Kohima trains enumerators for Census 2027 population count

KOHIMA – Census officials in Kohima district have been told to get more households to count themselves online when the second and final phase of Census 2027 begins early next year, after the district lagged on self-enumeration during the first round.

Seyiekhrietuo Solo, NCS, Sub-Divisional Officer (Civil) and Charge Officer, made the appeal on Monday, November 9, while addressing a training programme for enumerators and supervisors at the DRDA Hall in the Deputy Commissioner’s Office Complex, Kohima, according to a post by MyGov Nagaland.

Population Enumeration, the phase that records details of every individual, is expected to begin around January 25, 2027, and run for 30 to 35 days, Solo told the trainees. He said it would involve more intensive data collection than the first phase and would bring in additional personnel to make sure coverage and monitoring are effective.

First phase met data benchmarks

Solo said the House Listing and Housing Census, the first phase, had been completed successfully in the district. He said the data gathered had met the ministry’s expectations on data integrity.

In Nagaland, households could fill in their housing details on the self-enumeration portal from June 16 to 30, 2026, before enumerators went door to door from July 1 to 30, under a schedule notified by the state Home Department, The Morung Express reported. At the time, Kohima Deputy Commissioner B Henok Buchem told reporters that self-enumerated details would still be checked by an enumerator at the doorstep, Eastern Mirror reported.

Low self-enumeration in Kohima

Solo noted that Kohima district had recorded comparatively low self-enumeration in the earlier exercise. He did not give figures. He asked enumerators and supervisors to build awareness among households and communities, saying higher participation would ease fieldwork and improve the accuracy of the data.

Under the guidelines the state issued for the first phase, a household registers on the portal se.census.gov.in with the head of household’s name and a mobile number, fills in the questionnaire and receives an 11-digit SE ID. The household shows that ID to the enumerator, who accepts the submitted data if it matches. Nagaland.News could not find a notified self-enumeration window for the second phase in Nagaland as of Monday.

Paper backup alongside the app

Solo told staff to keep manual records alongside their digital entries to cut errors and make verification easier. He also asked them to get comfortable with the census mobile application during the hands-on sessions. Census 2027 is India’s first fully digital census, with enumerators collecting data on a purpose-built app, The Week explained.

The data, he said, would give a true picture of the district’s and the state’s socio-economic conditions and would serve as a key basis for government planning and policy. He called for cooperation, mutual support and a strong sense of responsibility among all personnel.

What Phase II will count

Nationally, Population Enumeration records the demographic, socio-economic and cultural details of each person, and this round will also record caste. The reference date for the count is 00:00 hours on March 1, 2027, except in snow-bound areas of Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where it was October 1, 2026, under the Centre’s gazette notification, Eastern Mirror reported. Around 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors are being deployed across the country.

It is India’s 16th census and the eighth since independence, and the first since 2011. The stakes are high in Nagaland, which was the only state to record a fall in population in the 2011 census, after its 2001 figures were widely questioned as inflated, as EastMojo has examined.

Also read: Kohima holds special camps for SIR 2026 · Aadhaar app accepted as valid identity proof in Nagaland · Kohima mass social work on November 13

With inputs from MyGov Nagaland.