Goa, Jan. 8 -- The Government of India has announced that the first phase of Census 2027 - the houselisting and housing census - will be conducted between April 1 and September 30, 2026, across all states and Union territories. Each state and UT will schedule the 30-day houselisting period within this window, according to a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday.

In a first, citizens will also have the option of self-enumeration, which will be carried out over a 15-day period immediately before the commencement of the houselisting operation in each jurisdiction.

The nationwide decadal census, which was originally slated for 2021, had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The upcoming exercise will ...