Your Caste, COVID Vaccination Details: Centre Notifies 40 Questions for Census 2027
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Census 2027 will ask 40 questions, including caste, Aadhaar, bank accounts and COVID-19 vaccination details, as India begins its first caste census.
By Sakshi.
New Delhi, August 14: The Centre on Friday notified a total of 40 questions for the population enumeration phase of the Census 2027, which contains inquiry about their caste and the place they received COVID-19 vaccination. The Census will start from February 2027, except the snowy areas where the survey will begin on September 1 this year, considering challenged related to weather in winters.
The digital census will collect detailed information on respondents' social, economic, educational and demographic backgrounds as the government prepares to conduct the first census to include caste enumeration.
The order issued by Registrar General of India (RGI) Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan includes questions on whether a person belongs to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe and their respective caste.
Dates for snow-bound regions
Population enumeration in Ladakh and snow-bound, non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand will take place from September 1 to 30, according to a gazette notification issued earlier this month.
"For the conduct of the above Census, there shall be an option for self-enumeration from August 17 to 31 just before the start of house-to-house population enumeration," it said.
In the rest of the country, population enumeration will begin next year.
This will be the first time that caste details will be collected as part of the Census.
The questionnaire is unlikely to carry a list of castes, and responses will be recorded as provided by respondents, sources said.
The decision to include caste enumeration was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on April 30 last year.
"In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 8 of the Census Act, 1948 (Act 37 of 1948), the Central Government hereby instructs and directs that the census officers may, within the limits of the local area for which they have been respectively appointed, ask all such questions of all persons residing within such limits, subject to the items enumerated below, for collecting information through the Household Schedule in connection with the Census of India 2027," a notification from the Registrar General of India said.
Questions for the Census
Respondents will be asked for personal details such as marital status, age at marriage, spouse's name, nationality, religion, Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, caste, details of parents, disability, mother tongue, other languages known, literacy and digital literacy status, among others.
The world's biggest headcount will be a completely digital exercise.
Respondents will also be asked about attendance at an educational institution, highest educational qualification, stream, discipline, whether they worked at any time during the last year, category of economic activity, occupation, nature of industry, trade or service, class of worker and whether they are engaged in non-economic activity, in the case of marginal, semi-marginal and non-workers.
They will also be asked whether they are available for work, in the case of marginal, semi-marginal and non-workers, and whether they travel to their place of work.
Enumerators will also ask about the respondent's birthplace, place of last residence, reason for migration, duration of stay in the village or town since the last migration, and permanent residential address, it said.
Currently married, widowed, divorced and separated women will be asked about the number of children currently surviving, the number of children in their current marriage and the number of children born alive in the last one year.
Respondents will also be asked about the place of COVID-19 vaccination, the total number of bank accounts, mobile number, Aadhaar number, Voter ID number, Passport number and whether they possess a driving licence, it said.
The first phase, house listing and housing census (HLO), is scheduled to continue until September 30.
Field visits for the housing listing and housing census began on April 16 in several states and Union Territories.
Enumerators are listing all structures, houses and households across the country to create a foundation for the population enumeration.
During the housing listing operations, enumerators physically visit each house and building and ask respondents 33 questions about basic facilities in their homes, details of the head of the household, such as name and sex, and ownership status.
The decadal exercise, which was scheduled for 2021, was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Union Cabinet has approved Rs 11,718 crore to conduct the Census.
(With Inputs from news agency PTI)
