New Delhi, June 16: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday reviewed the preparations for India’s long-awaited 16th national census, which will include caste-based enumeration for the first time since Independence. The exercise, to be conducted digitally, will take place in 2027 with different reference dates for snow-bound and other regions.
According to an official statement, the reference date for Ladakh and other snow-bound areas will be October 1, 2026, while for the rest of the country, it will be March 1, 2027. A formal notification will be issued on Monday in the official gazette.
This will be the eighth census since Independence and the first after a delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Home Minister held the high-level review meeting with Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Registrar General and Census Commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, and other senior officials. The statement said the exercise will be conducted in two phases — House Listing Operation (HLO) and Population Enumeration (PE).
During the HLO phase, enumerators will collect information about housing conditions, assets, and amenities in every household. The PE phase will capture demographic, socio-economic, and cultural details of every individual.
For the first time, caste-based enumeration will be included in the national census, fulfilling a long-pending demand by several political parties and social groups seeking detailed data for policy formulation and welfare schemes.
An estimated 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors along with 1.3 lakh census functionaries will be mobilised across the country for the massive data collection effort.
The upcoming census will also mark a technological shift, with data being collected through a dedicated mobile application. Citizens will also have the option of self-enumeration, a move expected to improve participation and accuracy.
The government said that stringent data protection measures will be implemented at all stages — from data collection and transmission to storage — to safeguard the privacy of respondents.
The Census 2027 is expected to play a crucial role in shaping future development policies, especially in sectors such as housing, education, employment, and healthcare, and will also offer a comprehensive demographic map of modern India with detailed caste data for the first time in decades.
