Census 2027: Government notifies rules for appointment of officials to conduct mega exercise
NEW DELHI: The government has notified updated rules for conducting the 2027 population census, which will, for the first time since Independence, include online self-enumeration and caste enumeration. The rules lay down detailed guidelines for state governments and Union Territory (UT) administrations to designate and appoint census officials for the two-phase nationwide exercise. A senior official in the office of the Registrar General of India (RGI) said the Census Rules applicable during the 1991 exercise have been freshly compiled by incorporating changes and other provisions introduced over the past five years, since Census 2021 was announced in 2020 but postponed, initially due to the Covid-19 pandemic and later for other reasons. Without prejudice to any other provisions of these rules, a person may fill up, complete and submit the census schedule through self-enumeration, the official said. Regarding the nomination and designation of officers responsible for Census 2027, the notified rules state that the Central government may designate the Director of Census Operations, Joint Director of Census Operations, Deputy Director of Census Operations and Assistant Director of Census Operations as the Chief Principal Census Officer for states and Union Territories. The rules also authorise state governments and UT administrations to appoint census officers to assist in conducting the exercise within their jurisdictions. The census schedules or questionnaires, the official added, shall separately be notified by the government through an official gazette notification. On the publication of census data, the rules specify that the Census Commissioner shall decide the items on which data may be released. It may be recalled that the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in April this year decided to include caste enumeration in the upcoming census following demands from various political parties. Earlier, in December, the government had approved an allocation of Rs 11,718 crore for conducting the exercise. According to the official, the census process is likely to begin in April 2026. While aggregated data on caste and other economic parameters will be published, individual data will be kept confidential in view of the data protection law. People will have the option of not disclosing their caste, he said. As usual, the census will be conducted in two phases: house-listing and housing census from April to September 2026, followed by population enumeration in February 2027. Census 2027 will capture caste data electronically during the population enumeration phase. Around 30 lakh field enumerators are expected to be deployed to complete the massive exercise.
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