A 83-year-old woman in Mana village and a homestay owner in Bagori filing his own census form online — these are the images Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to hold up to the nation on Sunday, 27 September 2026, in the 138th episode of Mann Ki Baat. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, listening from his official residence, called the moment a matter of pride for the entire state.

Mana and Bagori: border villages on national radio

Mana, a hamlet in Chamoli district perched near the China border, has long carried the title of India's first village — the last settlement before the frontier. It was here that Smt. Purnima Rawat, 83, was recorded as the first citizen to be enumerated in the new census round, a symbolic gesture that placed the nation's outermost edge at the very beginning of the count.

Equally striking was the story from Uttarkashi's Bagori village, where homestay operator Shri Hardev Singh Rana skipped the enumerator altogether and registered his own details digitally. A mountain-district resident, a personal device, a government portal — and done. CM Dhami noted that this reflects how 'Devbhoomi's border villages are continuously connecting with modern technology and a new wave of development.'

The long-delayed Census finds its symbolic start

India's last full census was conducted in 2011. The round originally scheduled for 2021 was deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving a more than decade-long gap in the country's foundational demographic data. The commencement of enumeration — beginning, pointedly, in a Himalayan border village rather than a metropolitan centre — signals both the political and administrative significance attached to finally restarting the exercise.

The choice of Mana as the census launch point is not arbitrary. Successive governments have prioritised Himalayan border districts as symbols of integrated nationhood, combining connectivity drives, infrastructure push, and now digital governance tools to demonstrate that the frontier is not peripheral — it is central.

ODOP's role in reshaping Uttarakhand's hill economy

Modi also used the broadcast to highlight the One District One Product (ODOP) scheme, which CM Dhami says is delivering tangible results across all 13 districts of Uttarakhand. The scheme — which originated in Uttar Pradesh in 2018 before being rolled out nationally — identifies one signature local product per district and works to give it market access, branding support, and a wider commercial platform.

For a state whose economy is heavily shaped by terrain and tradition, ODOP is more than a branding exercise. It translates into new income streams for artisans, farmers, and small producers whose goods — from Kedarnath valley herbs to Munsiari rajma — have historically struggled to reach buyers beyond local haats. Dhami framed the Prime Minister's mention as validation: 'Our traditional products, local skills, and the mountain economy are gaining fresh momentum.'

Border villages holding up digital census forms, an octogenarian opening the national count, a homestay owner in Uttarkashi conducting his own e-registration — if these images stick, they rewrite the story of who India's development is actually reaching.