The Union Home Ministry on Monday issued a gazette notification, declaring that the Census will be carried out in 2027. “In exercise of the powers conferred by section 3 of the Census Act, 1948 (37 of 1948), and in supersession of the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs (Office of the Registrar General, India) number S.O. 1455(E), dated the 26th March, 2019 published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, section 3, sub-section (ii), dated the 28th March, 2019, except as respects things done or omitted to be done before such supersession, the Central Government hereby declares that a census of the population of India shall be taken during the year 2027,” a notification by Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, Registrar General and Census Commissioner, said. The notification stated that the reference date for the Census will be March 1, 2027, except for the Union Territory of Ladakh, the snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. “In respect of the Union territory of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the States of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date shall be 00:00 hours of the 1st day of October, 2026,” the notification added. The last Census was held in 2011. The 2027 Census will include the first nationwide caste enumeration since 1931. A day before issuing the notification, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had on Sunday reviewed the preparation for the forthcoming Census with Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan and other senior officials in North Delhi. “The census will be conducted in two phases. In phase one i.e. Houselisting Operation (HLO), the housing conditions, assets and amenities of each household will be collected. Subsequently, in second phase i.e. Population Enumeration (PE), the demographic, socio-economic, cultural and other details of every person in each household will be collected. In the census, caste enumeration will also be done,” the statement said. Around 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors and around 1.3 lakh Census functionaries will be deployed for the exercise, as per the statement. “This census is the 16th census since the beginning and 8th after Independence. The ensuing census will be conducted through digital means using mobile applications. Provision of self-enumeration would also be made available to the people. Very stringent data security measures would be kept in place to ensure data security at the time of collection, transmission and storage,” the statement added.
