The first phase of Census 2027, namely the House Listing Operations (HLO), has been successfully completed across the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, marking a significant milestone with The meeting besides the Director, Census Operations, J&K and Ladakh was attended by Commissioner Secretary, H&UDD; Commissioner Secretary, Education; DG, Planning and other senior officers from the Department of Census Operations.
Chairing the meeting, the Chief Secretary appreciated the dedicated efforts of the Directorate of Census Operations, district administrations and thousands of field functionaries for successfully completing the first phase of Census 2027 within the stipulated timeframe.
He emphasized the importance of maintaining the same momentum during the forthcoming Census activities and called upon all stakeholder departments to continue extending full cooperation for the timely and successful completion of the remaining phases of Census 2027.
The achievement was highlighted during the 5th Meeting of the Union Territory Level Census Coordination Committee (UTLCCC), chaired by the Chief Secretary wherein the Chief Principal Census Officer and Director, Directorate of Census Operations, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, Amit Sharma presented a comprehensive review of the field operations and outlined the roadmap for the upcoming phases of Census 2027.
During the presentation, Amit Sharma informed that the month-long House Listing Operations were conducted successfully from 1st June to 30th June, 2026, with 100 per cent digital data collection, making the entire exercise paperless and technology-driven.
The field operations were completed smoothly across all districts of the Union Territory without any major technical impediments, reflecting the robustness of the digital Census ecosystem and the preparedness of the field machinery. For the successful conduct of the exercise, it was divulged that 24,071 House Listing Blocks (HLBs) were created covering 295 Census Charges across Jammu & Kashmir.
A massive capacity-building programme preceded the field operations, wherein 30 Master Trainers, 614 Field Trainers and 29,269 Enumerators and Supervisors, including reserve staff, were trained through 813 structured training batches.
To facilitate seamless field work, more than 27,000 digital Census kits were distributed across the Union Territory, while adequate reserve equipment was also maintained to address any contingency. Special emphasis was laid on ensuring comprehensive coverage of migratory and other difficult-to-reach populations so that every household was brought within the ambit of the Census.
The meeting also laid emphasis on timely disbursement of honorarium to Enumerators, Supervisors and other field functionaries, with directions to the district administrations to ensure that payments are released expeditiously within this month in accordance with the approved government norms.
Looking ahead, the Directorate outlined the next major Census activities. The meeting was informed that preparations would now commence for the creation of District Census Handbooks (DCHB), an important publication containing village and town-level demographic, socio-economic and infrastructural information.
The field work for the DCHB is going to be culminated by October 2026, immediately after the completion of Population Enumeration in snow-bound areas, as approved by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. The meeting also reviewed the preparations for Population Enumeration (Phase-II) of Census 2027 in snow-bound and inaccessible areas, which is scheduled to be conducted in September 2026.
Training programmes for Administrative Officers, Charge Officers, Field Trainers, Enumerators and Supervisors will be completed by the end of August, while appointment of field functionaries and allotment of Enumeration Blocks will be finalized well in advance to ensure timely commencement of field operations.
It was further informed that, based on detailed field assessment, the number of notified snow-bound areas has increased substantially for Census 2027. A total of 1,103 villages and three municipal areas across sixteen districts have been identified for advance Population Enumeration, compared to 546 villages during Census 2011, ensuring better coverage of remote and inaccessible habitations before the onset of winters here.