Jammu, 10 April (H.S.): Highlighting that India is at a crucial “data inflection point,” Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo today stated that the upcoming Census 2027 is not merely an enumeration exercise but a National Digital Transformation Mission that will set the bedrock for a ‘Viksit Bharat’ and evidence-based policy planning.

The Chief Secretary made these remarks while speaking at the Census 2027 Summit held today at Abhinav Theatre, Jammu.

The summit was participated by the senior administrators, development partners and policy experts to deliberate upon the roadmap, preparedness and significance of Census of India 2027, the country’s first-ever fully digital and paperless census exercise.

The Summit was also attended by Amit Sharma, Chief Principal Census Officer and Director Census Operations, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh; Andrea M. Wojnar, Resident Representative, UNFPA India; Praful Kumar Sigtia, Deputy Director General (Information Security), UIDAI and Rohit Kumar, Co-Chair (Policy Making) G20, as special dignitaries.

Delivering keynote address as the chief guest, the Chief Secretary observed that India is entering a new era of governance driven by technology and real-time insights. Contrasting the upcoming exercise with the manual, time-consuming 2011 census, he emphasised the paradigm shift towards a technology-first, citizen-centric framework utilising mobile-based enumeration, artificial intelligence and cloud technology to ensure accuracy, transparency and speed.

Speaking on the rapid global advancements in technology, the Chief Secretary stressed that data is going to be the key driver, oil and fuel of any nation’s economy in the AI-driven future. He noted that India’s vast demographic diversity provides a far richer dataset compared to Western nations, giving the country a strategic advantage in training AI systems and stepping up as a globally benchmarked data-driven nation.

Atal Dulloo also highlighted how the integration of trusted national datasets with the JAM Trinity (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile) has enabled the Government to target the beneficiaries directly, reducing leakages from astronomical to negligible levels. He observed that moving away from older “one-size-fits-all” centralised planning, this dynamic data ecosystem will allow for micro-level scientific urban and rural planning, supporting health, education and employment infrastructures tailored to the unique strengths of individual villages and districts.

Underlining the immediate administrative tasks at hand, the Chief Secretary directed the Deputy Commissioners and district administrations to ensure seamless grassroots execution. He issued clear directives for immediate completion of training for all the Census officers and Enumerators, ensuring full readiness for the self-enumeration process beginning from May 17 and the subsequent house to house field work starting June 1, 2026. He further highlighted that census data plays a pivotal role in determining the financial share of States and Union Territories and guiding development initiatives for the next decade.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Krishan Kumar