MHA notifies 2027 census schedule, lists 33 questions for first phase

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has notified the 2027 census schedule and finalised the questions for houselisting and housing for data collection.

On January 22, the ministry’s office of Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India notified the schedule of census 2027 to be held between April 1 to September 30, and finalised  33 questions that were proposed for the 2021 census that were postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The questionnaire contains 33 items for the first phase of houselisting and housing which covers building identification, materials used in floors, walls and roofs, condition and use of houses, household size, ownership status and the number of dwelling rooms. According to the document, census officers will collect information using a standardised household listing schedule within their assigned jurisdictions.

The form also gathers details about the head of the household, including gender and social category, along with information on essential amenities such as drinking water, electricity supply, toilets, bathing facilities, kitchens, LPG and PNG connections, cooking fuel, waste water outlets, and sanitation arrangements.

In keeping with the expanding role of digital infrastructure in everyday life, the questionnaire includes access to communication and transport facilities such as mobile phones, internet connectivity, computers, televisions, and vehicles.

The notification also clarifies that mobile numbers will be collected strictly for census-related communication.

The exercise is divided into two phases ,the first phase in which housing listing and housing census will be conducted between April 1 and September 30, whereas the second phase in which population enumeration census will be conducted from 1st October to March 2027for Ladakh and snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

The population enumeration period also captures the caste census, a first since the 1931 census.