Centre Notifies 40 Questions For Census 2027, Including Caste And Covid Vaccine

The Centre on Friday notified 40 questions that will be asked during the population enumeration phase of Census 2027, with caste and the location where respondents received their Covid-19 vaccination among the subjects to be covered. The questionnaire will also include questions relating to bank accounts, Aadhaar and passport numbers, according to a government order issued by Registrar General of India Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan. The notification sets out the information that will be collected from households during the population enumeration exercise.

One of the most significant features of the questionnaire is the inclusion of caste details. Respondents will be asked whether they belong to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe and will also be asked to state their caste. This will mark the first time that caste information is collected as part of the Census, making the exercise important for understanding India's social and demographic composition. The decision to include caste details follows a long-running public and political debate over the availability of comprehensive caste-based population data.

The questionnaire is unlikely to contain a predefined list of castes, sources said. Instead, respondents' answers will be recorded according to the caste they themselves provide. This approach could allow the enumeration to capture the range of caste identities reported by respondents rather than limiting them to a fixed list of options. The manner in which caste information is recorded will therefore be an important feature of the data-collection process when the exercise begins.

Also Read: Nepal Youths Demand Agniveer Recruitment, Prefer Indian Army Over Gulf Jobs

The population enumeration will begin on September 1 in Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. According to a gazette notification issued earlier this month, the exercise in these areas will be conducted from September 1 to September 30. The separate schedule has been planned for regions where severe winter conditions and difficult terrain can affect the normal conduct of a nationwide house-to-house enumeration.

Residents covered by this phase will also have access to a self-enumeration facility before officials begin the house-to-house exercise. The government has said that self-enumeration will be available from August 17 to August 31, immediately before the start of population enumeration in the specified areas. The facility is intended to allow residents to submit their information electronically before the physical enumeration process gets underway.

In the rest of the country, population enumeration will take place next year. The Census exercise will provide the government with updated demographic information and, for the first time, detailed caste responses collected as part of the official population count. The information gathered could have wider relevance for policymakers and researchers studying social composition, representation and socioeconomic conditions across different sections of the population.

The 40-question questionnaire also seeks information beyond basic demographic details. The inclusion of the place of Covid-19 vaccination will provide information connected with the population's experience of the pandemic, while questions concerning bank accounts and identity documents such as Aadhaar and passports are intended to capture additional aspects of people's access and circumstances. The breadth of the questionnaire means that the exercise will generate a wide range of information about households and individuals.

The decision to conduct caste enumeration is particularly notable because India's previous nationwide Census exercises have not collected comprehensive caste data across the entire population. While information on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has traditionally been part of Census exercises, broader caste details have not been included in the same manner. The new questionnaire is therefore expected to provide a substantially different dataset when compared with earlier population counts.

The Census is one of India's largest administrative exercises and involves the collection of information from households across the country. The government will first conduct the exercise in the specified snow-bound regions before extending population enumeration to the rest of the country next year. The availability of self-enumeration is also expected to give residents an additional way to participate in the process.

With 40 questions now formally notified, the framework for the population enumeration phase of Census 2027 has become clearer. Caste information will be among the most closely watched elements of the exercise, while questions on vaccination, banking and identity documents will add to the range of information collected. The responses will eventually provide the government with updated population data that can be used for planning, administration and policymaking across the country.

Also Read: PM Modi Remembers Partition Victims, Says Their Courage Must Never Be Forgotten