Newsroom, March 06, 2026: Union Home Minister Amit Shah soft-launched four advanced digital platforms and unveiled mascots "Pragati" (female) and "Vikas" (male) for Census 2027 in New Delhi on March 5.
This marks key progress toward the world's largest population count, delayed since 2021 due to the pandemic and now fully digital.
The tools, built by C-DAC, include a web app for digital mapping via satellite imagery, a secure mobile app for offline houselisting data collection in 16 regional languages, a self-enumeration portal for households to submit data online ahead of field visits, and a central monitoring system with real-time dashboards for over 3 million workers.
The exercise, costing ₹11,718 crore, features two phases: houselisting and housing census from April to September 2026, followed by population enumeration in February 2027. It introduces caste enumeration and self-enumeration for the first time.
