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Census to be conducted from March 1, 2027; caste survey to be included

The Centre on Wednesday announced that it will conduct the population census, beginning from March 1, 2027. Caste census, a long-standing demand of the Opposition, will also be a part of the process, the Ministry of Home Affairs said. However, for the Union Territory of Ladakh and other snow-bound areas of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and States of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the census will begin from October 1, 2026, the ministry added. The Opposition has been criticising the Narendra Modi-led coalition government for delaying the decadal Census programme, while demanding a caste-based census. Initially scheduled for April 2020, the census was first postponed due to the outbreak of the Covid-19. "Census 2021 was also proposed to be conducted in two phases in a similar manner with phase I during April-September 2020 and second phase in February 2021. All the preparations for the first phase of the Census to be conducted in 2021 were completed and field work was scheduled to begin in some States/UTs from April 1, 2020. However, due to the outbreak of Cvoid-19 pandemic across the country, the census work was postponed," the ministry added. The inclusion of caste census comes after Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced in April 2025 that the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs has approved the inclusion of caste enumeration in the next census. India's last census recorded a population of 1.21 billion, with rural areas accounting for 68.84 per cent of the population and urban areas making up 31.16 per cent. Uttar Pradesh was the most populous state, while Lakshadweep had the lowest population among Union territories.