Lalit Jain, Director of Census Operations (DCO), Haryana in a meeting with officials in Gurugram. | Photo credit: Special arrangement
Enumerators have been given identity cards with QR codes that allow residents to verify authenticity, said Lalit Jain, Director of Census Operations (DCO), Haryana, amid opposition from several top companies with access to enumerators.
Speaking to The Hindu on Friday (May 8, 2026), Mr. Jain said, “We understand that there may be some apprehension in their (residents’) minds that the people (computers) may not be genuine. We have now introduced code-scanning ID cards. Anyone who has any doubts about the authenticity of our enumerator can scan the code on the ID card.”
On 1 December 2025, the Union Home Ministry informed Parliament that under Section 8(2) of the Census Act, 1948, every resident is “legally bound” to answer census questions to the best of his knowledge or conscience.
“We have requested the RWA (Residents’ Welfare Association) presidents to allow us to come in because the census is ultimately a nation-building exercise and it is in everyone’s interest to enumerate and get basic data about our population,” Mr. Jain said.
He added that the backlash may be due to “stranger anxiety” and concerns about sharing personal information.
“The data we’re asking for is not something that’s very, very personal. We’re just asking people if they have a supply of drinking water at home, if they have toilets. And secondly, they don’t have to worry because any data they give us is safe with us. We don’t share that data with anyone. Also, that data won’t lead to any documentation and can’t be used against you,” he said.
Custom enumeration
The DCO added that over 3,00,000 households have been covered in Haryana through the self-counting portal, which has been open for 15 days.
He said that the self-count option will also be available for the second phase of the census, which is the population census to be conducted in February 2027.
The self counting step will be followed by a visit from enumerators who can check the reference number generated through the portal and no more questions will be asked.
Asked whether people can face FIRs for not answering questions, Mr Jain said, “According to the Census Act, a resident is supposed to provide information, but we have never seen a case where we have registered an FIR against a resident. Generally, what we do is we get the numbers of local bodies – village head or ward members and municipal council chairman.”
The first phase of the census began on April 1 and will be completed by September 30 across the country. About 30,000 enumerators will participate in the exercise.
This is the first digital census and the first caste census and enabling self-counting. The last census took place in 2011.
About 92,000 households in 23 states and union territories have successfully completed their own enumeration through the official portal. Caste will be counted in the second phase. In Ladakh and the snow-covered areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, both phases are to be completed by September 30.
Door-to-door enumerator visits are currently underway in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Delhi (NDMC and Delhi Cantonment Board areas), Goa, Pradesh, Lakshadhyp Karnataka, Madina Odisha, Sikkim and Uttarakhand.
Published – 08 May 2026 22:44 IST
