Mizoram will include refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh, along with internally displaced people from Manipur, in the population enumeration exercise under Phase 2 of Census 2027, officials said at a state-level conference in Aizawl on Saturday.
The enumeration will collect biographic data from refugees living in the state, but officials clarified that inclusion in the census will not confer Indian citizenship. The exercise will cover people living in Mizoram regardless of their citizenship status, according to information shared at the conference.
Phase 2 will also include a caste census for the first time. In Mizoram, the exercise will cover 16 Scheduled Castes. Officials said people whose names were deleted from electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision will also be counted and recorded in the census.
The conference was held under the chairmanship of Mizoram Chief Secretary Khilli Ram Meena and was attended by senior officials from the land revenue and settlement department, the general administration department, the directorate of information and public relations, and district-level census authorities.
An official told The Times of India that refugees’ biographic information would be collected for the population enumeration, while making clear that those recorded would not be regarded as Indian citizens. The inclusion is significant for a state that is hosting refugees from neighbouring countries as well as people displaced by conflict in Manipur.
The exercise will be conducted through field-level enumeration. Training for master trainers, field trainers, enumerators and supervisors is scheduled to be completed by November this year. Each enumerator will be assigned data collection for approximately 800 people.
Residents will not be compelled to provide their Aadhaar numbers. Officials said anyone who does not want to share an Aadhaar card number will not be forced to do so during the census process.
Chief Secretary Meena said the data collected during the second phase would support the framing of government policies, including policies linked to the Viksit Bharat@2047 programme. He called for a factual and comprehensive enumeration and said officials involved in the population exercise would need to work harder because this phase would constitute the actual population count.
The state government has expressed its willingness to assist district- and field-level officers involved in the process. Meena said Mizoram was expected to complete the exercise ahead of other states, as it had done during Phase 1.
The Centre has allocated Rs 19.19 crore for expenses related to Phase 2 of Census 2027 in Mizoram. Director of Census Operations Vinod P Kavle thanked officials attending the conference, while Deputy Director of Census Operations Jamil R Swer explained the Phase 2 process and training programme.
The census authorities will now proceed with the scheduled training of personnel before field enumeration begins. The data collection will determine how refugees, displaced people and other residents are recorded in the state’s official population database without changing the citizenship status of those included.
