible data for policymaking, particularly vital for regions like J&K and Ladakh undergoing rapid administrative and socio-economic transition.