Who is IAS Officer Rashmi Kamal, Appointed Census Operations Director for West Bengal

Kolkata: The central government has appointed IAS officer Rashmi Kamal as the Director of Census Operations and Director of Civil Registration for West Bengal. President Droupadi Murmu has approved her appointment to this key position.

According to the official Gazette notification, Rashmi Kamal has been appointed on central deputation under the Central Staffing Scheme for a period of three years, starting from January 14, 2026, or until further orders. Her headquarters will be in Kolkata. She will oversee Census 2027, which will be conducted in two phases. The first phase, the House Listing Operation (HLO), is scheduled to begin on April 1, 2026. Each state and Union Territory will have a 30-day period between April 1 and September 30 to complete the process.

About Rashmi Kamal

Rashmi Kamal is a 2006-batch IAS officer from the West Bengal cadre with nearly two decades of administrative experience. Born on July 1, 1977, she holds an MBBS degree from Patna University and a postgraduate degree from IGNOU, Delhi. Fluent in Bengali, Hindi, and English, she has previously served as Secretary in the Department of Western Region Development.

Timing of the Appointment

This appointment comes as the Ministry of Home Affairs had already initiated preparations for Census 2027, which will take place across India from April 1 to September 30, 2026. Last month, the ministry released details of the questionnaires to be used in the first phase, covering household listing and housing census. The notification, issued by the Office of the Registrar General of India, empowers census officials to collect specified information related to households and families nationwide.