Census

Census 2027 makes first shift in how India records beggars, vagrants

The move means Census 2027 will not provide a separate count of beggars and vagrants, unlike previous exercises that recorded the group under non-economic activity

Census duty piles on the workload for government school teachers

Government school teachers across India are facing longer hours, safety concerns and mounting pressure as Census 2027 enumeration duties begin

NRC before Census: Manipur defers census training as protests intensify

Census preparations have been disrupted as protests intensify over demands for an NRC before the population count

Census 2027 population count begins in J&K, Ladakh: Here's what we know

Self-enumeration to run till August 31, followed by door-to-door population count in September; exercise brought forward to cover remote areas before winter

Caste count returns to Census after 1931 as Centre notifies 40 questions

Census 2027 will seek caste details across all groups for the first time since 1931, alongside information on Aadhaar, voter ID, bank accounts and digital literacy

Centre notifies 40 questions for Census 2027; caste, SC, ST status included

The Centre on Friday notified 40 questions - caste, place of Covid vaccination being two of them - to be asked of respondents during the population enumeration phase of the Census, set to begin from September 1 in snow-bound areas, a government order said. The order from Registrar General of India Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan notifies questions such as whether the person belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe and their caste. The population enumeration in Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, will take place from September 1 to 30, according to a gazette notification issued earlier this month. "For the conduct of the above Census, there shall be an option for self-enumeration from August 17 to 31 just before the start of house-to-house population enumeration," it said. In the rest of the country, the population enumeration (PE) will begin next year.

Census 2027 pre-test: What India is testing before counting its citizens

As a population-enumeration pre-test begins, India is testing digital data collection, self-enumeration and field systems ahead of its first Census since 2011

Why Chandrababu Naidu thinks Delimitation Bill can get Parliament nod now

Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu says changed political circumstances in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal could help the NDA bring back the Delimitation Bill

Delhi Census Phase 1: Which districts have most people and houses?

Delhi Census Phase 1: North East emerged as the most populous district, while New Delhi recorded the lowest population

Field hours for Census staff in Delhi rescheduled due to intense heat

The intense summer heat in Delhi has prompted the authorities to revise the field timings for the Census staff engaged in the ongoing house listing exercise across the national capital, officials said on Friday. The office of the divisional commissioner (revenue) has directed the enumerators and supervisors to undertake field visits only during morning and evening hours and avoid working during peak afternoon heat in view of the sharp rise in temperatures. The advisory aims to safeguard the health and well-being of field staff involved in door-to-door enumeration for the house listing and housing Census exercise, with the mercury reaching the 44-degree Celsius mark in Delhi in recent days. "In view of the rise in temperatures, the advisory emphasises undertaking field activities during morning and evening hours and avoiding peak midday heat to safeguard the health and well-being of the enumerators and supervisors," the order said. The direction followed an advisory issued by the ..

Adhikari-led Bengal Cabinet okays BSF fencing land transfer, Census rollout

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari chaired the first cabinet meeting on Monday and said his government has granted transfer of land to the BSF for erecting a fence along the Bangladesh border and approved immediate implementation of the Census exercise in the state. The meeting, attended by the five ministers sworn in so far, also decided to induct Bengal into multiple central government schemes, including the Ayushman Bharat health coverage programme. The Ayushman Bharat aims to provide cashless hospitalisation coverage of Rs 5,00,000 per family per year to poor and vulnerable families for secondary and tertiary healthcare services. "In the backdrop of steadily changing demography in Bengal's bordering districts, our cabinet has approved the beginning of the process of handing over necessary land to the BSF for setting up border fences. The Chief Secretary and the secretary of the state's land and land revenue department have been asked to complete the process of land ...

Census 2027: Self-enumeration begins in Delhi; LG urges participation

Self-enumeration under Census 2027 began in the national capital on Friday, with many residents, including Lt Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu, completing the exercise on day one. Sandhu, in a post on X, said that the exercise officially began across all Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) wards and urged the residents to take part in the self-enumeration process and support the census. "Your participation plays an important role in shaping the future of our city and nation," he said in the post. This digital-first initiative gives citizens the power to directly submit their household details, helping ensure every resident is accurately counted. Reliable data is key to inclusive governance and a stronger, developed nation, the LG added. Self-enumeration exercise has already been completed in New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Delhi Cantt areas, where houselisting and housing operations through door-to-door visits by enumerators are underway. All residents of MCD wards, irrespec

The delimitation dilemma: Democratic status may see further slide in India

There are no easy solutions to the conundrum. The US system favours small Alaska over Texas. The former has a fraction of Texas's population, but both have the same number of Senators

Delimitation in India: How it was done before and why it was paused

India once redrew constituencies regularly, but political concerns over population and regional balance led to a freeze that still shapes representation today

How delimitation could shift India's fiscal balance and growth model

Seat redistribution through delimitation could reshape India's fiscal balance, affecting how funds are distributed and how states negotiate resources

Women’s Reservation Act: How India is moving to finally implement it

After passing the Women’s Reservation Act in 2023, why is the 33% quota for women still not implemented? With the Union Cabinet clearing new Bills ahead of Parliament’s April 16 session

Asian surnames surge fastest among US last names, says Census Bureau

The most popular last names in the US might be unchanged from the previous decade, but Asian surnames were the fastest-growing at the start of this decade, the US Census Bureau said Tuesday. Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones remained the top five last names in the United States in 2020, as they were in 2010, according to a tally from the last US head count. Most of the fastest-growing last names from 2010 to 2020 were Asian, according to the Census Bureau. The top three of those were Zhang, Liu and Wang. In the 21st century, Asians have been the fastest-growing of the country's largest racial or ethnic groups, and they now make up 7% of the US population. Rounding out the top 10 most common last names in 2020 were Garcia, Miller, Rodriguez, Davis and Martinez. The only change from 2010 was Rodriguez, which jumped ahead of Davis for the No. 8 spot. There were 7.8 million unique last names, according to the Census Bureau. The Census Bureau has tallied counts of the most comm

Constitutional Amendment Bill proposes to expand LS seats from 543 to 850

The Bill proposes to amend Article 81 to allow for not more than 815 members from states and up to 35 from Union Territories, taking the Lok Sabha's total strength to 850

Census 2027 begins in Uttarakhand; Guv, CM enter info via self-enumeration

The first phase of 'Census 2027' formally began in Uttarakhand on Friday with Governor Lt Gen (retd) Gurmit Singh and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami registering their details digitally through the 'self-enumeration' facility. Under the program, house listing and house enumeration work has begun in the state. For the first time under 'Digital India', citizens have been given the opportunity to enter their information online before a census officer visits their homes. Officials said that this facility of self-enumeration will be available from April 10 to April 24 and after this, from April 25 to May 24, the census workers will go door to door to collect the data. On this occasion, the governor stated that the census is not merely a collection of data, but a cornerstone of the state's development. He appealed to citizens to actively participate in this important campaign through self-enumeration, ensuring the accuracy and reliability of the data. The CM said that accurate census

SC rejects plea to stop caste Census, slams petitioner for language used

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking a direction to the Centre to stop caste Census, and slammed the petitioner for the language used in the PIL. "'Aapne apne petition me badtameezi ki bhasa likhi hai. Aapne kisse apna petition likhwaya hai' (You have written indecent language in your petition. Who has written your petition?)," a visibly angry Chief Justice Surya Kant told the petitioner, who was appearing in person. "Aap kahan se aisi bhasa likhte ho petition me (From where you write such language in your petition)," the CJI, who was heading the bench which also comprised Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, told the petitioner. The bench dismissed the plea, which also sought a direction to the Centre to formulate policies to provide economic incentives to families with a single child. On February 2, the top court had refused to entertain a separate PIL questioning the procedure to be adopted to record, classify and verify the caste data of citizens in th