Census 2027 forms to have SC, ST lists from states, FAQ says

NEW new delhi: Respondents put up reply questions on their caste based on the lists of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes for apiece say, made available with the self-enumeration forms, a FAQ for Census 2027 says.“The Census of India has compiled it and provided the list of castes for all states/UTs. If your caste or tribe name is not listed under your state/UT’s caste list, you can select ‘Other’ from the option,” the FAQ adds.The FAQ underlines that each state and UT has its own notified list of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. It does not mention the central list.The FAQ section has been provided on the self-enumeration portal to help people answer Census queries.The Census 2027, which will be conducted entirely digitally, is being conducted in two phases starting next month. Enumerators will use a special mobile application created for the purpose on their phones to collect the information.The government has notified 33 questions that will be put before citizens in the first phase — the Housing Listing and Housing Census — beginning April 1, 2026. The second phase is the population enumeration.The FAQ section provides guidance on several tricky questions, including on live-in relationships. “Will a couple in a live-in relationship be considered a married couple?” asks a question. The answer says: “If they consider their relationship as a stable union, they should be treated as a married couple.”The FAQs range from material used for house flooring and roof, source of drinking water, number of married couples in a household, the sex of the head of the house, the type of cereal a household consumes- queries that are part of the phase 1 questions that enumerators will ask the citizens.Another question asks whether a mobile phone with FM should be counted as a ‘radio’ available. The FAQ says, “Yes. Record ‘On Mobile/Smartphone’.”On Monday, the MHA announced in a PIB release the state- and UT-wise housing listing and self-enumeration period. The self-enumeration period, lasting 15 days just before the 30-day period of houselisting work, begins in a set of states/UTs, including Odisha, Karnataka, Goa, and Lakshadweep, on April 1. The earliest houselisting period will hence start on April 16.At a press conference on Monday, the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RG and CCI), Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, said India is likely to have the first set of census data ready by next year, much earlier than previous exercises, owing to the adoption of digital technology in the largest enumeration exercise on the planet. “With digital tools, real-time monitoring and automated validation checks, the availability of initial data will be much faster than before,” he said.He asked people to provide accurate information to enumerators, asserting that individual data will remain confidential and cannot be used as evidence or to obtain any benefit under any scheme. “All individual data collected during the exercise remains confidential. It cannot be shared with any organisation, be it government or private, under the Right to Information Act, or used as evidence in a court,” Narayan said, pointing to Section 15 of the Census Act, which protects confidentiality of individual data.‘Bengal yet to issue Census notification’Narayan, meanwhile, pointed out that West Bengal has not yet issued the notification for conducting the Census, and the issue has been raised with the state, which is heading to assembly polls next month. “West Bengal has not issued the notification for conducting the Census. We have raised this issue with them. It is expected that they will issue the notification soon, as it is a legally mandated exercise. We have time till September 30 for the first phase of the exercise,” he added.