Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai
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The government on Tuesday announced that Census 2027 will be conducted in two phases, the first one between April and September 2026 and the second phase in February 2027. However, in the first phase, it will be conducted in a period of 30 days as per the convenience of States and Union Territories.
Replying to a question by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said during Phase I, it will be house listing and housing census followed by population enumeration (PE) in Phase II. In a separate question, Rai also informed Parliament that caste enumeration will be done in the census as earlier decided by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.
“Population Enumeration will be done in February 2027 with reference date 00:00 hours of 1st March, 2027 except for the Union territory of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the States of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where it will be done in September, 2026 with reference date 00.00 hours of 1st October, 2026,” Rai said.
He said that India’s census has a history of more than 150 years and learnings from previous exercises are taken into consideration for conducting the next census. Questionnaires have been finalised on the basis of inputs and suggestions from different ministries, departments, organisations and census data users, he added.
He further said that Census 2027 will be conducted through digital means in which data will be collected through mobile Apps along with online provision for self-enumeration.
Published on December 2, 2025
