Shillong, March 6: The Government of Meghalaya has begun preparatory activities for the Census of India 2027, which will be conducted in digital mode as part of efforts to modernise the nationwide population census process.
According to a press note issued by the government, the national census was originally scheduled to be carried out in 2021 in two phases—House Listing and Housing Census followed by Population Enumeration. However, the exercise was postponed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and is now scheduled to be conducted in 2027.
As part of the preparations, a meeting chaired by Dr. Pooja Pandey, IAS, State Nodal Officer for Census, was held with Deputy Commissioners, Principal Census Officers of the districts, and officials of the Directorate of Census Operations on March 6, 2026 at the Main Secretariat in Shillong.
The meeting began with a welcome address and introductory remarks by Dr. Pandey, who is also the Commissioner and Secretary to the Government of Meghalaya. This was followed by a presentation by Subhasish Chatterjee, Joint Director of Census Operations, Meghalaya, who briefed the participants on the different components of the census exercise.
During the presentation, emphasis was placed on the timeline for the Houselisting Operations (HLO). The self-enumeration process will be conducted from May 1 to May 15, 2026, followed by house-to-house houselisting operations from May 16 to June 14, 2026. The operations have been notified by the General Administration Department and will also be notified in the Gazette of Meghalaya. Preparations for training census functionaries at different levels were also discussed during the meeting.
The State Nodal Officer highlighted that the census is a massive exercise involving officials at multiple levels, several 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 in both phases.
