Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday soft-launched four digital tools that will drive the country’s first fully digital Census, with the first phase starting April 1.
Shah launched the Houselisting Block Creator (HLBC) web application for digital mapping using satellite imagery, which will ensure standardised geographic coverage across the country; the HLO mobile application, which is a secure offline mobile app for enumerators to collect and upload houselisting data; a Self-enumeration (SE) portal that will for the first time allow users to submit their household information online before field operations; and core of the Census, the Census Management and Monitoring System (CMMS) – a dedicated digital portal engineered to orchestrate one of the largest administrative exercises in the world.
Shah also formally unveiled the mascots for Census-2027 — ‘Pragati’ (female) and ‘Vikas’ (male).
“These mascots symbolise equal participation of women and men in fulfilling the resolve to make India a developed nation by 2047. Through these mascots, information, objectives and key messages related to Census-2027 will be disseminated in an effective and citizen-friendly manner across diverse sections of society,” a government statement said.
The four digital platforms that will be at the centre of the Census exercise have been developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) to facilitate enumeration operations across the country, it said.
In a list of firsts, the Rs 11,718 crore mega exercise for conducting the 16th head count of the country will include caste enumeration, a fully digital exercise offering citizens the option of self-enumeration.Originally scheduled for 2021, the decadal exercise was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Census will be conducted in two phases – houselisting and housing census from April to September 2026, and population enumeration (PE) in February 2027.
The houselisting and housing census will systematically list all structures, houses and households throughout the country to provide a sound framework for the conduct of the population enumeration.
The set digital platforms include the HLBC web application, which will provide officials with a web-map application, enabling them to digitally create houselisting blocks using satellite imagery, ensuring standardised geographic coverage across India.
The second crucial application is the HLO mobile application, replacing clipboards and carbon copies with handheld devices equipped with this secure, offline mobile application to collect and upload houselisting data.
“Only enumerators registered on the CMMS portal can access the application. The app enables direct field-to-server data transmission, eliminating traditional paperwork.
All houselisting data will be collected through this app, which can only be operated using registered mobile numbers. The application is compatible with Android and iOS platforms, and can be operated in 16 regional languages,” the statement said.The third digital platform is the Self-enumeration portal, which will, for the first time, give the citizens the option of self-enumeration.
“The SE portal is a secure web-based facility that allows eligible respondents within a household to submit their household information online before field operations.
“Upon successful submission, a unique self-enumeration ID (SE ID) will be generated. This SE ID will be shared with the enumerator, based on which enumerator will be able to verify the information,” the statement said.
The self-enumeration option will be available for a 15-day window preceding the 30-day houselisting and housing census.
At the heart of the exercise will be the CMMS – a dedicated portal engineered to orchestrate one of the largest administrative exercises in the world.
“The CMMS is a centralised, web-based digital platform designed to plan, manage, execute and monitor all census-related activities across administrative levels. Officers at sub-district, district and state levels can track enumeration progress, field performance and operational readiness in real-time through an integrated dashboard,” the statement said.
The bespoke software backbone, designed to monitor the exercise in near real time, will allow 3.2 million field functionaries – enumerators and supervisors – to capture granular demographic, social and economic data from hundreds of millions of households using handheld devices.
The data can be transmitted, aggregated and validated through the CMMS architecture, significantly reducing the time required for compilation and error correction, the statement said.
The Central government notified its intent to conduct Census 2027 through a gazette notification on June 16, 2025, formally commencing the Census process.