First phase of the Census with Houselisting operations to begin from April 1, 2026
New Delhi, Jun 29 (PTI): The houselisting operations for the forthcoming Census will begin from April 1, 2026, marking the start of the first phase of the decennial exercise, the Registrar General of India has said.
In a letter to chief secretaries of states and Union Territories, Census Commissioner and Registrar General of India Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan said the Houselisting Operations and Housing Census shall begin on April 1, 2026.
Before that the appointment of supervisors, enumerators and work distribution among them shall be done with cooperation from states and district administration, it said.
The Census is a two-phase exercise -- in phase one i.e. Houselisting Operation (HLO), the housing conditions, assets and amenities of each household will be collected.
Subsequently, in the second phase i.e. Population Enumeration (PE), the demographic, socio-economic, cultural and other details of every person in each household will be collected which is scheduled for February 1, 2027, according to the letter.
In the Census, Caste enumeration will also be done, a government statement had said.
For Census activities, over 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors and around 1.3 lakh Census functionaries would be deployed.
It is the 16th Census till now and the eighth after independence.
The forthcoming Census will be conducted through digital means using mobile applications. Provision of self-enumeration would also be made available to the people.
The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner had prepared around three dozen questions to be asked to the citizens.
The survey will ask households about ownership of items like phones, internet, vehicles (bicycle, scooter, motorcycle, car, jeep, van), and appliances (radio, TV, transistor) among others.
The citizens will also be asked about cereal consumption, sources of drinking water and lighting, type and access to latrines, wastewater disposal, bathing and kitchen facilities, fuel used for cooking and LPG/PNG connection.
Additional questions include the materials used for the floor, walls and roof of the house, its condition, number of residents, number of rooms, presence of married couples, and whether the household head is a female or belongs to a Scheduled Caste or Tribe.
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3 DRG personnel killed, 1 injured as IED goes off during demining operation in Chhattisgarh
Kanker (PTI): Three personnel of the District Reserve Guard (DRG), including an inspector, were killed and another jawan was injured after an improvised explosive device (IED) went off while they were trying to neutralise it in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh on Saturday, police said.
This was the first blast incident linked to Naxalite activity in the state since the country was declared free from armed Maoists on March 31.
The explosion occurred in a forest area under Chhotebethiya police station limits, near the Narayanpur district border, when a DRG team was conducting a demining operation to locate and defuse IEDs planted earlier by Naxalites, a police official said.
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During the operation, the security personnel detected an IED. However, the explosive went off while they were in the process of defusing it, seriously injuring four personnel, he said.
Inspector Sukhram Vatti, constable Krishna Komra and constable Sanjay Gadhpale succumbed to their injuries on the spot, the official said.
Another injured constable, Parmanand Komra, is undergoing treatment and receiving necessary medical care, he said.
Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range, Sundarraj Pattilingam said, based on inputs from surrendered Maoist cadres and other intelligence over the past few months, security forces had recovered and neutralised hundreds of IEDs planted earlier by Naxalites across the Bastar range, comprising seven districts, including Kanker.
"However, in today's unfortunate incident, the IED accidentally exploded while the Kanker district police team was trying to defuse it, resulting in the death of three personnel and serious injuries to one," he said.
