The Centre on Friday notified the Census (Amendment) Rules 1990 allowing states and Union territories to include teachers from aided and unaided private bodies as enumerators during the Census.
Before Friday’s notification, according to The Census Rules, 1990, the officials who could be roped in as enumerators were not explicitly specified, and were noted as — teachers, clerks or any official or any other person.
The notification issued by Registrar General of India , Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, and Census commissioner said that clerical staff and any other person appointed by state and Centre could also be roped in as enumerators.
Till now, mostly government school teachers, revenue and other State government officials were being engaged to carry out the enumeration work.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 18 of the Census Act, 1948 (37 of 1948), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Census Rules, 1990, namely:— “(i) Teachers of any educational institution of the Government, local authority, aided or unaided private bodies, societies or trusts. (ii) Clerks or any official of the Central Government, State Government , local authority or establishment (including public sector undertakings, statutory bodies, banks, companies, institutions, societies and trusts). (iii) Any person, as the State Government or the Union territory Administration may consider suitable, to perform the duties as an Enumerator, according to Friday’s notification. Earlier reporting noted: Census 2027: Govt. opens enumerator roles to private teachers, institutions, trust and society members In a first, the Union government has expanded the definition of “any person” who could be appointed as Census enumerators authorising the appointment of private school teachers and members of “institutions, societies and trusts”. Earlier reporting noted: Though the category of “any person” existed in Census Rules, 1990, the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RG&CCI) notification in the official gazette on Friday (October 16, 2026) broadened the category of persons who could be engaged as enumerators.
Earlier reporting noted: In the first phase of the latest Census with the House Listing Operations (HLO), several private teachers in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Haryana, who were asked by the State government to carry out the enumeration duty, moved court over the decision.
Because of the assembly elections scheduled there for next year.The Centre has deferred the house-listing operations for Census 2027 for Manipur, a notification issued by the Registrar General of India said last month, population enumeration in Goa, Uttar Pradesh , Punjab and areas other than the snow-bound regions of Uttarakhand will take place from December 1 to January 4, 2027,.
