The Registrar General of India has directed all state governments not to use or release any data or population figures collected during the 2027 Census until further instructions are issued by the Census Commissioner’s office.
Registrar General of India Mritunjay Kumar Narayan communicated the instruction in a letter to the chief secretaries of all states, including the Chief Secretary of Karnataka, according to a report by Prajavani. The letter said information collected during the Census must remain confidential and be protected under the provisions of the Census Act, 1948.
The direction covers provisional population figures based on census enumeration or household data. State governments and other authorities have been told not to use such figures or provide them to the media until the Census Commissioner’s office issues additional instructions.
The restriction comes as the 2027 Census is being conducted in digital form. Enumerators and supervisors are expected to use mobile phones to collect information and upload it to a central server. The digital process changes how data is captured and transmitted, while the confidentiality requirement continues to apply to the information collected during enumeration.
The Registrar General’s communication places state governments and other public authorities under a temporary information-control framework while the Census exercise is under way. This means that provisional figures gathered during the process cannot be treated as publicly releasable population statistics unless the competent Census authorities permit their use.
The Census has implications for public administration because population data is used by governments for planning and managing services. However, the directive specifically bars authorities from using the temporary figures before the Census Commissioner’s office provides further guidance. The report does not specify when those additional instructions will be issued or whether any exceptions will apply.
The Union Cabinet has previously approved an allocation of ₹11,718 crore for conducting the 2027 Census. The exercise is being organised in the context of a large-scale digital data collection system, with field-level information uploaded to a central server by census personnel.
The timing of enumeration will vary in four states because of upcoming Assembly elections. Population counting in Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand is scheduled to take place from December 1 to January 4, 2027. Assembly elections are expected in these states at the beginning of the following year.
Until further directions are issued by the Census Commissioner’s office, the Registrar General of India has instructed state governments and other authorities to maintain confidentiality and refrain from using or releasing provisional population data collected during the 2027 Census.
