JAMMU, Aug. 17 -- Amit Sharma, chief principal census officer (CPCO) and director of census operations (DCO) for Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, said on Sunday that the directorate has completed key preparations for the population enumeration (Phase-II) of Census 2027 in the Union Territory of Ladakh and the notified snow-bound areas of Jammu & Kashmir. Addressing a press conference in Leh, Sharma said that while the entire UT of Ladakh will be enumerated during September 2026, population enumeration in the snow-bound areas of J&K will also be undertaken during the same period. The exercise assumes particular significance as Ladakh will be the first UT to be completely enumerated during the second phase, providing the first comprehensive census-based demographic picture of Ladakh in its present administrative configuration, with 00:00 hours of October 1, 2026 as the reference date for population data. Sharma said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a special appeal to the people of India to participate in the self-enumeration phase of Census 2027 by sharing accurate data, which will lay a strong foundation for making India a developed nation by 2047. He said that, as the entire UT of Ladakh is snow-bound during the winter months, so Ladakh will emerge as the first one amongst all states/UTs in the nation to complete Census 2027 exercise by the end of September itself. The sensitive and strategic Himalayan region of Ladakh is all set for its maiden and independent Census as one of the two youngest UTs in India undergoes self enumeration from Monday till August 31 before embarking upon population enumeration from September 1 to September 31. By October 1, 2026, the UT of Ladakh will be ready by its independent and authentic Census 2027 as many alleged that Census 2011 in J&K was a flawed exercise. Sharma said, "The Census data will be recorded through a paper-less exercise, like it was before during HLO exercise with a help of a mobile app in snow bound areas. Before population enumeration is done, self enumeration will be done on https://se.census.gov.in."...