Census 2027 will carry 40 questions during its population enumeration phase, the Centre notified on Friday, August 14, 2026. The list includes caste, place of COVID-19 vaccination and Aadhaar details. This is the first time since 1931 that caste will be counted for all communities, not just Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The notification comes from the Office of the Registrar General, India, under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It sets the stage for one of the most closely watched exercises in India’s census history.
What questions will the Census 2027 ask?
Census 2027 questions cover a wide range of personal and household details. According to the gazette notification issued by Registrar General and Census Commissioner Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan, respondents will be asked about the following.
| Category | Details Covered |
| Personal identity | Name, sex, date of birth, age, marital status, nationality |
| Social identity | Religion, mother tongue, Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, caste |
| Digital and ID records | Aadhaar number, mobile number, voter ID, passport number, driving licence |
| Financial details | Total number of bank accounts |
| Health record | Place of COVID-19 vaccination |
| Family details | Children ever born alive, children surviving, spouse details |
The notification was issued under Section 8(1) of the Census Act, 1948. It authorises census officers to ask these questions within their assigned local areas.
Why is caste enumeration in Census 2027 historic?
Census 2027 will be the first post-Independence census to count caste across all communities. Previous censuses recorded only Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The last full caste count in India took place in 1931, during British rule. The 2011 exercise did collect caste data through the separate Socio-Economic Caste Census, but that data was never officially released in full.
Question number 10 in the notified schedule reads “Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribe (ST)/Caste.” This single question will capture caste identity for every respondent, regardless of community.
The decision to include caste in Census 2027 was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on April 30, 2025. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had then said the move showed the government’s commitment to social justice, while criticising opposition parties for treating caste census as a political tool.
How will Census 2027 record caste details?
Enumerators will note caste as an open entry, based on what the respondent states. There is no pre-printed list of castes to choose from. This approach was tested during a pre-test rehearsal held from July 1 to July 20, 2026. The trial covered 16 States and Union Territories. Officials have indicated this open-column method is likely to continue in the final Census 2027 rollout.
This differs from the caste survey model used in Bihar and Telangana. Those state-level surveys used pre-prepared, state-specific caste lists, and respondents simply selected their entry.
When will it begin?
Census 2027 will unfold in two distinct phases.
- Houselisting and Housing Census: Conducted between April and September 2026. Each state and Union Territory chose its own 30-day window within this period.
- Population Enumeration: Begins September 1, 2026 in Ladakh and snow-bound, non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. This phase runs till September 30 in these regions. The rest of the country will undergo population enumeration in February 2027.
A 15-day self-enumeration window will run from August 17 to August 31, just before house-to-house enumeration starts. Residents can fill in their own household details online during this period using a Self-Enumeration ID, which they will later share with the visiting enumerator.
Phase timeline at a glance:
- Houselisting Census: Apr–Sep 2026
- Self-Enumeration: Aug 17–31, 2026
- Population Enum (J&K, HP, UK, Ladakh: Sep 1–30, 2026
- Population Enum (Rest of India): Feb 2027
What does Congress say about caste data?
The Congress party has raised concerns over how Census 2027 will handle caste data. Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, said on X on Thursday, this week, that the absence of a pre-prepared caste list “raises serious doubts on intent.“
“This has, unfortunately, not happened, raising serious doubts on intent,” Ramesh posted, referring to the open-column method chosen for Census 2027.
Ramesh also cited a letter dated May 5, 2025, from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to Prime Minister Modi. In that letter, Kharge had suggested modelling the questionnaire on the Telangana caste survey and holding talks with political parties. Ramesh said this suggestion had been ignored, along with any dialogue with parties on the issue.
Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, had separately said in Parliament that the government had shared “no concrete framework, no time-bound plan” for the caste census.
The government has not issued a fresh response to these specific comments made on August 14. Earlier, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai told Parliament that the Census 2027 questionnaire was finalised after inputs from various ministries, departments and census data users, followed by field pre-testing.
What happens after the data is collected?
Once population enumeration concludes, provisional population figures are typically released within a month. The final, detailed report generally takes two to three years to compile.
Census data has implications beyond headcounts. It is expected to feed into welfare scheme targeting and policy planning. Some political observers have also linked future census data to delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats, though the government has not confirmed any such timeline for Census 2027 specifically.
Why was Census 2027 delayed?
India’s census exercise, normally held every ten years, was due in 2021. Preparations for house listing had begun, with field work expected to start in some states from April 1, 2020. The nationwide COVID-19 lockdown halted this process. Census 2027 will therefore be the first census in independent India conducted after a gap of more than a decade.
Census 2027 will also be the first Indian census conducted through digital means. Data collection will happen via mobile apps, with an online option for self-enumeration and a web portal to monitor the entire process.
As the population enumeration phase of Census 2027 approaches, both the scope of questions and the caste enumeration method are likely to remain topics of public and political discussion in the coming months.