Census 2027: Govt Approves Rs 11,718-Crore Outlay; Exercise In Two Phases Starting Next Year

The Union Cabinet on Friday approved a financial outlay of Rs 11,728 crore for Census 2027, which will be a two-phased exercise starting from next year.

The upcoming census will be 16th in the series as the last Census took place in 2011, and the eighth one after Independence.

The population-count exercise is slated to be completed in two phases, with the reference date set as March 1, 2027.

The first phase will cover "houselisting and housing census" – from April to September 2026 – and the second round will cover population enumeration in February 2027. For Ladakh, and snow bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal and Uttarakhand, the enumeration exercise will be conducted in September 2026, an official release stated.

The exact dates for phase one of the census exercise is yet to be decided, as the decision will involve discussion with states. The first round will focus on housing conditions, amenities, vehicles, and electricity connections. The second phase will focus on demographic, socio-cultural, and economic parameters.

The details on age, caste, social status, occupation, fertility, languages will be recorded in the second phase.

This will be the first-ever census by "digital means", the official note stated, adding that data will be collected using mobile applications that will be available for both Android as well as iOS versions.

A dedicated portal namely Census Management & Monitoring System (CMMS) portal has been developed for managing and monitoring the entire census process on a real time basis, it added.

"Houselisting Block (HLB) Creator web map application" will be rolled out, which will be used by "Charge Officers", it added.

Also, an option to self-enumerate will be provided to the public. Suitable security features have been provisioned for this mammoth digital operation, it further said.

Notably, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, in April this year, decided to include caste enumeration in the upcoming census. With the huge social and demographic diversity in our country and related challenges, the Census 2027 will also "capture caste data electronically in second phase".

About 30 lakh field functionaries including enumerators, supervisors, master trainers, charge officers and principal/district census officers will be deployed for data collection, monitoring and supervision of census operations, it further added.