Questions on caste to be notified before second phase of census: Govt tells Parliament

New Delhi: Caste enumeration will be done in the second phase of the census and questions, including those on caste, will be finalised and notified before the commencement of the phase called Population Enumeration (PE), the government informed Parliament on Wednesday.

In a written response to a query in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said the Centre’s intention to conduct Census 2027 has been notified.

Caste enumeration will also be done in the second phase of the census exercise called Population Enumeration (PE), in which the demographic, socio-economic, cultural and other details of every person will be collected, he said.

The questions, including on caste, for the second phase will be finalised and notified in accordance with the established procedure, “before the commencement of the second phase of the Census Operation”, the minister said.

“Several representations regarding the enumeration of caste have been received from various organisations of different states, including of the state of Tamil Nadu,” he added.

Rai said the census is conducted in two phases.

In the first phase, House Listing Operation (HLO) information regarding housing conditions, assets, amenities etc. of each household is collected, while in the second phase -- Population Enumeration (PE) -- the demographic, socio-economic, cultural and other details of every person are collected, he said.

The government notified the questions for the first phase on January 22 and those for the second phase, including questions on caste, will be notified before the second phase, he added.

The massive exercise to collect population-related data from across the country will be carried out by about 30 lakh enumerators and supervisors and around 1.3 lakh census functionaries armed with digital devices.