Bengaluru: The first phase of Census 2027, which involves house-to-house visits by enumerators, commenced in Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) limits Thursday. GBA special commissioner Munish Moudgil appealed to residents to cooperate with enumerators and complete the process, which is expected to take less than 10 minutes.Citizens were given the opportunity to self-enumerate on the census online portal between April 1 and 15. According to Moudgil, the response to self-enumeration was poor in the city, with just around 2% of residents signing on. The self-enumeration option is no longer available, due to which citizens will have to provide their details to enumerators who visit their residence.Across the five city corporations, a total of 26,616 staff have been deployed by GBA for census work. This includes 23,705 enumerators and 2,912 supervisors. Moudgil clarified that participation in the activity is mandatory under the Census Act, 1948, and legal action will be initiated against those who decline to do so.The enumerators will seek answers to 33 questions related to the family and its living conditions. This exercise will be a preliminary to the detailed census scheduled for Feb 2027.Questions on the number of rooms in the house, materials of the floor, wall and ceiling, source of water, type of latrine, and vehicles owned by the family will be part of the first round. A question on the caste of the head of the family (SC/ST, OBC or others) has also been included in the first phase, while the details will be sought in the later phase.GBA is also planning a mop-up round aimed at the office-going population, which might miss enumerators during the day. “The mop-up round will begin a week after the house visits start. This will be held between 6pm and 9pm, during which time the houses that were missed initially will be covered,” Moudgil said.
