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.
Before population enumeration is done, self enumeration will be done on https://se.census.gov.in. 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. 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. Emphasising the digital nature of Census 2027, Sharma said that the Census is being conducted through a digital mode, marking a significant transformation in the conduct of the decennial Census. He further informed that self-enumeration (SE) for Phase-II will be available from August 17 to 31, which shall be limited to the geo-fenced snow-bound areas only and it shall be available on the weblink se-snowbound.census.gov.in for the public residing in these areas. He said that an estimated 637 enumeration blocks (EBs) will be created for complete coverage of Ladakh during September 2026. The exercise will be preceded by self-enumeration from August 17 to 31, followed by field population enumeration from September 1 to 30.
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. Since Ladakh is a Himalayan region, the Union ministry of home affairs has deployed more special charges to conduct the exercise, he said. “Certainly there are peaks and high altitude areas where there will be few hoses but we have deployed more special charges, especially where our belt forces, be it army or ITBP, are located,” he said.
