Census 2027 to include question related to caste, a first in independent India
The Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner issued a gazette notification on August 14, 2026, formalising the questionnaire for Census 2027
For the first time since Independence, the census will carry a dedicated caste enumeration question, listed as item 10 and worded "Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribe (ST)/Caste"
The 2027 questionnaire expands to 40 questions, 13 more than the 29 questions used in Census 2011
Enumeration will proceed in two phases: a snow-bound and difficult-terrain phase beginning August 17, 2026, followed by the primary all-India enumeration in February 2027
Legal Basis of the Census — Census Act, 1948
The Census of India is conducted under the Census Act, 1948, a central legislation that empowers the Union government to direct the taking of a census and prescribe the particulars to be collected. Section 8(1) of the Act allows the central government to instruct census officers on the specific questions to be asked in the household schedule, which is the statutory provision the government has invoked to add the caste question for 2027.
Key Details
- Census Act, 1948 — a Union law (List I, Union List — "census" falls under Entry 69) administered by the Ministry of Home Affairs through the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner
- Section 3 empowers the central government to appoint a Census Commissioner; Section 8(1) governs the content of the questionnaire
- Section 15 mandates confidentiality of individual census records — data is published only in aggregated form
- The census has been conducted decennially since 1881 (uninterrupted since 1881, except the 2021 census which was deferred; the last full census was 2011)
The government used its Section 8(1) rule-making power under the 1948 Act — not a fresh law or constitutional amendment — to insert the caste question, which is why the change could be notified administratively rather than legislated.
History of Caste Enumeration in the Indian Census
Caste was enumerated for every community in the colonial census up to 1931, conducted under Census Commissioner J.H. Hutton. After Independence, census-takers restricted caste-related enumeration to Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) only, on the reasoning that a full caste count could entrench caste consciousness. The 2027 census reverses this seven-decade practice.
Key Details
- 1931 Census: the last full, all-community caste enumeration in undivided India, under Census Commissioner J.H. Hutton
- Post-1951 censuses recorded population by religion and by SC/ST status only, not by other caste groups
- The Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) of 2011 attempted to capture caste data but was conducted separately, not under the Census Act, 1948, and its caste data was never officially released due to classification errors
- Some states have since conducted their own caste surveys under state executive powers (distinct from the Union census)
Census 2027 folds caste enumeration back into the constitutionally sanctioned, legally binding decennial census for the first time since 1931, replacing the earlier state-level surveys and the unreleased SECC 2011 data with an official, nationwide, Union government dataset.
Census as an Input to Delimitation and Welfare Policy
Census data is not merely descriptive — it feeds directly into constitutional processes such as delimitation of constituencies (Articles 82 and 170) and into eligibility criteria for reservation and welfare schemes, which is why the scope of the questionnaire is constitutionally and administratively significant.
Key Details
- Articles 82 and 170 require Parliament and State Legislatures to readjust constituency boundaries and seat allocation after "each census," making census timing and content politically and administratively consequential
- Caste-disaggregated data has been sought by policy bodies for calibrating reservation policy, backward class classification (relevant to Articles 15(4), 16(4), and 340 on the appointment of a Backward Classes Commission), and targeted welfare delivery
- The Union Cabinet had earlier approved in principle the inclusion of caste enumeration in the census exercise, ahead of this formal gazette notification
By adding caste as a formal census category, the government creates an official, legally collected dataset that can be used for evidence-based backward class classification and scheme targeting, an evidentiary gap that has persisted since SECC 2011 data was never officially released.
- Gazette notification date: August 14, 2026
- Notifying authority: Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner (Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan)
- Statutory basis: Section 8(1), Census Act, 1948
- Caste question: item number 10 of the questionnaire — "Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribe (ST)/Caste"
- Total questions in Census 2027: 40 (up from 29 in Census 2011)
- Phase 1 (snow-bound/difficult terrain areas): begins August 17, 2026
- Phase 2 (primary all-India enumeration): scheduled for February 2027
- Last full caste enumeration in an Indian census: 1931