Kamal Ghorui
New Delhi: The home ministry on Tuesday countered the “deliberate misinformation campaign” by the opposition painting the govt as non-serious about caste enumeration, based merely on the Census 2027 “houselisting” questionnaire notified last week, despite govt’s well-known public stand that caste will be captured in the second stage of the census, that is, population enumeration phase due in Feb next year, that is 2027. Sources said that the sequencing is not something new and recalled that the questionnaire for population enumeration stage of Census 2011 was notified by the then UPA govt only towards the end of the first stage of the census – the “houselisting and housing” phase held from April 1 to Sept 30, 2010. As per the notification issued on Aug 31, 2010, a total of 29 questions were listed for the census officer to collect information from persons within his or her area, through the housing schedule. The “houselisting” schedule or questionnaire for Census 2011, notified on Feb 25, 2010, had listed 30 questions, unlike 33 questions included in the Census 2027 “housing” schedule notified on Jan 22.“Full information on Census 2027 was put out in a press statement dated Dec 12, 2025. Yet, some people are intentionally trying to spread falsehoods about Census 2027, particularly the caste census,” the home ministry spokesperson said on X a day after Congress’s Jairam Ramesh reiterated his allegation questioning the govt’s intent to conduct a caste-wise enumeration. “It has been clearly outlined that Census 2027 shall be conducted in two phases, with the caste census due only in the second phase. This two-stage schedule – the first stage being ‘houselisting and housing phase’ and second, ‘population enumeration’ – replicates the practice followed in all previous censuses,” ministry said while attaching its Dec 2025 press statement put out after the Union cabinet approved a proposal to conduct Census 2027 at a cost of Rs 11,718 crore. Sources said the questions to be asked during the population enumeration phase in Feb 2027, including those intended at recording a respondent’s caste, may be notified only in Aug or Sept this year. In fact, the questionnaire for the second stage of Census 2021 was yet to be notified when the Covid pandemic forced its postponement days before it was scheduled to start on Apr 1, 2020.
