New Delhi: The Central Government of India has officially announced that the next population census will take place in 2027, as per a gazette notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs. This decision is made under the authority of the Census Act of 1948, replacing a previous notification from March 2018. The reference date for the census will be March 1, 2027, with exceptions for the Union Territory of Ladakh and certain snow-bound areas in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, where the reference date will be October 1, 2026.
Home Minister Amit Shah recently reviewed the preparations for the census, which will be the 16th since its inception and the 8th since India’s independence. Notably, this census will include caste enumeration for the first time. The operation will involve approximately 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors, along with around 1.3 lakh census functionaries, utilizing advanced mobile digital technology for data collection.
The census will be conducted in two phases: the first phase, known as the House Listing Operation (HLO), will gather information on housing conditions, assets, and amenities. The second phase, the Population Enumeration (PE), will collect demographic, socio-economic, and cultural details of individuals within households. Additionally, self-enumeration options will be available to the public, and stringent data security measures will be implemented to protect data during collection, transmission, and storage.
