Srinagar, July 9: Jammu and Kashmir has successfully completed the first phase of Census 2027, the House Listing Operations (HLO), with 100 per cent digital data collection, marking a major milestone in the Union Territory's transition to a paperless and technology-driven census.
The achievement was reviewed during the 5th Meeting of the Union Territory Level Census Coordination Committee (UTLCCC), chaired by Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo. The meeting was attended by the Director, Census Operations, J&K and Ladakh, Commissioner Secretaries of Housing & Urban Development and Education Departments, Director General Planning, and other senior officers.
Commending the efforts of the Directorate of Census Operations, district administrations and thousands of field functionaries, the Chief Secretary appreciated the timely completion of the month-long exercise and urged all departments to maintain the same momentum during the upcoming phases of Census 2027.
Director, Census Operations, J&K and Ladakh, Amit Sharma, who is also the Chief Principal Census Officer, informed the meeting that the House Listing Operations were conducted successfully from June 1 to June 30, 2026, with the entire exercise carried out digitally, ensuring efficient, transparent and paperless data collection across all districts without any major technical issues.
To execute the exercise, 24,071 House Listing Blocks (HLBs) were created across 295 Census Charges in the Union Territory.
A large-scale capacity-building programme preceded the fieldwork, with 30 Master Trainers, 614 Field Trainers and 29,269 Enumerators and Supervisors, including reserve staff, trained through 813 structured training batches.
To facilitate seamless field operations, over 27,000 digital Census kits were distributed across J&K, while reserve equipment was kept available to address contingencies. Special emphasis was laid on ensuring complete coverage of migratory populations and households located in remote and difficult-to-access areas.
The Chief Secretary also directed district administrations to ensure timely disbursement of honorarium to Enumerators, Supervisors and other field personnel within the current month in accordance with approved government norms.
The meeting was informed that preparations will now begin for the District Census Handbooks (DCHBs), which will provide village- and town-level demographic, socio-economic and infrastructure data. The fieldwork for these handbooks is scheduled to be completed by October 2026, following the Population Enumeration in snow-bound areas.
The committee also reviewed preparations for Phase-II of Census 2027, covering snow-bound and inaccessible areas, which is scheduled for September 2026. Training of Administrative Officers, Charge Officers, Field Trainers, Enumerators and Supervisors will be completed by the end of August, while the appointment of field staff and allocation of Enumeration Blocks will be finalised in advance.
Officials informed the meeting that the number of notified snow-bound areas has increased significantly for Census 2027. A total of 1,103 villages and three municipal areas across 16 districts have been identified for advance Population Enumeration, compared to 546 villages during Census 2011, ensuring better coverage of remote habitations before the onset of winter.
