The first phase of the census 2027, which is to be conducted in two phases, would be held from August 1 to 30, said Madurai District Collector K J Praveen Kumar on Tuesday.

Presiding over a three-day training programme for the officers earmarked for the mega exercise, he said that this is the eighth census post-Independence and 16th in a series counting since 1872. It would be conducted as per the Census Act 1948.

For the first time, the Census 2027 would be in digital mode. The data collection would be conducted through dedicated mobile App on enumerators smartphones.

The self-enumeration feature, which is also being introduced for the first time, would enable the households to have the option to submit information via a web-portal, which would then be validated during house-to-house visit by the enumerators. This would be available from July 17 to 31.

In the first phase, house listing and housing census would be conducted and in the second phase, population enumeration would be carried out by the enumerators.

The census is an important programme. Residents should share real information as it would help the government in announcement of development and welfare programmes for the people in the country.

The officials would ask a series of questions which include the housing condition, amenities available, assets such as radio, television, internet, vehicles and mobile number for census purpose only.

A total of 134 charge level officers, for whom, the training commenced on Tuesday would conclude on May 21. The officials said that the entire census related queries would be available in CMMS (census management and monitoring system) portal, which is a web-based platform designed to manage and monitor various activities of the Census 2027.

District Forest Officer Revthi Raman, District Revenue Officer Anbazhagan, Deputy Commissioner (Madurai Corporation) Jainulabdeen, Revenue Divisional Officers Karunakaran, Sivajothi and Sangeetha, Deputy Director (Census) Vasanth Kumar, PA (G) to Collector Parthiban and other officers participated.