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The central government has released a list of 40 questions for the population enumeration phase of Census 2027. These will include information to caste, SC/ST status, religion, education, employment, migration and family.

Census 2027 Questions: The upcoming Census 2027 in India is going to be important in many ways. For the first time, information to caste will also be recorded in the population enumeration phase of the census. The Central Government has released the list of questions to be asked for this. Information to people’s social, economic, educational, employment, migration and family status will be collected through a total of 40 questions.

As the government prepares to digitalize the census process, the government has also included some details to identity and financial services along with personal and social information in the list. These include questions to Aadhaar, Voter ID, passport, mobile number, number of bank accounts and Covid-19 vaccination.

Caste information will be recorded for the first time

One of the biggest features of Census 2027 is the collection of caste information. People will be asked whether they belong to Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST). Along with this, the name of their caste will also be recorded. As per available information, instead of giving a ready list of castes in the questionnaire, the person will be asked about his caste and the answer given by him will be recorded.

The decision to include caste- information in the census was taken last year by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Due to this, the census of 2027 can be very important in terms of social statistics of the country.

Questions to religion, language and education

The census will collect information about people’s marital status, nationality, religion, mother tongue and other known languages. Apart from this, questions to parents’ information, disability, literacy and digital literacy will also be asked. Regarding education, information will be taken whether the person is studying in any educational institution or not. Information to his highest educational qualification and stream or subject of study will also be recorded.

Employment and economic activity information

Special attention has also been paid to the employment status of the people in the census. They will be asked whether they worked at any time in the previous year. Information such as economic activity of workers, profession, industry, type of trade or service and category of worker will be recorded. Information to the status of those who are not involved in economic activities will also be collected.

Marginal, semi-marginal and non-workers may be asked whether they are available for work or not. Besides, information to commuting to the place of work will also be collected.

Records of birthplace and migration

Data to migration of people will also be collected in Census 2027. This will include information like birthplace, place of last residence, reason for coming to the current village or town and duration of stay there. Apart from this, the permanent residential address of the person will also be recorded. These data can help in understanding the pattern of internal migration of people in the country.

Information to children will also be collected from women who are currently married, widowed, divorced or living separately. This includes questions like number of living children, number of children from the current marriage, and number of children born alive in the past year. Such information can be useful in understanding data to population growth, family size and birth rate in the country.

Covid vaccine, bank accounts and identity documents

The census questions also include some topics which are attracting special attention of the common people. People will be asked where they had got the Covid-19 vaccine. Apart from this, information to bank account number, mobile number, Aadhaar, Voter ID and passport is also included in the list. People will also be asked whether they have a driving license or not.

However, data privacy and security will be important issues regarding the collection and use of this information. Information will be collected as per the procedure prescribed under the Census Act, 1948.

Census will start first in snowfall areas

According to the government programme, population census will be carried out between September 1 and 30 in the snowfall areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. In these areas, the option of self-enumeration will also be available from 17th to 31st August before the door-to-door census. Population census in other parts of the country will take place at a later stage.

The phase of house listing and housing census is going on before the population census. During this period, census workers are collecting details of houses and buildings. In this phase, about 33 questions are being asked from each house. These include basic amenities of the house, name and gender of the head of the household, ownership status of the house and other residential information.