Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar flagged off the first phase of Census 2027 in Kerala on Tuesday by completing his own self-enumeration process at Lok Bhavan. The launch marks the beginning of India’s first fully digital Census, which utilizes mobile applications and online platforms to implement a completely paperless, green-governance system.
After completing the self-enumeration process, Governor Arlekar described Digital Census 2027 as a major milestone for the country and urged the public to participate wholeheartedly to make the exercise a grand success. In an official statement and video message, he highlighted the need for individual cooperation to build an inclusive, transparent and error-free database.
The Governor emphasized that “accurate information on households, occupations, businesses and living standards is essential for formulating welfare schemes and development policies.”
Following Governor Arlekar’s launch, Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan also completed his self-enumeration at Mascot Hotel to encourage public participation. The Chief Minister said that census data serves as an important tool for governance, adding that the collected information “would help ensure that government benefits reach the intended beneficiaries.”
The online self-enumeration facility is available to the public on the Official Census Portal from June 16 to June 30, 2026. Residents can log in and directly record their household data before field visits begin.
The formal Houselisting and Housing Census field operations will be conducted across Kerala from July 1 to July 30, 2026. Enumerators will verify housing structures and facilities and collect responses to a total of 33 pre-notified questions.
Around 61,282 enumerators and 10,189 supervisors, mostly comprising government employees and public school teachers, have been deployed across Kerala’s 58,619 designated houselisting blocks.
Enumerators will use a dedicated mobile application to verify self-enumerated data and collect the remaining house-to-house information. Management and monitoring of the exercise will be carried out through the centralized Census Management and Monitoring System portal.
The data collection exercise is being conducted under the statutory provisions of the Census Act, 1948, and the Census Rules, 1990.