The government has released a total of Rs 4,102 crore to States and Union Territories for preparatory activities ahead of Census 2027, including training of census functionaries, manpower assistance and technical infrastructure, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
First Phase Nearly Complete
Responding to an unstarred question, Rai said the first phase of Census 2027 — House Listing and Housing Census — has already been completed in 31 States and Union Territories, with the remaining states expected to finish by September 2026.
Ladakh, Snow-Bound Areas To Go First
As per a Gazette notification dated August 3, the second phase — Population Enumeration — will be conducted in Ladakh and the snow-bound, non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand from September 1 to 30, 2026, with a revisional round from October 1 to 5. These regions will also get a self-enumeration window from August 17 to 31, ahead of the rest of the country, since heavy winter snowfall makes access difficult later in the year.
For the rest of India, population enumeration is expected to take place in February 2027, with March 1, 2027 set as the reference date for the exercise.
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Digital Push, Training Underway
The government has deployed mobile applications and the Census Management and Monitoring System (CMMS) Portal for the first phase, and has for the first time offered an online self-enumeration facility to respondents. Training of Master Trainers, Field Trainers, Enumerators and Supervisors is complete or in progress across states, Rai said.
What Is The Caste Census?
Census 2027 will mark the first time since Independence that caste data is collected for the entire population, beyond Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, which have always been recorded. The Union Cabinet approved the move in April 2025, following long-standing political demands, particularly from the Congress.
Caste will be captured through an open-ended question during the Population Enumeration phase in 2027. Detailed caste data for the whole population was last gathered in the 1931 Census, before India's independence.
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