New Delhi, June 29: The Centre has asked states and Union Territories to make any proposed changes in the boundaries of administrative units before December 31, when they will be considered final for the census exercise.
In a letter to all states and Union Territories, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India Mritunjay Kumar Narayan has said that for the Census, all villages and towns are divided into uniform enumeration blocks and for each block, an enumerator is assigned to avoid any miss or repetition during the population count.
According to norms, the Census can be conducted only three months after the freezing of boundary limits of administrative units such as districts, sub-districts, tehsils, talukas and police stations.
Narayan said from April 1, 2026, the Houselisting Operation, the appointment of supervisors and enumerators and the work division among them will be done, and on February 1, 2027, the Census of the population will begin.
It is important that once enumeration blocks are finalised, boundaries of administrative units are not changed, the letter said.
In his letter addressed to chief secretaries, Narayan asked them to direct all departments to make any proposed changes in the boundaries of municipal corporations, revenue villages, tehsils, sub-divisions or districts before December 31.
He asked the states and UTs to ensure that no changes should be made in the boundaries of administrative units between January 1, 2026, and March 31, 2027, during which Census exercise will take place.
Any changes in the existing boundaries must be intimated to Census Directorates in the states and Union Territories and Registrar General of India by December 31, 2025, it said.
“For Census 2027, boundaries of administrative units will be frozen on December 31, 2025,” the letter said.
To ensure a fair workload for enumerators, an administrative unit is divided into manageable sections for the Census called “blocks”.
A block is a clearly defined area within a village or town on a notional map for census purposes.
These are termed Houselisting Blocks (HLBs) during Houselisting Operations and Enumeration Blocks (EBs) during Population Enumeration and serve as the smallest administrative units for the Census. (PTI) |
