6 months ago
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The Union Government said successful the Lok Sabha connected Tuesday (December 2, 2025) that arsenic per the Census Act, 1948, “the responsive is required to reply each questions to the champion of his cognition oregon belief.”
The connection came arsenic a written reply by Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai successful effect to a question by Trinamool Congress subordinate Shatrughan Prasad Sinha who asked whether disclosing caste for the Census would beryllium optional
The Minister’s reply mentioned Section 8(2) of the Census Act, 1948, which says, “Every idiosyncratic of whom immoderate question is asked nether sub-section (1) shall beryllium legally bound to reply specified question to the champion of his cognition oregon belief.”
The adjacent Census volition beryllium the archetypal integer census and the archetypal to enumerate caste successful the Independent India.
The reply added that the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner is successful the process of finalising a questionnaire and it volition beryllium notified successful the authoritative gazette.
When asked if the timeline for the Census would clash with schoolhouse committee examinations arsenic galore enumerators are besides schoolteachers, the reply said, “Primary schoolhouse teachers are usually appointed arsenic enumerators. The timeline for Census 2027 has been kept aforesaid similar the past practices followed successful erstwhile censuses.”
The reply said, “In Census, Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (Sts) are enumerated strictly arsenic per the notified database of SCs and STs, notified vide the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 (as amended clip to time). In Census 2027, Caste enumeration volition beryllium done arsenic decided by Cabinet Committee connected Political Affairs vide its determination dated 30.04.2025. The census questions are notified aft finalisation.”
The Census 2027 volition beryllium conducted successful 2 phases. — Phase I –House Listing and Housing Census from April to September, 2026 successful a play of 30 days arsenic per the convenience of the State/UT Governments, followed by Phase II – Population Enumeration (PE). Population. Enumeration volition beryllium done successful February 2027.
Responding to different question by Congress person Rahul Gandhi whether the Government has immoderate connection to people the draught Census questions and question inputs from the wide nationalist oregon people’s representatives and whether it volition see champion practices specified arsenic caste surveys done successful different States, the Minister said, “The draught Census questionnaires are pre-tested successful the tract to measure their feasibility earlier finalisation of the same. Census has a past of much than 150 years. Learnings from the erstwhile census are taken into information for conducting the adjacent census. Before each census, the inputs are besides taken from acrophobic stakeholders.”
