Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday soft-launched four digital tools and unveiled two mascots for Census 2027.
The digital tools will drive the country’s first fully digital Census, with the first phase starting April 1. The platforms support nationwide enumeration and streamline one of the world’s largest administrative exercises.
Shah also formally unveiled the mascots for Census-2027, named ‘Pragati’ (female) and ‘Vikas’ (male). The mascots represent female and male enumerators and are meant to highlight equal participation of women and men in the national exercise as India works towards its goal of becoming a developed country by 2047.
“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.
Additionally, 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 second tool is the HLO mobile application, a secure offline mobile app that will allow enumerators to collect and upload houselisting data directly from the field using handheld devices. Only enumerators registered on the Census Management and Monitoring System (CMMS) portal will be able to access the application.
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The ministry noted the self-enumeration (SE) has been introduced for the first time. It added a secure web-based facility will allow eligible respondents within a household to submit their information online before field operations.
The fourth tool, the Census Management and Monitoring System (CMMS) Portal, is a centralised, web-based digital platform designed to plan, manage, execute, and monitor all related activities across administrative levels.
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.
The Central Government notified its intent to conduct Census 2027 through a Gazette Notification on 16th June last year, formally commencing the Census process. The Ministry said that Census-2027 will be conducted in 2 phases, and it is the world’s largest census exercise.
