Census 2027 to capture caste, parents' birthplace in snow-bound areas starting August

The Census is also likely to collect passport numbers (where available) and Aadhaar numbers voluntarily.

NEW DELHI: The population enumeration phase of Census 2027, which will capture caste for the first time since 1931, and most likely also record the date and birthplace of parents, will start in Ladakh and the snow-bound areas, J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand on Aug 17. The Census is also likely to collect passport numbers (where available) and Aadhaar numbers voluntarily.

A home ministry notification Monday said the population enumeration exercise in snow-bound areas of the four northern states/UTs will be conducted from Sept 1-30, preceded by a self-enumeration window from Aug 17-30. This means that the questionnaire for Phase-2 of Census will also be notified soon. According to sources, caste will be recorded ‘as declared by the respondent’. There will be a drop-down menu for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, while the ‘caste’ field will only cater to those in non-SC, non-ST category.

Parents’ birth data will help identify how many meet citizenship criteria The drop-down menu will only show SC/ST list of the state where the respondent is being enumerated. The spelling of the declared ‘caste’ will be recorded as cited by the respondent. No document or caste certificate is required to be shown to verify one’s SC, ST or ‘caste’ status. An officer said while the self-declaration template followed for the socio-economic caste census of 2011 had thrown up over 45,000 castes, making data unusable, digital tools and AI can surmount compilation and segregation challenges.

Phase-2, in a first, will collect date and place of birth of parents, the key factors that determine citizenship. The national population register exercise — conducted alongside Census 2011, intended to be repeated with Census 2021 before it was postponed, but now delinked from Census 2027 — had in 2010 collected details of nationality as declared by respondent, with the rider it would not confer any right of citizenship.

Sources said respondents will not be asked for proof of birth details of parents and these would be recorded “best to the knowledge of the respondent”. In fact, where the respondents do not know exact date of birth of parents but only the year, a default date like Jan 1 of that year will be accepted.

The phase-2 questionnaire will also log passport details where available. Aadhaar number will be collected on a voluntary basis. The purpose of collecting parents’ birth data is to know the total number of people who meet citizenship criteria. It will have no impact on the individual as Census Act does not allow the data to be used for “legal evidence, govt benefits or public disclosure,” said an officer.