New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah unveiled “Pragati” and “Vikas” – the official mascots of Census-2027 – marking a symbolic and technological shift in the country’s population enumeration exercise.
Pragati, a female enumerator, and Vikas, her male counterpart, are designed as friendly public ambassadors of what will be India’s first fully digital Census. The mascots represent equal participation of women and men and aim to make the exercise more relatable and citizen-centric as India works toward its 2047 development vision.
Alongside the mascots, four digital platforms developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing were soft-launched, including a Self-Enumeration portal and mobile applications for real-time data collection.
The Centre had formally notified Census-2027 through a Gazette notification in June 2025. Conducted in two phases, it will be the world’s largest census operation, engaging over 30 lakh personnel. For the first time, citizens can self-enumerate online before door-to-door verification.
With enumeration scheduled through 2026-27, including caste data in Phase 2, the government says the tech-enabled approach aims to ensure accuracy, transparency and nationwide coverage.
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