NEW DELHI: The second phase of Census 2027, which will record caste data for the first time since 1931, will begin on August 17 in Ladakh and the snow-bound regions of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
A notification issued by the Union home ministry on Monday said self-enumeration in these areas will be open from August 17 to 30, followed by the population enumeration exercise from September 1 to 30. The questionnaire for Phase 2 is expected to be notified shortly.
Apart from caste, the exercise is likely to collect details including the date and place of birth of respondents’ parents, passport number (where available) and Aadhaar number on a voluntary basis.
According to sources, caste will be recorded as declared by the respondent, without requiring any supporting documents or caste certificates. For Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), enumerators will use a drop-down menu containing the notified SC/ST list for the state where the individual is being counted. The separate “caste” field will apply only to respondents outside the SC and ST categories.
Officials said the spelling of the declared caste will be recorded exactly as provided by the respondent. Unlike the 2011 Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC), which generated more than 45,000 caste entries and made data compilation difficult, authorities believe advances in digital technology and artificial intelligence will help standardise and process the information more effectively.
In another first, Phase 2 will collect the date and place of birth of respondents’ parents, details that are relevant to determining citizenship or nationality. However, officials said respondents will not be required to produce documentary proof, and the information will be recorded based on their best knowledge.
Where respondents know only the birth year of a parent, a default date such as January 1 of that year will be accepted.
The questionnaire will also capture passport details, where available, while furnishing an Aadhaar number will remain optional.
“The purpose of collecting parents’ birth details is to estimate the number of people who meet citizenship criteria based on self-declaration, even though the information remains unverified,” an official said. “The data will have no impact on an individual’s legal status, as the Census Act prohibits the use of personal census information as legal evidence or for determining government benefits.”
Officials also said the self-enumeration facility for Phase 2 is expected to be more flexible than in Phase 1, allowing respondents to submit partially completed forms after answering a minimum number of mandatory questions.
“There is a realisation that even partial self-enumeration reduces the workload of enumerators and makes the exercise more efficient,” an official said.
Under established practice, the population enumeration phase—which gathers information on marital status, religion, SC/ST status, occupation, migration, fertility and other demographic indicators while determining the country’s population—is conducted across India in February of the census reference year. However, the exercise is advanced in regions that experience severe winter conditions during that period.
