New Delhi: Census exercise with caste enumeration will be carried out with the reference date of October 1, 2026, in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and of March 1, 2027, in the rest of the country, the Home Ministry announced on Wednesday.
It has been decided to conduct the Population Census-2027 in two phases, along with the enumeration of castes, it said.
“The reference date for Population Census – 2027 will be 00:00 hours of the first day of March 2027.
The census exercise will be conducted over two phases. The exercise will take about three years, and the final data of the 2027 Census will be published around 2030, after the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
Caste to be enumerated in this Census exercise.
“It has been decided to conduct the Population Census 2027 in two phases, along with the enumeration of castes. The reference date for the Population Census – 2027 will be 00:00 hours of the first day of March, 2027,” the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said.
For the Union Territory of Ladakh, and the non-synchronous snow-bound areas of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date will be 00.00 hours of the first day of October, 2026, the MHA said.
“The notification for intent of conducting Population Census with the above reference dates will be published in the official gazette tentatively on 16.06.2025, as per provision of section 3 of the Census Act 1948,” it said.
This means delimitation will be held after 2030. This will be followed by the implementation of Women’s Reservation and One Nation, One Election, or simultaneous elections.
The last census was done in India in 2011. The Census is a decennial population-based survey that has been conducted 15 times until 2011. A pan-India census, due in 2021, was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
