Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday reviewed the preparations for the upcoming Census of India in a high-level meeting held in New Delhi. The review was attended by the Union Home Secretary, the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RG&CCI), and other senior officials.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the official gazette notification for conducting the Census will be published on June 16. This Census will mark the 16th national Census since its inception and the eighth since India’s independence.

“Reviewed the preparations for the 16th Census with senior officials. Tomorrow, the gazette notification of the census will be issued. The census will include caste enumeration for the first time. As many as 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors and around 1.3 lakh census functionaries will conduct the operation with cutting-edge mobile digital gadgets,” said Amit Shah after the review.

The Census will be carried out in two phases. In the first phase, known as the Houselisting Operation (HLO), data regarding housing conditions, household assets, and amenities will be collected.

The second phase, Population Enumeration (PE), will gather demographic, socio-economic, cultural, and other personal information about every individual residing in the household. For the first time, caste enumeration will also be part of the Census exercise.

The entire Census operation will be conducted digitally using mobile applications. Citizens will also be given the option of self-enumeration through digital platforms. Amit Shah emphasised that strict data protection protocols will be enforced at every stage of the process, including during data collection, transmission, and storage.

The scale of the operation will be enormous, with the deployment of nearly 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors, along with around 1.3 lakh Census functionaries across the country.