For the First Time, Indians Can Fill Census Forms Online in 16 Languages
Meet ‘Pragati’ and ‘Vikas’: The New Faces of India’s Digital Census
Over 30 Lakh Officials to Conduct Two-Phase Census-2027 Exercise
New Delhi, March 05 Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday soft-launched four digital platforms and unveiled mascots “Pragati” and “Vikas” for Census-2027 in New Delhi, setting the stage for India’s first fully digital population count.
Billed as the world’s largest census exercise, Census-2027 will be conducted in two phases with over 30 lakh enumerators and officials deployed nationwide. For the first time, citizens will have access to a Self-Enumeration (SE) portal, a secure web-based platform that allows households to submit details online in 16 languages before door-to-door verification.
The digital tools, developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), include:
- Houselisting Block Creator (HLBC) for satellite-based digital mapping
- HLO Mobile App for secure field data collection
- Self-Enumeration Portal for online citizen participation
- Census Management and Monitoring System (CMMS) for real-time tracking
Phase 1 — Houselisting and Housing Census — will run from April to September 2026, while Phase 2 — Population Enumeration — will be conducted in February 2027. Caste-related data will also be collected in the second phase.
The mascots “Pragati” (female) and “Vikas” (male) symbolize equal participation in building a developed India by 2047.
With digital enumeration, real-time monitoring, and citizen-led data submission, Census-2027 marks a major step toward technology-driven governance and inclusive national planning.
