Shillong, Mar 6: A meeting was held today with Deputy Commissioners, Principal Census Officers and other officials regarding preparations for the upcoming Census of India.
The national census was originally scheduled to be conducted in 2021 in two phases – House Listing and Housing Census followed by Population Enumeration. However, due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the census operations were postponed and then delayed further. They will now take place in 2027. The upcoming census will be conducted in a digital mode, an effort to modernise the process.
As part of the preparatory activities for Census 2027, a meeting chaired by Pooja Pandey, State Nodal Officer for Census, was convened with the Deputy Commissioners and Principal Census Officers of the districts and officials of the Directorate of Census Operations today at the Main Secretariat.
A presentation was made by Subhasish Chatterjee, Joint Director of Census Operations Meghalaya, who briefed the participants on the various components of the census.
During the presentation, emphasis was laid on the timeline for the Houselisting Operations (HLO). The self-enumeration process will be carried out from May 1 to 15, 2026, followed by house-to-house houselisting operations from May 16 to June 14, 2026. These operations have been notified by the General Administration Department and will also be notified in the Gazette of Meghalaya. Preparations for the training of census functionaries at different levels were also discussed.
The State Nodal Officer underscored the importance of the census exercise, stating that it is a mammoth task involving functionaries at multiple levels, various state government departments and the Directorate of Census Operations. She stressed that effective coordination among all stakeholders will be essential to ensure the successful conduct and completion of the census during both phases.
