Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday (March 5, 2026) unveiled two mascots, ‘Pragati’ and ‘Vikas’, for the upcoming Population Census 2027. Mr. Shah also soft launched four digital tools to be used during the exercise.
This will be the first Census that will be digital, and the first to allow self-enumeration and enumeration of caste.
The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has developed advanced digital platforms to facilitate enumeration operations across the country. Several senior officials, including Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, and the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India Mritunjay Narayan, were present on the occasion.
Census 2027 is to be conducted in two phases — Houselisting Operations (HLO), and Population Enumeration.
The mascots Pragati (’female enumerator’) and Vikas (’male enumerator’) have been unveiled to serve as friendly, relatable faces of the Census 2027, a statement by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said.
These mascots also symbolise the equal participation of women and men in fulfilling the resolve to make India a developed nation by 2047, the MHA said. Through these mascots, the information, objectives and key messages related to Census 2027 will be disseminated in an effective and citizen-friendly manner across diverse sections of society, the Ministry added.
The four digital platforms soft launched by the Minister are the Houselisting Block Creator (HLBC) web application, the HLO mobile application, the Self-Enumeration (SE) portal, and the Census Management and Monitoring System (CMMS) portal.
HLBC is web-map application that enables Charge Officers to digitally create houselisting blocks using satellite imagery, ensuring standardised geographic coverage across the country.
The HLO app is a secure, offline mobile application for enumerators 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 the Android and iOS platforms, and it can be operated in 16 regional languages.
The option of self-enumeration is being introduced for the first time. The SE portal is a secure web-based facility that allows eligible respondents within a household to submit their household information online, prior to field operations. Upon successful submission, a unique Self-Enumeration ID (SE ID) is generated. This SE ID can be shared with the enumerator, on the basis of which the enumerator will be able to verify the information.
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 the Sub-district, District, and State levels can track enumeration progress, field performance, and operational readiness in real-time through an integrated dashboard.
Census 2027 data will be collected using secure mobile applications by going door-to-door, and complete coverage will be ensured. For this, more than 30 lakh enumerators, supervisors and other Census officials will be engaged across the country.
This calibrated adoption of technology combines innovation with inclusivity, ensuring that Census 2027 remains accurate, secure and comprehensive, the MHA said.
The first phase — Houselisting and Housing Census — will be conducted between April 1, 2026 and September 30, 2026, within a continuous 30-day period notified by each State and Union Territory respectively. An optional 15-day self-enumeration period will precede the house-to-house survey.
The second phase — Population Enumeration — will be conducted in February 2027 across India. For the Union Territory of Ladakh and the snowbound non-synchronous areas of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, enumeration will take place in September 2026. In the second phase of the Census, caste-related questions will also be included.
