Census to begin on January 25, 2027, with self-enumeration open from January 10

The Centre has announced the dates for the 2027 Census. Census Commissioner of India Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan said the Census will be held between January 25 and February 28, 2027. According to a Union Home Ministry notification, the reference date has been fixed as midnight, that is 12 am (00:00), on March 1, 2027.

For the public, the most useful provision is that people will get a chance to fill in their own details before house-to-house enumeration begins. According to the notification, the self-enumeration option will be available from January 10 to January 24, 2027. Regular Census work will start on January 25.

The first phase of the Census will run from January 25 to February 28, 2027. A review round will follow between March 1 and March 5, 2027, during which any necessary corrections to the Census data will be made. The reference date means that the Census information will be taken as relating to that point in time.

The Census will not be held in some areas for now. According to the notification, the exercise will not be conducted in Manipur until further orders. Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Ladakh have also been kept out of the programme. These dates will also not apply to the snow-bound areas of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Dates for these areas will be announced separately. In all other states and Union Territories, the Census will be held between January 25, 2027 and February 28, 2027. The notification states that Assembly elections are due in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur early next year.

This is the country's eighth Census since Independence. It will have two phases. One will record houses and their condition, and the other will count people. The Census, held every 10 years, was originally due in 2021 but was postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Union Cabinet has approved Rs 11,718 crore for it, and it will be the largest Census exercise the country has seen. The 40 questions to be asked in the Census have also been made public earlier.

The country's previous Census was held in 2011 and was also completed in two phases. According to that Census, India's population was 1.21 billion, of whom 623.2 million were men and 587.5 million were women. The total number of households was 249.5 million.

The 2021 Census was also planned in two phases. The first phase was to be held from April to September 2020 and the second in February 2021. Preparations on the ground had been completed, and the actual work was due to begin on April 1, 2020.