India's first population census since 2011 will be conducted in two phases, beginning on October 1, 2026, and concluding with the main count on March 1, 2027
Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday reviewed the preparation for the forthcoming census with Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan and other senior officials here. India's 16th census with caste enumeration will be carried out in 2027 with the reference date of October 1, 2026 in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and of March 1, 2027 in the rest of the country. The notification to conduct the census will be published in official gazette on Monday, an official statement said. The home minister reviewed the preparation for the forthcoming census with the Union home secretary, Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India Mritunjay Kumar Narayan and other senior officials here, it said. The census will be conducted in two phases. In phase one i.e. Houselisting Operation (HLO), the housing conditions, assets and amenities of each household will be collected. Subsequently, in second phase i.e. Population Enumeration (PE), the demographic, socio-economic, cultural and other details of every ...
The Karnataka cabinet will decide the timeline for the caste re-enumeration to be conducted in the state within 90 days, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said on Tuesday, promising a "transparent" process that protects the interests of all sections of society. He was speaking after the party announced the decision on the caste recount following a high-level meeting with Congress president Mallikarjuna Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was also among the leaders present during the deliberations. "Several ministers and communities have expressed apprehensions, and keeping this in mind, the party leadership has decided to re-enumerate castes in the state," Siddaramaiah told reporters. "We have agreed to that. The party has decided to complete the survey and submit the report within 90 days." Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, emphasised that the census would be conducted transparently while taking all
There was a polarisation of views on getting the caste data included in the Census, with the government taking a negative posture while the Opposition was united in demanding it
The proposed business register will be prepared using data from the economic census (EC), state specific databases and central databases
Despite forming the largest caste group, OBCs remain underrepresented in central government jobs
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin warned that if delimitation is carried out using the 2027 Census, the democratic influence of southern states would be severely weakened and would unfair to them
After a 16-year-long wait, India is finally gearing up for its next population census, and this time, it’s going digital, and it’s going big. Watch the video to know more.
The official confirmation of India as the most populous nation may come with the release of the next census data in 2027Shikha Chaturvedi
The Ministry of Home Affairs said that southern states' concerns over a population-based delimitation will be addressed at the right time as Census-2027 preparations commence
The importance of the decennial Census cannot be overemphasised in a rapidly developing country like India
The provisional data for the 2011 Census was released on March 31, 2011, 25 days after its population enumeration phase ended, while the final data was released two years later on April 30, 2013
India's 2027 census will be digital-first and include caste data nationwide for the first time since 1931, marking a major shift in the world's largest population count
The evolution of India's Census questions over 150 years reflects the state's shifting priorities, from caste and infirmities to migration, fertility and tech-driven caste data
However, for the Union Territory of Ladakh and other snow-bound areas of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and States of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the census will begin from October 1, 2026
The over 70-year-old Census Act will not require changes to allow enumerators carrying out census exercise to seek details of caste from the population, officials said. They said the 1948 law, which was last amended in 1994, authorises the central government to seek details from the populace as may be mentioned in the form. All castes were enumerated during census exercises carried out in British India between 1881 and 1931. But at the time of the first census of independent India in 1951, the then government decided not to count castes any more except for scheduled castes and tribes. A decade later in 1961, the central government asked states to conduct their own surveys and prepare state-specific lists of OBCs if they wished so. Over six decades later now and after demands from several quarters and various parties, the government decided last month to include caste enumeration in the next nationwide census. Citing section 8 of the law, officials pointed out that a census officer
With delimitation tied to the 2026 Census, southern states risk losing seats despite leading in population control and contributing heavily to the economy
Given that the government has decided in favour of caste enumeration in the next census, its implications are worth discussing here
Parties and leaders across the political spectrum welcome the decision
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday termed the Centre's decision to conduct a caste-based census as a "100 per cent victory" for the united strength of the PDA (Backwards, Dalits and minorities) and the INDIA bloc. Reacting to the announcement on social media platform X, the SP chief said, "The decision to conduct a caste census is a 100 per cent victory of the unity of 90 per cent PDA. Due to our collective pressure, the BJP government has been forced to take this decision. This is a crucial step forward in the PDA's fight for social justice." "This is a warning to the BJP government keep its electoral manipulation away from the caste census. Only an honest census can ensure that every caste receives its rightful share based on its population, which has so far been denied by the dominant forces," he said. Calling the move the beginning of a transformative movement, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister added, "This is the first stage of a positive democratic ..