New Delhi (TIP)- India will count its population by March 1, 2027, in a census to be held after an unprecedented 16-year gap, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs announced on Wednesday (June 4, 2025). This will be the country’s first digital census, and the first in independent India to include an enumeration of castes as well.
The census will be conducted in two phases by February 28, 2027 and the data will have a reference date of 12 a.m. on March 1, 2027. However, the government has not yet notified the date of commencement of the exercise. The notification of the Centre’s intention to conduct the census, and the dates of the two phases will be “published in the official gazette tentatively on June 16 as per provision of section 3 of the Census Act 1948.”
As per the constitutional mandate, the first census after 2026 can be used as the basis to redraw Lok Sabha constituencies. The next general election is expected to be held in 2029.
The last census was held in 2011 and the subsequent exercise scheduled to take place in 2021 was delayed indefinitely, initially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 30, the Union Cabinet had decided to include caste enumeration as part of the next census exercise.
For the Union Territory of Ladakh and the non-synchronous snow-bound areas of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and the States of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date for the population count will be 12 a.m. on October 1, 2026.
India’s census is conducted under the provisions of the Census Act, 1948 and the Census Rules, 1990, and will be completed in two phases: first, the house listing and housing schedule; and then, the population enumeration. Both phases usually span a period of 11 months from April 1 to February 28 the following year. This time around, caste will be enumerated in the second phase.
The last census was conducted in 2010 and 2011, with the first phase completed between April 1 and September 30, 2010, and the second phase from February 9 to February 28, 2011.
A senior official said that the process of the census begins with the issuance of the notification in the gazette of India. “The second and final phase will begin on February 27 and conclude on March 1, the same year,” the official added. The 24 lakh enumeration blocks that were finalised for the planned 2021 census are likely to be used for the 2027 exercise. Around 30 lakh enumerators, including a sizeable number of government school teachers, will be trained afresh on the mobile application that has been readied for the exercise.
Source: The Hindu