Odisha to Launch First Digital Census with Self-Enumeration from April 1

March 2026 : The Directorate of Census Operations, Odisha , Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, in coordination with the Revenue and Disaster Management Department of the Government of Odisha, the first phase of the Census—House listing Operations(HLO)—will commence across all 30 districts of Odisha from April 16. In this program, trained Enumerators and Supervisors will visit households and collect data from April 16 to May 15, 2026. Prior to this, a provision for Self-Enumeration will be available from April 1 to midnight of April 15, 2026. Through the Self-Enumeration Portal (SE), citizens can submit their own information. 

For the first phase of House Listing and Housing Census, 67 Master Trainers have been trained at the Gopabandhu Administrative Academy of the Government of Odisha in two phases. These Trained Master Trainers have further provided training to 1,552 Field Trainers across various districts of the state. These Field Trainers are, in turn, training 100,875 Enumerators and 17,282 Supervisors across 30 districts, including 91 Notified Area Councils, 48 Municipalities, 5 Municipal Corporations, and 2 Industrial Towns, starting from the 15th of this month. The House Listing Operations will be conducted through field visits using a mobile application. 

For the promotion and outreach of this census program, internationally acclaimed sand artist and Padma Shri awardee Sudarshan Pattnaik has given his consent to be the Brand Ambassador. 

In this program, District Collectors and Municipal Commissioners are serving as Principal Census Officers, while Additional District Collectors are functioning as District Census Officers. Additionally, under the supervision of the District Collectors, the Executive Officers of each Urban Local bodies and Tahsildars of Tehsils are working as Charge Officers. The Revenue and Disaster Management Department of the Government of Odisha is functioning as the nodal department for the same programme. Primary school teachers from the School and Mass Education Department of the state will be appointed as Enumerators, while High School teachers will serve as Supervisors. 

This will be the first digital census in India, and for the first time, there is a provision for self-enumeration in the Indian Census. The data submitted through self-enumeration will be verified again by Enumerators during field visit. The census will involve the use of the CMMS Portal along with digital methods for creating House Listing Blocks (HLBs). 

This program will be conducted from April 1 to May 15, and from April 16, trained Enumerators will visit households to collect data.

Director  – Directorate of Census Operations, Odisha