Can A Country Question Its Caste? India Is Counting It Again After 95 Years

Self-enumeration for Census 2027 will begin on Monday in Jammu and Kashmir and across the Union Territory of Ladakh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and continue till August 31. Director Census Operations for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, Amit Sharma, told PTI that the exercise will allow residents to digitally provide their details ahead of the door-to-door Population Enumeration scheduled from September 1 to 30.

This historic move marks the first time since independence that caste, excluding Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, will be officially enumerated. The Ministry of Home Affairs issued these directives under the Census Act, 1948.

Why Is India Counting Caste Again?

The Centre on August 14 notified a set of 40 questions to be asked during the exercise of the population enumeration phase of Census 2027, with specific mention of "caste enumeration" for all communities, marking a major departure from previous decennial censuses.

The decision to include caste enumeration in Census 2027 was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) on April 30, 2025.

Former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar had said earlier that government’s decision to include caste-based enumeration in the decadal census will be a transformative step, game-changing. “It will help bring about social justice. It will be an eye-opener. It will satisfy people's aspirations. It's a very broad decision of the government. There was a caste-based census earlier. Last time, I think it was conducted in 1931. I looked up to that census many times to know about my caste,” he said, highlighting the importance of caste-based enumeration.

Caste enumeration has emerged as a major feature of the Indian Census 2027. The inclusion of caste at question number 10 assumes particular significance as Census 2027 will be the first census since Independence to undertake comprehensive caste enumeration. Until the 2011 Census, the exercise included the systematic enumeration of only Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), while caste enumeration for other communities was not part of the post-Independence Census.

What Happened To Caste Enumeration After 1931?

The decision to include caste enumeration in Census 2027 was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) on April 30, 2025.

Comprehensive caste data have not been collected since 1931, and India completely stopped the caste census in 1951 to prevent what the government at the time said was “social divisions”.

Limited information continued to be collected about Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), the caste groups located on the lowest rung of the caste hierarchy. This was recorded through the National Sample Survey. Caste system has continued to divide the country on the basis of privileges. Those who belonged to ‘lower’ castes were treated as ‘untouchables’ and never had privileges their ‘upper’ caste counterparts enjoyed.

How Will Census 2027 Be Conducted?

The Census is being conducted in two phases, with the first phase covering House Listing and Housing Census, followed by Population Enumeration, during which comprehensive demographic, socio-economic and caste-related information will be collected.

The Phase I (Houselisting and Housing) Census is scheduled between April and September 2026. It will be held in a period of 30 days in each state and UT, as per the convenience of the state and the UT governments. There is also be an option of self-enumeration during a 15-day period just before the 30-day period of house-to-house HLO work. This phase gathers detailed information on housing conditions, availability of amenities, and assets possessed by households, while also creating the essential frame for the subsequent phase.

However, the Phase II (Population Enumeration) is scheduled for February 2027 and will focus on capturing detailed demographic, socio-economic, cultural, migration, and fertility-related information of individuals across households. As decided by the CCPA, enumeration of Castes will also be done during the second phase of Census. For Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir and states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, Phase II will be conducted during September 2026.

Why Is Caste Difficult To Classify?

The Registrar General of India (RGI) has opted for an “open-ended question on caste” instead of providing a drop-down list of castes for the caste census that will be carried out during the population enumeration phase of the Census. The approach is expected to generate results similar to those of the 2011 Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC).

Sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said enumerators will only ask respondents to provide their caste and record the response exactly as stated, without trying to categorise surnames, sub-castes or other answers under broader caste groups.

PMK president and Rajya Sabha member Anbumani Ramadoss on Sunday urged MPs across all political parties to prevail upon the union government to revise the data collection method for the upcoming caste census, according to PTI. "Because people frequently cite sub-castes rather than officially recognised caste categories, recording raw inputs would falsely inflate the number of castes and render the collected data unusable for social justice policies", he claimed.