New Delhi: An IAS officer who recently attempted self-enumeration for Census 2027 was unable to pinpoint the exact location of his house on the portal, https://se.census.gov.in, because the location pin drifted each time he tried to place it accurately, despite fully zooming in on his location in North Delhi.
"I eventually had to select a tentative location, a few houses from my actual residence, to complete the process," the Delhi government officer said.
Several other Delhiites have reported similar issues caused by technical and mapping limitations, including low resolution of maps. 'Location details' is the first of the six-step self-enumeration process for house-listing. Users can proceed to subsequent steps only after finalising their locations on the map.
Atul Goyal, who lives in the Western Extension Area of Karol Bagh, said he, too, faced problems while trying to complete self-enumeration. "When I tried to pinpoint my building on the map, the marker kept on drifting to another block. I had to abandon the process midway. I will try to complete it before the May 15 deadline," Goyal said.
Delhi government officials involved in Census 2027 said some location accuracy issues have mainly been reported from densely populated localities. However, they clarified that residents can still complete the process even if an exact building location cannot be marked on the map.
"A user should provide details, such as the village, locality, street or a nearby landmark and then search for the exact location. Once the map loads, he should zoom in until individual houses are visible and place the marker on his building. If one is unable to identify the exact building, he can select any nearby location. The same applies to residents living in multi-storey buildings," an official said.
"Every household has a buffer zone for tagging. While visiting door-to-door for the purpose of house-listing operations, enumerators will ask for self-enumeration IDs from all households and will match that with the tagged households within their house-listing blocks to confirm it. In case the IDs do not match the houses or buildings, the enumerators will fill the details afresh. In case the IDs have been wrongly tagged, the enumerators and supervisors will take corrective measures," the official added.
The mapped location is important because it is used to assign an enumerator; an incorrectly placed marker could result in a self-enumeration ID being linked to another enumerator, the official added.
Self-Enumeration Phases and Progress
Self-enumeration in Delhi began in two phases. It started on April 1 in New Delhi district, covering Lutyens' Delhi, and continued for 15 days. In the rest of the 12 districts of the city, covering 250 Municipal Corporation of Delhi wards, the exercise began on May 1 and will continue till May 15. Door-to-door enumeration in these 250 wards is scheduled to begin from May 16.
Delhi government data from May 11 shows that more than 77,000 households in the 12 districts have already completed self-enumeration within the first 11 days. Densely populated districts, such as North East, South West and North West, have recorded the highest number of completed entries, indicating strong participation in outer and trans-Yamuna areas. In contrast, Old Delhi and Outer North districts have reported comparatively lower numbers.
