Kashmir Impulse Desk

Srinagar, May 17 

Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on Sunday launched a 15-day self-enumeration exercise as part of India’s nationwide Census 2027 operations, marking the first time citizens have been allowed to digitally submit census information themselves.

The self-enumeration facility began with the launch of the online portal se.census.gov.in at 6 a.m. and will remain open until May 31.

Lieutenant Governor of J&K, Manoj Sinha, and Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, Vinai Kumar Saxena formally inaugurated the portal and completed their own self-enumeration on the opening day, officials said.

The chief secretaries of the two federally administered territories, Atal Dulloo in Jammu and Kashmir and Ashish Kundra in Ladakh, also completed the process on Sunday.

Officials described self-enumeration as a major citizen-centric innovation in India’s census operations aimed at improving efficiency, transparency and real-time monitoring.

Through the online platform, households can directly submit information relating to housing conditions, amenities, assets and access to facilities during the notified period.

Both the LGs said accurate census data would play an important role in governance, infrastructure planning, welfare programmes and public service delivery, particularly in geographically remote and border regions.

LG Sinha said Census 2027 carried “historic significance” as India’s first fully digital and paperless census integrating mobile-based data collection systems and self-enumeration mechanisms.

“Census 2027 carries special significance for the UT in view of urban expansion, migration trends, expansion of municipal jurisdictions and evolving developmental priorities,” he said.

The self-enumeration process precedes the first phase of house listing and housing census operations, during which enumerators will conduct door-to-door surveys from June 1 to June 30, 2026.

Officials said Census 2027 would be the first census exercise conducted in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh since the two union territories were created in 2019 following the reorganisation of the former state.

Chief Principal Census Officer Amit Sharma said the launch by the lieutenant governors and chief secretaries was intended to encourage wider public participation in the process.

He said extensive preparations were under way across the two territories, including geo-referenced digital mapping, formation of house listing blocks, training of field staff and special arrangements for remote, border and snow-bound areas.

The first phase of the census will collect data on housing conditions, construction type, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, internet access and transport facilities.

The second phase, involving population enumeration including caste data collection, will be conducted in February 2027 in most areas, while surveys in snow-bound and non-synchronous regions of Jammu and Kashmir are scheduled earlier under separate arrangements, officials said.

Authorities said data collection would be carried out through Android and iOS mobile applications in English, Hindi and Urdu.

Officials said that a multi-layered digital security system, including end-to-end encryption and protected data storage, had been established to safeguard confidentiality and integrity of the census data in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.