The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RG&CCI) has asked all States to track the progress of data collection during the population enumeration phase of Census 2027 in real time, enabling authorities to identify “data quality concerns” and initiate corrective measures in a “timely” manner.
In a letter sent to Chief Secretaries and Directors of Census Operations (DCO) of all States on October 30, RG&CCI Mritunjay Kumar Narayan said that the Census Management and Monitoring System (CMMS) will serve as the primary platform for planning, monitoring, supervision, training, management, and deployment of field functionaries, as well as issue resolution and the overall conduct of the population enumeration (PE) phase.
“The information available through CMMS shall be regularly reviewed to identify lagging areas, operational bottlenecks, coverage gaps, deployment issues, training deficiencies, data quality concerns and other factors that may adversely affect the conduct of PE,” he said in the letter.
“Particular attention shall not just be given to monitoring progress of EBs, rather, performance of field functionaries, completion of supervisory checks, coverage of households and population, pendency of field activities, exception reports and other indicators relating to quality and timeliness of enumeration… “Monitor progress of PE on a continuous basis during field operations, including coverage of households and population, quality indicators, supervisory checks and completion status of Enumeration Blocks… Around 34 lakh enumerators, most of them government school teachers, will be deployed across the country and assigned enumeration blocks (EBs), each comprising approximately 700 to 800 people.
Thus, the monitoring framework shall be used not only to track progress but also to anticipate potential risks and initiate preventive measures well in advance,” the RG&CCI said in his letter. The Supervisor shall monitor coverage, ensure data quality, verify completeness, and facilitate timely completion of field operations,” he said.
