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.
The first phase of the Population Census 2027, also known as the houselisting operations (HLO) phase, will be conducted from April 1 to September 30 this year across all States and Union Territories, the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RG&CCI) said in a notification on Wednesday (January 7, 2026).
The census of the year 2027 is set to look quite different from the ones we have seen before. For the first time the enumerators will not carry thick bundles of paper forms or depend on any government devices but will be using their own smartphones to collect data from households throughout the country.
