THEBUSINESSBYTES BUREAU

BHUBANESWAR, MARCH 18, 2026

In a landmark step towards modernising population data collection, the Directorate of Census Operations, Odisha under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, in coordination with the state’s Revenue and Disaster Management Department, is set to roll out the first phase of the Census — House Listing Operations (HLO) — across all 30 districts of Bhubaneswar from April 16. The exercise, which will continue till May 15, 2026, will see trained enumerators and supervisors visiting households to gather crucial demographic and housing data.

In a first for the country, citizens will also have the option to participate through self-enumeration before field operations begin. The Self-Enumeration Portal (SE) will be open from April 1 to midnight of April 15, enabling individuals to submit their information digitally, which will later be verified during door-to-door visits.

To ensure smooth execution of this massive exercise, extensive training has been undertaken. A total of 67 Master Trainers have been trained at the Gopabandhu Administrative Academy in two phases. These trainers have further cascaded the training to 1,552 Field Trainers, who are now equipping a vast workforce of 100,875 Enumerators and 17,282 Supervisors across the state. The training covers urban and rural regions, including 91 Notified Area Councils, 48 Municipalities, 5 Municipal Corporations, and 2 Industrial Towns.

The census operations will be conducted using a dedicated mobile application, marking a shift from traditional paper-based methods to a fully digital framework. Supporting this transition, the CMMS Portal will be utilised for creating House Listing Blocks (HLBs), reinforcing the efficiency and accuracy of the process.

Adding a creative and public engagement dimension to the initiative, internationally acclaimed sand artist and Padma Shri awardee Sudarshan Pattnaik has been roped in as the Brand Ambassador to boost awareness and participation.

The administrative framework for the census has been clearly defined, with District Collectors and Municipal Commissioners serving as Principal Census Officers, while Additional District Collectors will act as District Census Officers. At the grassroots level, Executive Officers of Urban Local Bodies and Tahsildars will function as Charge Officers under the supervision of District Collectors. The Revenue and Disaster Management Department will act as the nodal authority for the programme.

A notable feature of this census is the involvement of educators, with primary school teachers from the School and Mass Education Department designated as Enumerators and high school teachers taking on supervisory roles, ensuring both reliability and community engagement.

This will be the first digital census in India, and for the first time, there is a provision for self-enumeration in the Indian Census. The data submitted through self-enumeration will be verified again by Enumerators during field visit. The census will involve the use of the CMMS Portal along with digital methods for creating House Listing Blocks (HLBs).

The entire programme will span from April 1 to May 15, with self-enumeration leading into the field-based enumeration phase, marking a significant milestone in India’s journey towards a technology-driven governance framework.