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Indian Express
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Census 2027 could help understand how caste hierarchy intersects with gender and religion: Sociologist Trina Vithayathil
The Union Home Ministry has issued a gazette notification announcing that the 16th Census of India will take place in two phases, with the reference dates set as March 1, 2027, for most of the country and October 1, 2026, for snow-bound and remote regions such as Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. The 2027 census will also include the first nationwide caste enumeration since 1931. Yet, the announcement raises urgent questions: Will this be a genuine step toward caste equity or another deflection? Historically, successive governments have promised caste enumeration only to backtrack. In her book, Counting Caste: Census Politics, Bureaucratic Deflection, and Brahmanical Power in India, sociologist Trina Vithayathil traces the institutional sabotage of caste data and the systemic refusal to acknowledge caste privilege. Drawing on years of fieldwork and interviews, her analysis provides a critical lens to understand today's developments. In an interview with she reflects on the meaning of caste enumeration, the myth of neutrality in data collection, and the deep-rooted power structures that shape India's census politics. Edited excerpts: Depending on the design and execution of caste-related questions in Census 2027, the census could provide a comprehensive understanding of how caste hierarchy intersects with gender, religion, education, literacy, occupation, household amenities, assets, and place of residence, among other socio-economic factors. The census could document the relational nature of caste, including how caste privilege and power operate for the first time since 1931. With regards to the institutionalisation of castelessness, scholars such as Professor Satish Deshpande have traced how political leaders from dominant castes muted their caste identities to represent all of India in the 1930s and construct a Congress 'majority'. They did so in response to Dr BR Ambedkar's demand for separate electorates, and continued to oppose many of his recommendations in independent India (for example, to expand reservations to additional caste-oppressed groups and enact a Hindu Code Bill to challenge caste and patriarchy in social life), which strived to build institutional mechanisms to safeguard the interests of marginalised communities including the election of leaders and the entry of bureaucrats committed to annihilating caste, patriarchy, and related systems of domination. Instead, the systems that reproduce caste-based privilege and power became obscured and were allowed to take on new forms that often appear consistent with democratic values. Census officials in independent India were eager to redirect time and energy away from the enumeration of caste, which they saw as an obsession of the colonial state but largely irrelevant in independent India. Caste, religion, and race were key social categories enumerated in colonial censuses, and census officials spent considerable time and resources creating caste lists and collecting, compiling, and publishing caste-wise data. Across colonial censuses, the state struggled to commensurate caste, that is, create a common metric or set of comparable categories within and across localised systems of caste hierarchy. Yet, marginalised groups also used these census data to make demands on the colonial state to address caste-based inequalities, including the under-representation of caste-oppressed groups and the restricted access to 'public' resources and institutions. Census data helped to make visible gross caste-related inequalities and assisted in the development of policies to address caste-based discrimination and exclusion. In contrast, political leaders in independent India argued that if the state focused on economic development, then caste hierarchy would dismantle itself; this view justified the decision to restrict the enumeration of caste in the census and squarely aligned with the strengthening of an ideology of castelessness. Though political leaders publicly backed caste enumeration in Census 2011, officials in the Home Ministry and Office of the Registrar General, India (ORGI) resisted, arguing it would compromise the census's accuracy. Framing the issue as technical rather than political, they sidelined advocates and shaped the decision-making process out of public view. This led to the exclusion of a caste-wise enumeration in the census on the grounds of protecting its 'integrity.' Political leaders obtained written support for a caste census from every political party but in the process secured operational latitude through a cleverly worded inquiry. Executive bureaucrats redirected the caste count to the National Population Register (NPR) but facing pressure proposed a separate caste census after the main Census 2011. This never materialized, and the caste count was instead folded into the Below Poverty Line (BPL) survey, later renamed the Socio-Economic Caste (SEC) Census. Years later, the resulting caste-wise data were deemed unusable and never published. The caste-wise enumeration in the SEC survey was undermined by an ideology of 'castelessness.' The first caste question lacked OBC and general category options required to classify approximately 77.5% of the population. The inclusion of 'other' and 'no caste/tribe' options further diluted a meaningful enumeration of caste. The second caste question failed to include a caste list for the catch-all 'other' option from the first question, resulting in unstandardised, unprocessable answers. Little effort was made to enumerate caste among religious minorities excluded from SC classification, neglecting tens of millions from caste-oppressed backgrounds. Without external oversight, future efforts may face the same fate. For more than 150 years, texts such as Jotirao Phule's Slavery and BR Ambedkar's States and Minorities have described the interwoven relationship between technocratic reasoning and Brahmanical power. Dr Ambedkar worried that if the executive bureaucracy remained in the hands of those dominated by Brahmanical ways of thinking, then social and political equality would not be possible — the state would fail to prioritise dismantling systems of caste- and gender-based discrimination and privilege in independent India. He foresaw how bureaucratic expertise and technocratic decision-making would reproduce existing hierarchies of power instead of correcting histories of exclusion. Technocratic reasoning is often incorrectly seen as apolitical and therefore caste and-gender-free; this gives experts leeway to make decisions with limited external scrutiny and allows for the perpetuation of Brahmanical ways of thinking. In the case of Census 2011, executive bureaucrats used technocratic language to steer a public conversation and convince the political leadership not to enumerate caste in the census. Non-experts had difficulty challenging the premise that somehow enumerating caste in the census would ruin the decadal population count. Technocratic reasoning (for where there is a high bar for entry) replaced a conversation over the importance of collecting caste-wise data for the administration of affirmative action, broader policy and programmatic purposes, and social justice concerns. Similarly, research from other parts of the world traces how technocracies threaten the ability for historically marginalised groups to shape the creation, design, and monitoring of public policies and programmes. The political leadership relocated the task of the caste enumeration from the Census of India after conceding to the ORGI's position that it would be too difficult to collect the caste-wise data in the census and could ruin the integrity of the census. Timing-wise, the planning of the BPL survey was almost complete, and so political leaders eventually decided to combine both projects and provided additional resources for a combined caste-wise enumeration and BPL survey. The state published BPL data from the SEC survey in 2015 and 2016, but the caste-wise data have yet to be published. An expert committee chaired by Professor Arvind Panagariya was created in 2015 to analyse the caste-wise data, but it's unclear who was on the committee, whether the committee met, and if the committee submitted a final report. The design of the caste-related questions and answer options in the SEC survey, the gaps in the enumerator training, and the burial of the collected data all highlight how the central government (across political administrations) has evaded the documentation of caste power and promoted the invisibility of caste-wise data. The Bihar caste survey data builds upon a history of local and regional political movements challenging an ideology of castelessness in the census. It also contests the castelessness narrative by making visible how caste hierarchy structures socioeconomic life. At the same time, the central government has repeatedly decentralised the enumeration of caste to state-level agencies (whether state governments, Backward Classes Commissions, or other entities) from the 1950s to the present day as a strategy to avoid a nationwide enumeration of caste in the census. Aishwarya Khosla is a journalist currently serving as Deputy Copy Editor at The Indian Express. Her writings examine the interplay of culture, identity, and politics. She began her career at the Hindustan Times, where she covered books, theatre, culture, and the Punjabi diaspora. Her editorial expertise spans the Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Punjab and Online desks. She was the recipient of the The Nehru Fellowship in Politics and Elections, where she studied political campaigns, policy research, political strategy and communications for a year. She pens The Indian Express newsletter, Meanwhile, Back Home. Write to her at or You can follow her on Instagram: @ink_and_ideology, and X: @KhoslaAishwarya. ... Read More
India Gazette
11 hours ago
- Politics
- India Gazette
"We plan to leverage advanced digital tools," says Odisha Census Director after MHA issues notification on census
Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], June 17 (ANI): Odisha Census Director Nikhil Pawan Kalyan said preparations have begun for the enumeration exercise, including officer training and enumerator appointments, aiming for 100 per cent accuracy using digital tools. The Centre officially notified the launch of the 16th Census of India, including caste enumeration, with March 1, 2027, as the reference date. The Odisha Census Director further appealed to the citizens to cooperate and stay informed about the whole process. Speaking to ANI on Monday, Kalyan said, 'The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India has issued a notification today announcing the launch of the upcoming population census across all the states and Union Territories, including Odisha... The reference date for the census is 12 AM, 1st March, 2027, meaning all enumeration and data-related activities must be completed based on this reference point. We will initiate our activities from now on... This includes training of officers, appointment of enumerators... We want to ensure a 100 per cent accurate census as data is the basis of all policies in the country... I appeal to all the citizens to cooperate and stay informed. We will share timely updates as operations progress... We plan to leverage advanced digital tools - including mobile applications for data collection, storage and other analytics...' On Monday, the central government notified the population census, the process of which will begin in March 2027. As per a gazette notification released by the Ministry of Home Affairs, 'In exercise of the powers conferred by Section three of the Census Act 1948 and in suppression of the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs dated March 26, 2018, the Central Government declared that a census of the population of India shall be taken during the year 2027, as per a circular released by the Ministry of Home Affairs. 'The reference date for the census shall be March 1, 2027, except for the Union territory of Ladakh and the snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Furthermore, the reference date for the Union Territory of Ladakh, snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand will be October 1, 2026. The Census will be conducted in two phases. In phase 1, House Listing Operation (HLO), the housing conditions, assets and amenities of each household will be collected. Subsequently, in the second phase, Population Enumeration (PE), the demographic, socio-economic, cultural and other details of every person in each household will be collected. Caste enumeration will also be done during the census. For Census activities, about 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors and around 1.3 lakh Census functionaries would be deployed. This is the 16th Census since its beginning and the 8th since independence. The ensuing Census will be conducted through digital means using mobile applications. Provision of Self-enumeration would also be made available to the people. Very stringent data security measures would be kept in place to ensure data security at the time of collection, transmission and storage. (ANI)
Indian Express
a day ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Explained: How India conducts its Census—and what is new in 2027
The government has formally announced that the 16th Census of India will take place in two phases, with the reference dates set as March 1, 2027 for most of the country and October 1, 2026 for snow-bound and remote regions such as Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. This census marks a significant milestone: it will include the first nationwide caste enumeration since 1931. Notification under Section 3 of the Census Act, 1948, came out in the Gazette on June 16, 2025, with house-listing and housing enumeration running for several months before the population count begins in early 2027. The timing has already ignited political debate, especially over its implications for future delimitation of electoral constituencies and parliamentary seat distribution. Why the Census Matters The Census serves multiple critical functions. It is the basis on which electoral constituencies are drawn and seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Central grants to states and districts are often population-based, as are subsidies and ration allocations. Ministries ranging from Education to Rural Development use Census data to locate schools, primary health centers, and infrastructure projects. It helps the judiciary, planners, and scholars alike understand trends in migration, urbanisation, employment, and fertility. The Census is also crucial to the implementation of constitutional provisions. Article 82 of the Constitution mandates delimitation of constituencies based on the most recent Census. Article 330 and 332 reserve seats for SCs and STs in legislatures based on their population proportions. But beyond administration, the Census has also become a national mirror, reflecting changing patterns of identity, occupation, living conditions, and family structure. From capturing the impact of economic reforms to identifying vulnerable or underserved communities, it enables governments to deliver targeted welfare and better plan for the future. How the Census Is Conducted The process is carried out in two broad phases: the House-listing and Housing Census, followed by the Population Enumeration. These phases are separated by several months and preceded by freezing of administrative boundaries (districts) by the states, a preparatory mapping exercise and training of enumerators. A total of 30 lakh enumerators, primarily school teachers, are estimated to be deployed for the conduct of Census. There are, in addition, almost another 1,20,000 functionaries at the district and sub-district levels who manage, oversee or support the Census work and about 46,000 trainers required to conduct the training. House-listing Phase In this phase, every structure in the country is visited to record the characteristics of buildings and households. Enumerators collect data on the head of the household, the number of members, on the use of the building (residential, commercial, etc.), the materials used in its construction, the number of rooms, ownership status, sources of water and electricity, the type of toilet, fuel used for cooking, and the availability of assets like TV, phone, vehicle, etc. This information helps build a profile of housing stock, access to amenities, and living conditions across India. Generally, this phase is conducted between March 1 and September 30 of the year preceding the population enumeration year. Various states, depending upon their convenience, choose the months in which to conduct the house listing exercise. In this census, it is expected to be conducted in 2026. Population Enumeration This follows the housing census and focuses on individual data: name, age, sex, date of birth, relationship to the head of household, marital status, education, occupation, religion, caste/tribe, disability status, and migration history. Enumerators fill out a schedule for every person, even the homeless, and the process captures demographic and socio-economic details that form the heart of the Census database. The data is processed centrally and released in stages—first the provisional population totals, then more detailed tables disaggregated by various indicators. Robust quality control mechanisms, including re-checks and audits, are built into the process. Sources said, in this Census, the process of enumeration is expected to be completed within 20-21 days in the month of February, 2027. It is expected the provisional data will be out within 10 days of the completion of the enumeration exercise, and final data in another six months. How the 2027 Census is Proposed to Be Conducted The 2027 Census will be the first digital census in India's history, with the use of mobile apps, online self-enumeration, and near-real-time monitoring. It is also the first since 1931 that will collect caste data for all communities. In a significant shift from 2011, the 2027 Census plans to allow self-enumeration for the first time, where households can log into a government portal or use an app to fill out their own details. Once self-enumeration is done, the system will generate a unique ID. Individuals who have self-enumerated will have to just present this ID when Census enumerator comes to their house. Enumerators would also use handheld devices or smartphones preloaded with the Census app. While a dual system, including paper enumeration is envisaged, sources said it is expected all enumerators will use the digital medium since smartphones are now ubiquitous and remuneration for digital census is higher. This digitisation is expected to reduce errors, speed up processing, and enable tighter quality control. The RGI has already erected the digital infrastructure key to this shift. Enumerators have been trained to use mobile apps, geotagging tools, and cloud-based data upload systems. Real-time dashboards have been planned to track progress, flag inconsistencies, and push updates. The Census Management and Monitoring System (CMMS) would allow supervision and resolution of field issues without delay. How Will This Census be Different From the 2011 Census? Both in terms of methodology and content, Census 2027 will be different from 2011. Process and Technology Apart from the process being digital and allowing self-enumeration, Census 2027 will include: Also, responses for some of the questions being canvassed were descriptive in nature. Data processing of these descriptive responses required human intervention and at times took years for a few questions, delaying data dissemination. It also involved risk of data biasness and errors because of diverse judgement of enumerators. To fix this, the 2027 Census will use a digital system where enumerators would select options from pre-loaded lists—called code directories (with separate code for possible responses)—on a mobile app. These lists included standardized codes for things like Scheduled Castes and Tribes, different languages, jobs, and places of birth. This approach required enumerators to select entries from standardized drop-down menus or picklists. This makes sure that entries were uniform across the country and could be quickly processed by computers. It is a major step towards making the census more modern and reducing errors caused by manual entry. New Questions in the 2027 Census Questionnaire The RGI had prepared detailed questionnaire for both phases of the Census in 2018 itself. A test of the enumeration was conducted in 2019. Sources said the questionnaire for 2027 will almost remain the same with addition of caste enumeration. The house-listing operation will collect data under 34 columns, while population enumeration will have 28 columns, capturing extensive demographic, social, and economic data. House-listing Phase New questions included: Population Enumeration Phase Among the most significant changes: Challenges in the Field and How They're Addressed Digital literacy among enumerators is a major concern. To resolve this, extensive training modules, simulations, and region-specific language interfaces have been designed. The app has been designed with user-friendly prompts, drop-down menus, and offline sync. Quality control involves supervisors reviewing flagged forms, and periodic checks by Census officers. Errors like unrealistic age ranges or duplicate entries could be caught and corrected before submission.
