“Shadow Areas to See Internet Boost to Support Census Operations, Administration fully prepared for any challenges”
Tauseef Ahmad
Srinagar, May 16: Jammu and Kashmir will begin the first phase of Census 2027 from May 17 with the launch of digital self-enumeration and House Listing Operations (HLO) across the Union Territory, officials said on Friday.
The self-enumeration process will continue till May 31, while physical house-listing operations will be conducted from June 1 to June 30. Residents will be able to submit household details online through the official census self-enumeration portal, .
For the first time, the census exercise in J&K will be conducted in a fully digital mode, with authorities deploying mobile applications and online platforms for data collection. Officials said extensive training of enumerators and supervisors had already been completed across districts.
In north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, Deputy Commissioner Bandipora, while addressing the media, said all preparations for the first phase had been finalized and field officials trained for smooth conduct of the exercise. The DC said the census was “as important as voting” as it would determine future welfare schemes, infrastructure planning and government programmes.
The official added that shadow and remote areas in Bandipora would receive a boost in high-speed internet connectivity during the first phase to facilitate digital census operations and self-enumeration.
Officials said the second phase involving population enumeration would begin in September 2026 in winter or snow-bound zones of Jammu and Kashmir, while enumeration in non-snowbound areas would be conducted later in February 2027. The exercise will include detailed demographic and socio-economic data collection across the Union Territory.
