Guwahati, Oct 12: Preparations for the next stage of Census 2027 in Assam gathered pace on Monday, with State Minister Keshab Mahanta launching the exercise’s second phase at the Administrative Staff College in Khanapara, Guwahati.
Mahanta said a review meeting had been held with the Principal Census Officer and that training for personnel involved in the next stage would follow.
“The first phase of census in Assam has been completed with due process and from today second phase has begun,” Mahanta said.
He said the decennial census, originally scheduled for 2021, had been postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The census should have been in 2021 but due to COVID-19 pandemic, we could not carry it ahead. Therefore, census has started across the nation in 2026 and will be completed by March 31, 2027,” he said.
Mahanta said floods had disrupted census operations in Sivasagar and Charaideo, preventing the two districts from following the same schedule as the rest of the state.
“Due to floods in Assam, we could not carry out the census exercise in Sivasagar and Charaideo in the same manner as in other districts. However, the process has now been completed in these two districts with second phase starting from today,” he said.
The house-listing and housing census exercise in Sivasagar and Charaideo had earlier been extended until October 31, 2026, following flood-related disruptions.
The first phase, however, faced resistance in villages along the Assam-Meghalaya border, where some residents objected to census teams from Assam collecting household details amid the unresolved inter-state boundary dispute.
Census officials reportedly faced resistance in parts of around 50 villages in Kamrup district, with some Khasi residents objecting to being enumerated by Assam authorities. The resistance raised concerns about possible overlaps in census records in disputed border areas.
Census 2027 is being conducted digitally for the first time in India, with an option for residents to submit their details through self-enumeration.
The first phase involves house-listing and the housing census, which records structures, houses and households to establish the framework for the subsequent population enumeration.
The population enumeration phase is scheduled for February 2027. It will collect demographic and socio-economic information about individuals.