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India’s next population census will be held in two phases on October 1, 2026, in snow-bound northern regions, and on March 1, 2027, for the rest of the country, the Ministry of Home Affairs has announced.
Government has announced that the next population census in India will be conducted in two phases, starting from October 1, 2026, and continuing on March 1, 2027.
The Census will begin in Ladakh, snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand from 1st October 2026, says the notification by Ministry of Home Affairs. The process will be undertaken in rest of the country from 1st March 2027.
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India's 16th census
The official notification for India's census was issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs through the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
The next census, the 16th since 1872 and 8th after independence, will be the first digital census in independent India.
As per the notification, the reference date for most parts of the country will be 00:00 hours on March 1, 2027.
However, due to harsh weather conditions and difficult terrain, a separate schedule has been fixed for Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, and the snow-covered areas of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
In these regions, the census will take place earlier, with a reference date of 00:00 hours on October 1, 2026.
This decision overrides the earlier notification from March 2019, which had set the framework for the now-delayed census.
2021 census postponed due to pandemic
The last census in India was conducted in 2011, and the 2021 census was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The upcoming census will be the 16th national population census and the 8th since Independence. It will provide crucial data for planning government policies, development schemes, and welfare programs across the country.
The notification was signed by Mr. Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
Amit Shah reviews Census preparations
On June 15, Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the preparations for the upcoming Census during a meeting in New Delhi along with Union Home Secretary, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RG& CCI) and other senior officials.
Sharing the details in a post on X, Amit Shah said, "Reviewed the preparations for the 16th Census with senior officials. Tomorrow, the gazette notification of the census will be issued. The census will include caste enumeration for the first time. As many as 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors and around 1.3 lakh census functionaries will conduct the operation with cutting-edge mobile digital gadgets.
"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. In the Census, Caste enumeration will also be done.
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.
(With ANI inputs)
