PANAJI
As the country’s largest enumeration exercise, Census 2027, is expected to commence in February 2027 after a five-year delay, the Directorate of Census Operations (DCO) in Goa has swung into action by announcing a pre-test in October“November this year.
For the pre-test, the DCO has identified Corgao village in Pernem taluka and the Margao municipal area in Salcete, where teachers and government servants will be roped in as enumerators to carry out the exercise.
The pre-test process, which serves as a trial for testing and refining all aspects of the Census operations, will be carried out in select places in rural, urban, and remote areas across India as per the directions of the Union Home Ministry.
With the upcoming Census being the country’s first digital exercise, the pre-test ” a crucial step before every Census ” will focus on practical issues, including challenges in remote areas with poor connectivity, to check whether mobile devices function properly.
“As a preparatory step towards Census, a pre-test will be conducted encompassing all facets of Census operations as per the Act. This crucial exercise is being done for evaluating the proposed questions, data collection methodologies, training effectiveness, logistics, printing processes, data quality assessment, identifying potential field issues, etc,” Census Commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan said in the communication to the State government.
Narayan said that a mobile app will be used for the first time to collect data. “Self-enumeration, digital mapping tools, and a web-based portal for real-time monitoring and management will also be tested during the pre-test,” he added.
The Union government has said the Census 2027 will be conducted in two phases, along with the enumeration of castes. The first phase will be house-listing operations, which involve creating a comprehensive list of all buildings, structures, and housing units across the State, scheduled for April to September 2026. The second phase will be the population enumeration “ the headcount of the population “ which will take place from February 2027 onwards.
The pre-test, being a full dress rehearsal, requires the engagement of teachers and government/ semi-government officials as census enumerators/ executive officers, etc, as Charge Officers.
