New Delhi [India], December 12 (ANI): The Union Cabinet on Friday approved the proposal for conducting the Census of India 2027 - which is the largest administrative and statistical exercise in the world - at a cost of Rs 11,718.24 crore.

Briefing about the cabinet decisions, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said Census 2027 will be the sixteenth in the series and the eighth since Independence.

'Census 2027 will be the first-ever digital census. The digital design of the census has been made keeping in mind data protection,' he said.

The Census of India would be conducted in two phases: (i) Houselisting and Housing Census - April to September, 2026 and (ii) Population Enumeration (PE) - February 2027 (For the UT of Ladakh and snow bound non-synchronous areas of UT of Jammu & Kashmir and states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, PE shall be conducted in September, 2026).

About 30 lakh field functionaries will complete this gigantic exercise of national importance.

An official release said that the use of a mobile app for data collection and the Central portal for monitoring purposes will ensure better quality data.

'Data dissemination will be much better and in a user-friendly way so that all the queries on required parameters for policy making will be made available on the click of a button. Census-as-a-service (CaaS) will deliver data to ministries in a clean, machine-readable and actionable format,' the release said.

The Census of India 2027 will cover the entire population in the country.

The Census process involves visiting each and every household and canvassing separate questionnaire for Houselisting & Housing Census and Population Enumeration.

The enumerators, generally government teachers and appointed by the State Governments, will be doing the field work of the Census in addition to their regular duties.

Other Census functionaries at the Sub-district, District and State levels will also be appointed by the State/District Administration.

The release said new initiatives have been taken for the Census 2027.

'First Census by digital means in country. Data will be collected using mobile applications that will be available for both Android as well as iOS versions. A dedicated portal namely Census Management & Monitoring System (CMMS) portal has been developed for managing and monitoring the entire Census process on a real time basis. Houselisting Block (HLB) Creator web map application: Another innovation for Census 2027 is HLB Creator web map application to be used by the Charge Officers,' the release said.

'An option to self-enumerate will be provided to the public. Suitable security features have been provisioned for this mammoth digital operation,' it added.

The Cabinet meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The release said Census 2027 will have a focused and wider publicity campaign for nationwide awareness, inclusive participation, last-mile engagement and support for field operations. It will emphasize on sharing accurate, authentic and timely information ensuring cohesive & effective outreach effort.

The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, in its meeting on April 30 this year, decided to include caste enumeration in the Census 2027.

'With the huge social and demographic diversity in our country and related challenges, the Census 2027 will also capture Caste data electronically in second phase, i.e. Population Enumeration (PE),' the release said.

About 30 lakh field functionaries including Enumerators, Supervisors, Master Trainers, Charge Officers and Principal/ District Census Officers will be deployed for data collection, monitoring and supervision of Census operations. All the Census functionaries will be paid suitable honorarium for the work of Census as they will be doing this work in addition to their regular duties.

The release said the current endeavor would be to make available the coming Census data in the shortest possible time across the country.

'Efforts will also be made to disseminate Census Results with more customized visualization tools. Data sharing to all, up to the lowest Administrative Unit i.e. Village/Ward level.'

To complete various tasks for the successful conduct of Census 2027, approximately 18,600 technical manpower will be engaged for about 550 days at the local levels. Around 1.02 crore man-days of employment would be generated.

The release said the provision of technical manpower at Charge/ District/ State level will also result in capacity building as the nature of job will be related to digital data handling, monitoring and coordination. 'This will also help in future employment prospects of these persons.'

Census is the biggest source of primary data at village, town and ward level providing micro level data on various parameters including Housing Condition; Amenities & Assets, Demography, Religion, SC & ST, Language, Literacy & Education, Economic Activity, Migration and Fertility, the release said.

The Census Act, 1948 and the Census Rules, 1990 provide the legal framework for the conduct of the Census. (ANI)