The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday (June 16, 2025) formally notified the commencement of India’s next Census, which will now be held in the year 2027, following multiple delays. For the first time in India's history, the Census will also include caste enumeration, a move approved by the Union Cabinet earlier this year.

With the release of this notification in the Gazette of India by the Registrar General of India (RGI) under the Census Act, 1948, a significant administrative milestone has been reached. As part of the notification process, the freezing of administrative boundaries across the country has come into immediate effect.

Administrative Boundaries Now Frozen

A senior government official told The Hindu that the notification initiates the freeze of administrative boundaries, meaning that no State or Union Territory can make any changes to the geographical jurisdictions of police stations, tehsils, districts, villages, or municipal units until the Census process is complete.

This is a routine step taken in the lead-up to every Census, to ensure that enumeration blocks, the fundamental units for demographic data collection, remain unchanged and uniform across the nation.

The official clarified, “Administrative units form the foundational grid for collecting data. Any redrawing would interfere with the enumeration framework and cause duplication or omission of records.”

Key Census Reference Dates

The official Gazette notification also outlined the reference dates for the Census, as per the topography and accessibility of different regions of the country.

• For the majority of the country, the reference date will be 00:00 hours of March 1, 2027.

• For snow-bound and non-synchronous areas, including the Union Territory of Ladakh, parts of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, the reference date will be 00:00 hours of October 1, 2026.

This split schedule is standard practice, considering that snow and severe winter conditions make access to certain regions challenging in March.

Caste Enumeration: A Historic First

In a landmark decision on April 30, 2025, the Union Cabinet had approved the inclusion of caste enumeration in the 2027 Census. This move comes amid growing public and political demand for updated caste data to aid in social justice, welfare policy design, and reservations.

The 2027 Census will mark the first time since 1931 that caste data is officially collected across India. The last comprehensive caste-based data was gathered prior to Independence, and post-1951 censuses only counted Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), not the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) or other categories.

The decision to enumerate castes comes on the heels of:

• Caste-based surveys conducted by states like Bihar and Maharashtra,

• Recommendations from parliamentary standing committees,

• Growing judicial and civil society backing for data-backed affirmative action policies.

Two-Phase Census Framework

The 2027 Census, like earlier editions, will be conducted in two broad phases:

1. House Listing and Housing Census

2. Population Enumeration

The House Listing Operations will capture details like ownership status, number of rooms, toilet and water availability, fuel used for cooking, and household assets.

This will be followed by Population Enumeration, collecting individual-level data such as:

• Name, age, gender,

• Religion, language,

• Marital status, literacy, and occupation,

• Caste (newly added),

• Disability status, migration status, and more.

In the coming weeks, separate notifications will be issued to announce the pre-test exercises and the schedule for House Listing Operations, including the final questionnaire format.

Census Postponement Timeline

Originally scheduled for 2021, the Census has now been delayed by six years—the longest in India’s history. It was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, logistical limitations, and subsequent state-level elections.

The delay also sparked criticism from opposition parties, civil rights groups, and research institutions, citing the lack of updated demographic data for policymaking and development planning.

India’s last official population data is still based on the 2011 Census, when the country's population stood at 1.21 billion. Today, India is estimated to be home to more than 1.43 billion people, having overtaken China in population in 2023, according to UN estimates.

What Freezing of Boundaries Means

The freezing of boundaries implies:

• No creation of new districts,

• No modification of village or ward limits,

• No renaming of administrative units,

• No reallocation of jurisdictions across police stations or revenue blocks.

This will remain in effect until the Census data is fully collected, verified, and published. Any changes made after the reference date will not be reflected in the Census documentation.

Use of Digital Tools and Self-enumeration

According to officials, the 2027 Census will also experiment with digital data collection tools, including the option of self-enumeration for urban residents via a mobile app and web-based platform.

These features were first proposed for Census 2021 but could not be implemented due to the pandemic. The government is expected to reintroduce:

• Tablet-based data collection for enumerators,

• Geo-tagging of houses, and

• A QR-code-based household identity system.

This is expected to minimise duplication, increase accuracy, and reduce time lag in data processing.

Importance of the 2027 Census

The 2027 Census holds monumental significance for several reasons:

• Policy planning for healthcare, education, and housing,

• Redistricting and parliamentary seat delimitation (as per the proposed 2026 freeze-lift),

• Urbanisation trends and infrastructure planning,

• Allocation of funds to states through Finance Commission recommendations,

• Refining beneficiary lists for welfare schemes like PM-KISAN, Ayushman Bharat, etc.

Moreover, the inclusion of caste data will provide a long-awaited empirical foundation to evaluate the distribution of economic and social opportunities across caste groups.

Looking Ahead

The Ministry of Home Affairs is expected to soon release:

• Sample training modules for enumerators,

• The updated Census questionnaire,

• A detailed timeline for pilot testing,

• Plans for public outreach and awareness.

The Census 2027 results, once collected, will shape the socio-economic narrative of India for the next decade and beyond.

For the people of India, it is not just a population count, but a snapshot of the nation’s evolving identity.

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