The restrictions, aimed at ensuring accuracy in census data, will remain in place until the completion of the census, expected by May–June 2027. Alongside this, transfers of officers and staff across departments have also been halted, affecting lakhs of employees, including Collectors, SDMs, Tehsildars, urban body commissioners, teachers acting as enumerators, Patwaris, and Gram Sachivs. Exceptions will be considered only under extraordinary circumstances.
“The freeze on administrative units is essential for maintaining consistency during the census enumeration,” said an official from the Department of Home Affairs. “All boundaries and administrative details have been cross-verified, and no changes will be allowed until the process concludes.”
The census will be conducted in two phases. In the first phase, from May 15 to June 15, enumerators will carry out door-to-door surveys to list households and residents. Each enumerator is expected to cover approximately 150 houses. Preparations for the census, including officer and staff training, are scheduled to begin in February 2026.
Over two lakh employees and officers will be engaged in the exercise, including 1.6 lakh enumerators and 30,000–40,000 supervisors. A detailed census handbook has been prepared for each district, containing verified names, spellings, and boundaries of all districts, tehsils, villages, hamlets, and urban settlements in both Hindi and English.
This administrative freeze is a standard practice followed across India during census operations to ensure data integrity. The Home Ministry will issue a formal notification when the ban on creating new administrative units and transferring staff is lifted. The last such freeze in Rajasthan lasted until the census of 2011 was completed.
Officials emphasize that this step is crucial not only for accuracy but also for minimizing confusion among enumerators and residents during the massive exercise. Rajasthan’s census will provide essential demographic, socio-economic, and infrastructural data that will guide policy decisions for the coming decade.
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