The Registrar General of India (RGI) has started securing and preserving physical and digital records collected by millions of enumerators over the past two months, during the first phase of the Census 2027 exercise.
Officials said detailed instructions were recently issued to Census officials, with information on the safe custody and preservation of working schedules, block maps, layout sketches, partially and fully filled forms, and other related documents.
The Directorate of Census Officers (DCOs) across the country also conveyed to all officials that the collected data is “confidential”, as outlined in Section 15 of the Census Act.
The Census is being conducted in two phases — HLO and population enumeration (PE). HLO records housing conditions, assets and amenities of each household, and is being conducted from April to September 2026, whereas the PE exercise will commence from February 2027 and cover demographic, socio-economic and cultural details, including caste data.
So far, 19 states and 5 UTs have completed the first phase.
