New Delhi— The Union home ministry has informed Parliament that preparations for Census 2027 are underway, with the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (ORGI) finalising the official questionnaire. Responding to a query from MP Shatrughan Sinha, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai stated that the questionnaire will be notified in the Gazette as per Census Rules, 1990.
Rai said the timeline for the 16th Census will follow the pattern adopted in previous decades. Importantly, he confirmed that caste enumeration will be included in Census 2027, as approved by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs on April 30. When asked whether disclosing caste would be optional, the minister said respondents must answer questions “to the best of their knowledge or belief.”
In a separate reply to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, Rai elaborated that the census will be conducted in two phases. The first phase — House Listing and Housing Census — will take place between April and September 2026, carried out over 30 days based on state and UT schedules. The second phase — Population Enumeration — will be held in February 2027, with March 1, 2027, as the reference date. However, Ladakh, snow-bound regions of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand will conduct Phase II in September 2026 with an October 1 reference date.
The pre-test for Phase I has already been completed between November 10 and 30, marking a major step toward the rescheduled Census, which was originally due in 2021 but delayed due to the pandemic and logistical concerns.
The home ministry said the 2027 exercise will involve nearly 3.4 million enumerators and supervisors. For the first time on a national scale, the census will be conducted digitally through mobile apps, with an option for self-enumeration.
Officials noted that while data collection will conclude by March 1, 2027, the processing and publication of nationwide datasets will take an additional two to three years.
