NEW DELHI: The Government on Friday notified a 40-question schedule for the second phase of the Census 2027, including, for the first time in independent India, an open-ended question on caste for all respondents, apart from the existing enumeration of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
The notification, issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) under the sig & seal of Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, places “Scheduled Caste (SC)/ Scheduled Tribe (ST)/Caste” as Question No. 10 in the Population Enumeration schedule.
Officials said the caste field will be an open column, allowing enumerators to record the caste or sub-caste exactly as declared by the respondent. The format was retained after the pre-test for the Population Enumeration phase, conducted from July 1 to 20 across 16 States and Union Territories. During the exercise, respondents other than SCs and STs were also asked to state their caste, with enumerators recording the responses in the open column.
The notification significantly broadens the range of information to be collected during Census 2027. Along with demographic and socio-economic details, enumerators will seek identification and service-related information, including Aadhaar numbers, mobile numbers, voter ID numbers, passport and driving licence details, wherever applicable.
The exercise will begin on August 17 in Ladakh and snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, ahead of the main enumeration scheduled across the rest of the country in February 2027.
The 40-question schedule covers basic demographic information such as name, age, sex, marital status, spouse’s name, nationality, religion, caste or tribe and details of parents. It also seeks information on education, including literacy and digital literacy, attendance at educational institutions and the highest level of education attained.
The Census will collect language data, including respondents’ mother tongue and other languages known to them. Employment-related questions will cover whether a person worked during the preceding year, occupation, industry or service sector, class of worker and whether the respondent is seeking employment. Information on travel to the workplace will also be recorded.
Migration will form another key component of the enumeration, with questions covering place of birth, previous place of residence, reasons for migration, duration of stay at the current location and permanent residential address.
Women who are currently married, widowed, divorced or separated will be asked about the number of surviving children, children ever born alive and, in specified cases, births during the preceding year.
Among the notable additions are questions on the place of Covid-19 vaccination, the total number of bank accounts and the availability of Aadhaar, mobile, voter ID, passport and driving licence details.
The expanded questionnaire is expected to make Census 2027 one of the most comprehensive population data-collection exercises undertaken in the country.