Lucknow, July 12 -- Approximately 60,000 field staff will be deployed in Uttar Pradesh for the census operation, Census director, Uttar Pradesh, Sheetal Verma said on Friday. The 2027 Census will be conducted digitally through a mobile app enabling data collection and publication with accuracy and transparency in less time, Verma added. She was speaking at a seminar on 'Demography and Civil Registration System' on the occasion of World Population Day. Verma said this will be the first post-independence census to collect caste related data. The first phase of the Census will begin in April 2026. The second phase will run from February 9 to 28, 2027, she said. The reference date for the census enumeration will be March 1. The census will also include a self-enumeration option. Uttar Pradesh has made qualitative improvement in birth and death registration, Verma said. Mission director (national programme), medical and health, Dr Subhra Mishra said from February 1, 2020, birth and death registration have been processed online via a portal. Newborn certificates are issued to families at discharge from government hospitals, she said. Private hospitals have also provided data entry IDs to submit information directly to the Registrar through the CRS (Civil Registration System) portal. These efforts have expedited registration within 21 days. According to the 2022 data, Uttar Pradesh is ahead of other states like Karnataka and Kerala. Registration is now carried out across approximately 62,000 units including rural, urban and health department facilities, Mishra said....