The Union government on Monday notified the commencement of India’s 16th Census, to be conducted in 2027, incorporating caste enumeration for the first time in over a decade. The announcement marks a significant statistical undertaking, coming 16 years after the last census in 2011.
According to the notification, “The reference date for the said census shall be 00.00 hours of the 1st 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.”
In these snow-bound regions, the census will be based on a reference date of 1 October, 2026, due to climatic constraints.
The massive nationwide enumeration will be conducted by around 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors, supported by approximately 1.3 lakh census functionaries. For the first time, enumerators will be equipped with digital devices to enhance accuracy and efficiency.
The Centre has confirmed that caste enumeration will form an integral part of the exercise, which is expected to provide critical demographic and socio-economic insights. In a move towards ease of access and transparency, the government will also facilitate a self-enumeration option for citizens.
Also read: Caste census to aid Assam's indigenous Muslim community: Himanta
Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed preparations for the mammoth data collection exercise during a high-level meeting held on Sunday with Union Home Secretary, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, and other senior officials.
The 2027 census will be conducted in two phases. The first phase, the Houselisting Operation (HLO), will record housing conditions, household assets, and available amenities. The second phase, the Population Enumeration (PE), will gather personal demographic, socio-economic, and cultural data.
A government statement highlighted that this will be the 16th census since the inaugural one in 1872, and the eighth since Independence.
“The census will be conducted with very stringent data security measures in place to ensure the safety of data during collection, transmission, and storage,” the statement said.
The exercise is expected to provide vital inputs for policy-making, social welfare schemes, and administrative planning, particularly with the addition of caste data for the first time since 1931 in a full enumeration process.
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