Census 2027 has 'deeper nefarious purpose': Congress slams questionnaire methodology
Concerns have been raised over the methodology being used to record caste responses in the upcoming Census 2027, specifically that officials will record caste "as shared by respondents" rather than using a pre-prepared, state-wise list of castes.
This is being contrasted with the approach used in the Bihar (2023) and Telangana caste surveys, both of which used a pre-compiled list of castes for enumerators to select from.
The critique follows an earlier position taken by the Union government in a Supreme Court affidavit opposing caste enumeration and release of related data.
The Registrar General of India has notified a 40-question Census 2027 schedule that includes caste and SC/ST status, with population enumeration to be carried out in phases between 2026 and 2027.
Constitutional and Legal Basis of the Census
The decennial Census is conducted under the Census Act, 1948, which provides the statutory framework for house-listing and population enumeration in India. "Census" falls under the Union List (Entry 69, List I, Seventh Schedule), read with Article 246, giving Parliament exclusive power to legislate on it. The Census is administered by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Key Details
- Census Act, 1948 was piloted by the Home Ministry and remains the operative law for all Census exercises since.
- Census is distinct from the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC), which is a separate administrative exercise, not conducted under the Census Act.
- Census 2027 will be India's first fully digital Census, with a self-enumeration option and Cabinet approval of ₹11,718.24 crore for the exercise.
The current dispute over "methodology" is essentially about how the caste question — authorized under the same 40-question Census 2027 schedule — is operationalised, i.e., whether a standardised caste list is provided to enumerators or castes are recorded exactly as respondents state them.
History of Caste Enumeration in the Census
A full caste count for all communities (not just SCs/STs) was last conducted in 1931. After Independence, the Census enumerated only Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; caste details for other communities were dropped as a policy decision to discourage caste-based social divisions. Census 2027 marks the first count of caste data for all communities since 1931, following a Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs decision of 30 April 2025 to include caste enumeration.
Key Details
- The Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 collected caste data but its findings were never officially released, as the government told the Supreme Court (September 2021 affidavit) that the caste-related data was "administratively difficult," "fraught with errors," and not reliable for policy use.
- The Supreme Court, in a December 2021 order, declined to direct disclosure of the 2011 SECC caste data, accepting the government's position that it was unusable and that it did not intend to repeat the caste enumeration exercise at the time.
- Article 340 of the Constitution provides for a commission to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes — the constitutional hook cited by proponents of caste enumeration (this was the basis for the Mandal Commission, 1979).
The article notes the government's own 2021 Supreme Court affidavit had earlier opposed a caste census as impractical; its 2025 reversal to include caste in Census 2027 is the backdrop against which the current methodology (list-based vs. self-reported) is being contested.
State-Level Caste Surveys as a Precedent (Bihar and Telangana Models)
Several states have conducted their own caste surveys independent of the Union Census, using door-to-door enumeration with a pre-compiled list of castes/sub-castes for each household to select from. These surveys fall outside the Census Act and are conducted under state executive/administrative powers, distinct from the constitutionally exclusive Union Census.
Key Details
- The Bihar caste survey (2023) enumerated 214 castes using a pre-prepared list and became a political reference point for national caste-data demands; its legal validity was also challenged before the Supreme Court, which declined to stay it.
- State surveys use a closed/pre-listed methodology, whereas the Census 2027 caste question is understood to allow open-ended, self-reported responses without a standard drop-down list of castes — the specific methodological gap being flagged.
- Census schedules for houselisting phase were notified with self-enumeration options available between August 17–31, 2026, ahead of full population enumeration.
The demand for adopting the Bihar/Telangana "pre-prepared list" model rather than open-ended recording is the core methodological objection referenced in the news, since inconsistent, self-reported caste names (spelling variants, sub-caste vs. caste, synonyms) are harder to standardise, classify, and use for policy purposes such as OBC sub-categorisation.
- Last full caste enumeration in the Indian Census: 1931 (nearly a century gap by 2027).
- Union Cabinet approved Census 2027 caste enumeration on 30 April 2025; Cabinet cleared ₹11,718.24 crore for the exercise in December 2025.
- Census 2027 will use a 40-question schedule, including caste and SC/ST status.
- Self-enumeration window: 17–31 August 2026; population enumeration in snow-bound areas begins 1 September 2026, with the remaining country covered in 2027.
- SECC 2011 caste data was never officially released; Supreme Court declined to order its disclosure in December 2021.
- Census is a Union List subject (Entry 69, List I) under Article 246, governed by the Census Act, 1948.