New Delhi, April 5 Two months after the first phase of the Census comes to an end, local government officials will collect detailed data on civic amenities across 784 districts to create the country's District Census Handbook (DCH), which will contain a comprehensive record of civic infrastructure at the village and town level.
In a letter to all states and Union Territories, the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, has asked them to begin fieldwork for the handbook two months after the completion of the first phase of the 2026 Census – the House Listing and Housing Census – and to complete it within 30 days.
The handbook will record information on schools, hospitals, drainage systems, electricity connections, roads, banks, and dozens of other amenities, noting not only whether a facility exists but also how far residents must travel if it does not.
The handbook, which has been published continuously since the first population census conducted after independence in 1951, will see a significant methodological shift. For the first time, the data will be collected through a mobile application, rather than paper schedules, which were used in every previous round.
"The DCH will form an integral part of the Census operations and will be prepared separately for each district. It will present key demographic and socio-economic characteristics, along with detailed information on the availability of civic amenities and infrastructural facilities for every village and town in the district," it said.
The handbook will be prepared separately for each of the country's 784 districts, making it a thorough record of the civic infrastructure of each village and town.
"The reference date for collecting DCH data for the 784 districts will be December 31, 2025, and the information for villages and towns will reflect their status as of that date," it said.
The data will be collected in two parts: a Village and Town Directory, and a Primary Census Abstract by field functionaries – patwaris, panchayat secretaries, and village development officers – in rural areas.
The Village Directory will collate data in nine fields, covering educational and medical facilities, water and sanitation, transport and communication, banking and credit, electricity supply, land utilization and irrigation, principal agricultural commodities, and manufactures and handicrafts.
For each amenity, field functionaries must note whether it is available, how many government and private facilities exist, and, if none, the distance to the nearest one, coded as less than 5 km, between 5 and 10 km, or more than 10 km.
The Town Directory will contain additional sections on slum-level infrastructure, social and recreational facilities, and a population growth history dating back to 1911. Civic and other amenities such as fire stations, paved roads, and toilets will be collated in this directory.
Field workers will use the DCH Mobile App to collect the data within their jurisdiction.
"Only in exceptional circumstances, when data collection through digital means is not possible, the Charge Officer may permit the collection of data manually using the prescribed Village Directory and Town Directory schedules," the letter said.
In towns, the municipal commissioner or executive officer of a town panchayat will be responsible for the entire town, regardless of its size.
The RGI has developed the web portal dchb.census.gov.in to upload submissions in real time and allow charge officers to verify data, raise queries, and return records for correction.
The portal provides role-based access, real-time monitoring, and built-in validation checks to ensure the accuracy, consistency, and completeness of data.
The DCH app and the website are synchronized, enabling seamless data flow between the two platforms.
"Data entered through the Mobile App will be instantly reflected on the Web Portal, and vice versa. Field Functionaries will use the Mobile App exclusively for data collection, whereas Charge Officers and Directorate of Census Operations (DCOs) will access the system through the Web Portal," the letter said.
The data submitted by the field workers will be verified by the concerned Charge Officer through the web portal.
"In case of any discrepancies or deficiencies, the Charge Officer may seek clarification from the Field Functionary through the Portal. After the data are checked and verified by the Charge Officer and submitted on the portal, it will be authenticated by the respective Directorate of Census Operations (DCO)," it said.
To ensure consistency and reliability, the reported data will be scrutinised against DCHB/Census 2011 data, with particular attention to villages and towns that have undergone jurisdictional changes since Census 2011, it said.
The eighth Census since Independence will be a fully digital exercise and will offer citizens the option of self-enumeration.
The decadal exercise, scheduled for 2021, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Census is being conducted in two phases: house-listing and housing census from April to September 2026, and population enumeration (PE) in February 2027.