NAVVNEET DUBEY
Jammu: Jammu & Kashmir is preparing for the Census 2027, with a Union Territory-level Census Coordination Committee set to determine a 30-day window for house listing operations (HLO) between April 1 and September 30.
Amit Sharma, Director of Census Operations has told media that the committee, led by Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, will finalize the timeline in its upcoming meeting. House listing operations are expected to occur from June 1 to June 30 in Ladakh, marking Phase 1 of the census.
A notification issued by the Office of the Registrar General of India states that the house listing exercise will be carried out over a period of 30 days. Each state and Union Territory will be assigned a specific time frame within the notified window to complete the process.
The notification said that the exercise will be conducted under the provisions of the Census Act, 1948, and the Census Rules, 1990. It will replace the earlier notification issued on January 7, 2020, except for actions already taken under the previous order.
In a key step, the central government has introduced a self-enumeration option for the upcoming census. The self-enumeration facility will be available for 15 days immediately before the start of door-to-door house listing operations.
The house listing phase is a vital part of the census process. It aims to collect information on residential buildings, households and basic amenities, which will serve as the foundation for the subsequent population enumeration.
Phase 2, the population enumeration, is scheduled for September 2026 in snow-bound areas and February 2027 in the plains of Jammu & Kashmir. This census is particularly significant as it will provide detailed population data for reserved categories and will serve as the foundation for the next delimitation of Assembly and Lok Sabha segments, as mandated by the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019.
For the first time, the census will enumerate the Papadis, Paddaris, Gadda Brahman, and Koli tribes as separate entities, following their addition to the Scheduled Tribe list in 2024. Additionally, it will collect data on Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in J&K, which includes 20 castes in the Central list and 41 in the State list, with OBCs entitled to 8 percent reservation in government jobs.
The last delimitation exercise was completed on May 5, 2022, and no adjustments to electoral seats can occur until the census figures are released. The census will form the basis of the next delimitation of electoral constituencies in the Union Territory, as laid down in the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. The law stipulates that there cannot be any readjustment of Assembly and Lok Sabha seats in the UT until the figures of the first census conducted after 2026 are released.
