Census 2027: Enumerators asked to be polite, could face jail time for lapses in duty

THe recorder superior general of republic of india (RGI),Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan, has issued a elaborate directive a hebdomad ahead of the country’s largest administrative exercise — Census 2027 — outlining the duties of census enumerators, including ensuring all houses are covered in data collection, even if multiple visits are needed for locked premises, and maintaining polite behaviour.Census officers found not performing their duties, or intentionally asking any offensive or improper question, or damaging any census document, may face imprisonment of up to three years and a fine of ₹1,000, according to the directive issued to all states and Union territories (UTs), reviewed by HT.“For smooth conduct of Census operations, it is necessary that the Census officers engaged in conducting of Houselisting and Housing Census and Population Enumeration must be informed of their specific duties under the Census Act. Along with the duties, penalties have also been prescribed under Section 11 of the Census Act, 1948,” Narayan said.For enumerators, the directive said they shall “show all buildings with numbers, number of census houses in each building and other important landmarks on the layout map; assign numbers to each building and census house; carry appointment letter along with ID card during the field visit; and conduct proper probing while maintaining polite behavior during the field visit”.It further said that enumerators shall “fill up the data in the mobile app during door-to-door visits according to instructions issued; ensure that all the houses/households are covered under her/his jurisdiction; and make multiple visits if the census house is found locked”.Similarly, principal census officers, supervisors and district charge officers have also been assigned specific duties of organising the process and monitoring developments related to the decadal exercise.Citing the provisions of penalties under Section 11 of the Census Act, Narayan said in his communication that “any census officer or any person lawfully required to assist in taking of Census who refuses to perform any duty imposed upon her/him by this Act; or any census officer who intentionally puts any offensive or improper question; or any sorter, compiler or other member of the census staff who removes, secretes, damages or destroys any census documents or deals with any census document in a manner likely to falsify or impair the tabulation of census results, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees and in case of a conviction shall also be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three years”.The Ministry of Home Affairs informed Parliament last week that in Census 2027, data on the sex of transgender-headed households will be collected along with male and female categories. In the 2021 Census, this data was collected under the “other” category. The population of ‘other’, as per Census 2011, is 4,87,803.The 16th Census, which will include caste enumeration, was announced by the Union government last year. It will be conducted in two phases and is expected to be completed by March 1, 2027.In the first phase, HLO (houselisting operation), housing conditions, assets and amenities of each household will be collected from April 1, 2026. Subsequently, in the second phase, or PE (population enumeration), the demographic, socio-economic, cultural and other details of every person in each household will be collected from February 1, 2027.