Registrar General of India has asked states to appoint census officials by January 15, 2026

According to a latest circular, the Registrar General of India (RGI) has directed all states and union territories to complete the appointment of census functionaries – officials responsible for the large-scale data collection exercise – by January 15, 2026.

The circular said enumerators and observers are the primary census functionaries who are responsible for data collection during the exercise.

“One enumerator is to be assigned to approximately 700-800 population and one observer is to be assigned for every six enumerators. Additionally, there will be 10% reserve enumerators and observers for any contingency,” it said.

RGI said, as per Rule 3 of the Census Rules-1990, teachers, clerks or any officer of the state government, local authority etc. can be appointed as enumerators, while the supervisor will generally be an officer of higher rank than the enumerator.

Apart from this, states will also appoint census officers. District Collectors, District Magistrates or any nominated officer in the districts have been designated as Principal Census Officers, who will be responsible for the census operations in their jurisdiction.

Similarly, in a division, wherever it exists, the Divisional Commissioner will function as the Divisional Census Officer, while in a Municipal Corporation, the Municipal Corporation Commissioner and the administrative head of the civic body will function as the Principal Census Officer or Additional Principal Census Officer or Officer-in-Charge, as the case may be.

During the upcoming census, around 30 lakh field functionaries will be deployed to complete the population enumeration work across the country within a stipulated time frame.

RGI has developed a web portal for Census 2027 – Census Management and Monitoring System (CMMS) – to manage and monitor all the activities like appointment of enumerators and observers, assigning them enumeration blocks and supervisory circles and real-time progress of field work.

“With all these new initiatives for Census 2027, it becomes even more important to start the appointment of census officers well in advance and complete all other formalities like registration of census functionaries on the CMMS portal with correct and complete details,” the circular said.

It said that although the appointment of enumerators and observers, who will do the actual data collection, will be done later, they need to be identified in advance and registered on the CMMS portal.

“State governments/UT administrations are requested to ensure the appointment of census officials as mentioned in the circular by January 15, 2026,” the document said.

Census 2027 will be conducted in two phases – first, House Listing and Housing Census, between April and September 2026 and second, Population Enumeration (PE), in February 2027.

The first phase will be conducted over a period of 30 days from April to September 2026 as per the convenience of the state governments.

The population census will be conducted in February 2027 with a reference date of 00:00 hours of 1 March 2027, except in the snow bound non-synchronous areas of Union Territory Ladakh, Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where it will be conducted in September 2026 with a reference date of 00:00 hours of 1 October 2026.

The exercise will be digital and will also include caste enumeration as decided by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs on April 30.