NEW DELHI: The second phase of Census 2027 — involving population enumeration, will, for the first time, capture caste “as declared by the respondent” among its 40 fields, which include new ones such as number of bank accounts, place of Covid vaccination and voter card number.Enumeration by caste will not delve into the question of whether it falls under other backward classes (OBC) category. However, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will be enumerated as earlier, with all notified SC/ST communities listed in the drop-down menus. In a first, the questionnaire notified Friday for the upcoming population enumeration phase of Census 2027, shall seek the name of the spouse, parents’ particulars and nationality — elements captured by the national population register ( exercise undertaken alongside Census 2011 and proposed to be repeated with Census 2021 before the latter was postponed due to Covid. NPR updation was however delinked from Census 2027.The Phase 2 questionnaire lists 40 questions, up from 29 asked during Census 2011. The new fields include, apart from caste, spouse’s name and mother and father’s particulars, the respondent’s nationality as declared, permanent address, place of Covid-19 vaccination, total number of bank accounts, mobile number, Aadhaar number, voter ID number, passport number and availability of driving license. While the mobile number, Aadhaar no and voter ID may be shared if available, the passport number is required only from an Indian passport holder.Sources told TOI that mother and father’s particulars are likely to capture their names, date of birth and place of birth. While these are key factors that determine citizenship/nationality, their capture will have no impact on individuals since individual census data must remain confidential and cannot be used for “legal evidence, govt benefits or public disclosure,” as per the govt. A senior govt functionary said the aggregate data, however, may give a picture of overall population that meets the citizenship criteria as per the Citizenship Act.TOI was the first to report on August 3 that the Phase 2 questionnaire shall capture caste “as declared by the respondent” and, in a first, also capture parents’ date and place of birth.Sources said that giving the drop down option for enumeration was not found to be feasible because states have different classes categorised as OBCs, with mismatch between the communities recognised as such by the Centre and those at the level of states. Sources also pointed to the trend of states expanding their respective OBC lists by adding more castes/classes, something which could have created logistical problems once the Census was underway.Officials told TOI that unlike the socio-economic caste census conducted in 2011 — which had returned around 46 lakh castes, making it unusable — the digital mode of Census 2027 and availability of modern, AI-based tools can surmount compilation and segregation challenges. Also, the full confidentiality of an individual’s caste declaration is guaranteed by the Census Act.In other shifts from previous census exercises, the fertility data to be collected in Census 2027 will skip the differentiation between male and female children. Also, literacy status will separately capture digital literacy.Even though an individual’s aadhaar no, voter ID and passport details enumerated as part of census cannot be disclosed to any entity, including govt departments, sources said the data, when aggregated, can give the big picture on coverage of these documents and identify the gaps. Similarly, the number of bank accounts will give an idea of the penetration and distribution of banking services.Phase 2 is due to start in Union territory of Ladakh and the snow-bound, non-synchronous areas of J&K, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh on August 17; self-enumeration window will run from August 17 to 31, followed by field enumeration from Sept 1 to 30. For the rest of the country, the population enumeration will resume in February 2027, culminating in the population headcount with March 1, 2027, as the reference date.
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Phase 1 of Census is due to be completed across the country by Sept 30, 2026.Among the usual fields included in the Phase 2 questionnaire are religion, age at marriage, disability, mother tongue and other spoken languages, education, occupation and migration.
