GUWAHATI: The Union Home Ministry has notified 40 questions to be asked during the population enumeration phase of Census 2027, marking the first time since 1931, and the first time in independent India, that caste details will be recorded for all communities, not just Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
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The notification, issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs through the Office of the Registrar General of India (RGI), lists caste at question number 10, alongside religion, education, employment, migration and family details. According to reports, the caste question will be open-ended, with enumerators recording whatever answer a respondent gives rather than selecting from a pre-set list of castes.
Beyond caste, the questionnaire introduces several new data points not seen in earlier censuses, including place of COVID-19 vaccination, total number of bank accounts, Aadhaar, voter ID, passport and driving licence numbers, mobile number, spouse's name, separate details for both parents, digital literacy and nationality.
Census 2027 is also being described as India's first digital census, with an optional self-enumeration facility planned from August 17 to 31, ahead of house-to-house enumeration.
The population count will begin September 1 to 30 in snow-bound areas of Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, before rolling out across the rest of the country from February 2027. The decision to include caste enumeration was reportedly taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in April last year. The government has allocated roughly Rs 11,718 crore for the overall exercise.