Census 2027 to begin on March 1; Centre unveils plans for digital, caste-inclusive enumeration

KOHIMA — The Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday issued an official gazette notification informing that the Census of the country’s population will be taken in 2027. The last Census was held in 2011.

The reference date for the population census will be conducted on March 1, 2027 except for the snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the country—to be conducted on October 1, 2026.

“The reference date for the said census shall be 00.00 hours of the 1 day of March, 2027, except for the Union territory of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the States of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand,” the MHA informed.

It further stated that “in respect of the Union territory of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date shall be 00:00 hours of the 1st day of October, 2026”.

The Census will be conducted in two phases. In the first phase known as Houselisting Operation (HLO), the housing conditions, assets and amenities of each household will be collected.

Also read: 2027 Census with caste enumeration schedule announced

In second phase or Population Enumeration (PE), the demographic, socio-economic, cultural and other details of every person in each household will be collected.

Census Caste enumeration will also be carried out for the time. This Census is the 16th Census since beginning and 8th after independence.

For Census activities, about 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors and around 1.3 lakh Census functionaries would be deployed, the ministry informed.

The ensuing Census will be conducted through digital means using mobile applications. Provision of self-enumeration would also be made available. Very stringent data security measures would be kept in place to ensure data security at the time of collection, transmission and storage.

Census 2021 was proposed to be conducted in two phases in a similar manner with phase I during April-September 2020 and second phase in February 2021. All the preparations for the first phase of the Census to be conducted in 2021 were completed and field work was scheduled to begin in some states/UTs from April 1, 2020.

However, due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic across the country, the census work was postponed.

Nagaland government has on several occasions noted that the decadal 2021 Census has been delayed due to legal disputes, including challenges from tribal organisations over whether the state should use data from 2001 or 2011.