Census 2027: New questionnaire seeks parents' religion, birthplace, adds caste count
The population enumeration phase of Census 2027 has begun in Ladakh and snow-bound areas of three other States, with a questionnaire that seeks detailed information on the religion and birthplace of respondents' parents. The schedule, which was made available on a self-enumeration portal on August 17, includes a new field for recording the father's and mother's place of birth up to the village level, and an option to note if they were born outside India.
Under the "Family Particulars" head, respondents can list their parents' religion among six recognised categories — Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Muslim and Jain — or specify "other religion". The questionnaire also asks for the date of birth of both parents.
For the first time since independence, the Census includes a caste enumeration exercise. Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe respondents can choose their caste from a pre-listed drop-down menu, while all others are required to type their caste name in an open field. The schedule includes the question: "If not SC/ST in this State/UT — Enter Caste name." Two additional options are "Does not want to declare Caste" and "No Caste". The data fields are marked as mandatory. The Union Government alone can issue the official SC/ST list after ratification by Parliament.
The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RG&CCI) notified the set of 40 questions on August 14, compared with 29 in the 2011 Census. Thirteen fields have been added, including spouse's name, nationality, father's and mother's particulars, digital literacy, permanent residential address, place of COVID-19 vaccination, number of bank accounts, passport number, driving licence availability, and mobile, Aadhaar and voter ID numbers, if available. This is a substantial increase from the previous census, reflecting the growing scope of data collection.
Several of these additions mirror questions from the 2019 rehearsal of the National Population Register (NPR), which has been put on the back burner amid opposition over concerns that the data could be used to create a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC). The NPR, first prepared in 2011 and updated in 2015, already holds a family-wise database of 119 crore residents. Unlike Census data, which is released only in aggregate form up to the village level, the NPR database can be shared with States and other government departments. The overlap has reignited concerns among civil society groups and opposition parties about the potential misuse of data.
Door-to-door enumeration in Ladakh, parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh will run from September 1 to September 30. For the rest of the country, the second phase is scheduled for February 2027. The questionnaire also asks about the place of COVID-19 vaccination, with options of "within India" or "outside India". If vaccinated in India, respondents must provide the name of the State and district.
The open-field method for recording caste has drawn criticism from the Congress. On Tuesday, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh accused the government of sabotaging the caste census. In a post on X, he said: "The conclusion is clear: the Modi Govt wants to simply sabotage the caste census. The PM had made a complete U-turn on April 30, 2025 and announced that a caste census - which he had earlier attacked as an 'urban naxal' idea - would take place. Now he has done another U-turn on his earlier U-turn and without saying so has buried the idea of a caste census. He is an U-turn ustad."
The government has not yet responded to the allegations. The Census is expected to provide key data for policy planning in the coming decade.
