The Census of India 2027 operations formally began in Assam on Sunday with the self-enumeration process. This census is all set to become a historic, world-first, fully digital population and housing count. The decennial Census, originally scheduled for 2021, has faced a six-year delay due to various reasons, with the first and immediate one being the global COVID-19 pandemic. However, the delays in the following years were caused by several issues, including difficulties in planning, changes to move towards a digital counting process, and complicated decisions about collecting caste data and redrawing electoral boundaries. In 2021, fieldwork and training for millions of enumerators had to be frozen when health risks and lockdowns made large-scale door-to-door surveys impossible. Subsequently, the government’s inclusion of a full caste count introduced major planning, testing, and methodological complexities that pushed timelines further. Moreover, another reason behind the postponement of the Census to 2026 and beyond is that the Constitution froze parliamentary seat allocations and delimitation based on the 1971 census until the first census after 2026. This freeze linked the political sensitivity of redrawing state seat shares directly to upcoming census data, creating deep federal anxieties that complicated scheduling the head count. Transitioning to a digital framework involving mobile apps and self-enumeration options, on the other hand, required extensive pre-testing and infrastructure adjustments. Despite being a hi-tech digital exercise, the Census operations also involve mobilising over three million field enumerators for a population exceeding 1.4 billion, which calls for recalibrating schedules to a phased timeline extending into 2026–2027. While the first population census in India took place in the colonial period in 1872, it was conducted non-synchronously across different regions between 1865 and 1872. In fact, the first fully coordinated, synchronous census was later held on February 17, 1881. In continuation of this process, the current one is India’s 16th Census. While the first phase officially began on April 1, 2026 starting in select regions including Goa, Karnataka and Odisha (along with the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Sikkim, and parts of Delhi), the national house-listing and self-enumeration roll-outs have been scheduled locally by the states. The purpose of Census 2027 in India is to provide updated demographic, housing, and socio-economic data, incorporate caste enumeration, and serve as the foundation for evidence-based governance, welfare distribution, and democratic representation. Conducted for the first time through digital means, enumerators will collect and submit data directly through a mobile app, using their smartphone. In addition to the mobile app, there is also an online provision for self-enumeration in both phases. The mobile app and self-enumeration portal are available in 16 languages, including Hindi and English.