Census 2027: Final questionnaire for caste enumeration phase likely next week
The final questionnaire for the second phase of the Population Census 2027 is likely to be notified next week, days before the enumeration exercise begins on August 17 in Ladakh and snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The rest of the country will see the exercise in February 2027.
According to a report in The Hindu, a rehearsal for the Population Enumeration (PE) phase was conducted from July 1 to 20 in 16 States and Union Territories. During this rehearsal, respondents other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes recorded their castes in an open column, meaning the enumerator noted the caste as declared by the resident. The final questionnaire is expected to have 28 questions. Some questions being asked for the first time include whether respondents consume packaged or bottled water, and the inclusion of natural calamities as a reason for migration, alongside conventional reasons such as education, marriage, work and business. The questionnaire is also likely to provide a detailed code directory for educational qualifications rather than relying on self-declaration.
The caste of all residents is to be recorded during the PE phase. The Population Census 2027 is the first digital Census and the first to enumerate caste in independent India. Until now, only Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were enumerated during the Census exercise.
The open column methodology had earlier resulted in the 2011 Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) recording over 46 lakh different caste names, largely due to variations in what people understand by caste. The government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has consistently maintained over the last decade that the 2011 SECC caste data was unreliable because of errors in data collection. The total number of castes recorded during the 1931 Census was 4,147. The SECC was conducted as a survey and was outside the purview of the Census Act, 1948, and had no statutory backing. Its data were never released by the government.
On August 3, the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India notified in the Gazette of India that the conduct of the Census in Ladakh and the snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand would be undertaken from September 1, 2026 to September 30, 2026, with a revisional round from October 1 to October 5, 2026. An option for self-enumeration will be available from August 17 to 31, before the start of house-to-house population enumeration. The reference date for population count in these areas is midnight of October 1, while for the rest of the country it is midnight of March 1, 2027.
The Population Census exercise is conducted in two phases: the Housing and House Listing Operations (HLO) and Population Enumeration, spanning over 11 months. The HLO phase is to be concluded by September 30 across the country. Except for a few States such as West Bengal, Assam and Manipur, the HLO phase has been concluded elsewhere.
