Cabinet clears Rs 11-Cr for digital census 2027, first to include caste enumeration
The Union Cabinet gave approval for India’s first fully digital census to be conducted in two phases and including caste enumeration for the first time.
Lack of education and poverty were some of the factors leading to population growth.
Guwahati, Dec 13: The Union Cabinet on Friday approved Rs 11,718 crore for conducting the Census of India, 2027, which would include the caste enumeration for the first time.
Addressing a briefing, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the proposal to conduct the Census, which will be the first digital exercise.
Around 30 lakh enumerators would be involved in the entire exercise.
The 16th edition of the Census since Independence will also provide an option of self-enumeration to the citizens.
The decadal exercise, which was scheduled to take place in 2021, got postponed due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic across the country.
The Minister said the Census will be conducted in two phases — house-listing and housing census from April to September, 2026; and population enumeration (PE) in February 2027.
For Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the PE exercise shall be conducted in September 2026, the Minister said.
“This will become the first-ever digital census,” Vaishnaw told reporters.
Around 30 lakh enumerators will visit each and every household and canvass a separate questionnaire for houselisting and housing census and population enumeration. It will generate 1.02 crore human days of employment, the Minister said.
PTI