No reason to delay Census for another 23 months: Cong after govt announces schedule

New Delhi (PTI): Soon after the Centre announced the Census schedule, the Congress on Wednesday said there is no reason to delay the exercise for another 23 months and alleged that the Modi government does not meet deadlines.

The 2027 Census with caste enumeration will be carried out with the reference date of October 1, 2026 in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and of March 1, 2027 in the rest of the country, the Home Ministry announced on Wednesday.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said, "There is really no reason to delay the Census that was due in 2021 for another twenty three months. The Modi Government is capable only of generating headlines, not meeting deadlines."

In a statement, the Home Ministry said that it has been decided to conduct Population Census-2027 in two phases along with the enumeration of castes.

"The reference date for Population Census - 2027 will be 00:00 hours of the first day of March 2027.

"For the Union Territory of Ladakh and the non-synchronous snow-bound areas of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date will be 00.00 hours of the first day of October 2026," the ministry said.