The Union government on Friday notified 40 questions, which among others will ask the respondents to record their “caste” during the population enumeration exercise, the second phase of Census 2027.
The Census 2027 schedule will include 13 new questions or data fields that were not part of the Census 2011 questionnaire.
The Congress party said the caste enumeration methodology “raises serious doubt on intent”.
Significantly, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has consistently maintained over the last decade that the 2011 SECC caste data was unreliable because of “errors” in data collection.
The Census exercise is done in two phases — the Housing and House Listing Operations (HLO) and Population Enumeration, spanning over 11 months.
The Union government on Friday notified 40 questions, which among others will ask the respondents to record their “caste” during the population enumeration exercise, the second phase of Census 2027. This is the first time that caste will be enumerated in independent India, other than that of Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Scheduled Castes (SCs).
The Census 2027 schedule will include 13 new questions or data fields that were not part of the Census 2011 questionnaire. Census 2011 had 29 questions.
The questions that have been added for the first time are — spouse’s name, nationality, father’s particulars and mother’s particulars, digital literacy, permanent residential address, place of Covid-19 vaccination, number of bank accounts, passport number, driving licence availability and mobile, Aadhaar and voter ID numbers, if available. Some of these questions such as particulars of mother and father, Aadhaar, mobile, voter ID and driving license details also featured in the rehearsal form of National Population Register (NPR) in 2019. NPR, initially proposed to be done with the first phase of Census, has been put on the backburner due to stiff opposition by political parties and civil society members as the data can be used to create a countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Question number 10 on the Census schedule reads “Scheduled Caste (SC)/ Scheduled Tribe (ST)/Caste.” Officials said that the enumerator will record the caste as declared by the respondent as it is an open column. As reported by The Hindu on July 6, the rehearsal, or the “pre-test” for the population enumeration phase, was conducted from July 1 to 20 in 16 States and Union Territories, where respondents, other than the reserved categories, recorded their castes in an “open column”, or the enumerator noted a resident’s caste as declared by them. The Congress party said the caste enumeration methodology “raises serious doubt on intent”.
Responding to The Hindu’s report, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on X: “It had been widely expected that the caste Q will be asked with a pre-prepared Statewise list as had been done in the Bihar & Telangana caste surveys with the response being just ticked appropriately. This has, unfortunately, not happened raising serious doubts on intent.”
The open column methodology had resulted in the 2011 Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) returning over 46 lakh different “caste names”, largely owing to the difference in what people understand by caste. Significantly, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has consistently maintained over the last decade that the 2011 SECC caste data was unreliable because of “errors” in data collection. The total number of castes during the 1931 Census was 4,147. The SECC was conducted as a survey and was out of the purview of the Census Act, 1948 and had no statutory backing. The SECC data was never released by the government.
The questions have been notified days ahead of the second phase of Census, which begins in Ladakh and snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh on August 17, much before the rest of the country, where the exercise will take place in February 2027.
Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RG&CCI) notified the questions that census officials will be authorised to ask during Census 2027, expanding the scope of data collection to include details such as Aadhaar numbers, mobile numbers, voter IDs, bank accounts and Covid-19 vaccination information, wherever available.
The notification, issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) under the Census Act, authorises census officers to collect information through the household schedule from every person residing in their assigned areas.
According to the notification, officials will gather 40 categories of information from residents. These include basic demographic details such as name, age, sex, marital status, spouse’s name, nationality, religion, caste and parental information.
The questionnaire will seek information on education and skills, including literacy and digital literacy status, attendance in educational institutions, and the highest level of education attained. Language-related information, including mother tongue and other known languages, will also be recorded.
Respondents will be asked whether they worked during the previous year, their occupation, industry or service sector, class of worker, and whether they are seeking employment. Information on travel to the workplace will also be collected.
The notification further provides for the collection of migration-related data, including place of birth, previous place of residence, reasons for migration, and duration of stay at the current location since migration. Permanent residential address details will also be recorded.
For women who are currently married, widowed, divorced or separated, census officials will collect information on the number of children surviving, children ever born alive and, in some cases, births during the previous year.
On August 3, the RG&CCI notified in the Gazette of India that “the conduct of Census of the population shall be undertaken in the Union territory of Ladakh and the snowbound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, from September 1-30 with a revisional round from October 1-5.”
An option for self-enumeration will be available from August 17-31, before the start of house-to-house population enumeration, the notification said. It added that the reference date for population count for these areas would be 12 a.m., October 1. The reference date for the rest of the country is 12 a.m., March 1, 2027.
The Census exercise is done in two phases — the Housing and House Listing Operations (HLO) and Population Enumeration, spanning over 11 months. The HLO phase is to be concluded by September 30 across the country. Barring few States such as West Bengal, Assam, Manipur, the HLO phase has been concluded elsewhere.
Here are the questions:
