The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, has reassured the public that individual data collected during the upcoming census will remain confidential and cannot be used for any purpose other than statistical aggregation.
Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo announced that the Census 2027 will be a fully digital and paperless exercise, utilising mobile technology, AI, and cloud computing for accuracy and efficiency, marking a shift towards data-driven governance.
Rajasthan Police have issued an advisory warning citizens about potential cyber fraud attempts disguised as part of the ongoing digital census. Scammers may use various methods, including fake calls, messages, and in-person visits, to steal personal and financial information.
The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Monday passed a resolution urging the Centre to provide the 2011 census data to enable the State Backward Class Commission to prepare an empirical data of the OBC population, in a bid to restore political reservations for its members in local bodies.
'Once the numbers come out, they fear that the OBCs would start to demand, and articulate what they are lacking, why they are lacking and what should be done to go forward.'
Population Foundation of India welcomes the digitisation of the Census but emphasises the need for inclusivity, data security, and addressing the under-reporting of women's contributions.
The Congress and BJP are engaged in a political spat over the implementation of the Women's Reservation Bill and its proposed link to delimitation, with Rahul Gandhi urging unconditional implementation of the 2023 law and Kiren Rijiju highlighting the constitutional requirement for delimitation based on post-2026 census figures.
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced that census operations in the state would commence on August 1 and continue until the end of February next year. He criticised the previous government for delaying the process and highlighted the importance of the census for the state.
In an attempt to curb bogus voting and monitor the migration of voters across India, the Election Commission is planning to link the Census data of 2011 with its electoral rolls. The EC then plans to use global positioning system to automatically record the voters' migration or shifting of residence.Once the Census data is made available to the Election Commission, it will be clubbed with the electoral rolls. The GPS chip would be added to the electronic photo identity cards.
Four Census officials, including two women, were allegedly assaulted in Odisha's Dhenkanal district while collecting data as part of the Census exercise.
Four Census officials were assaulted in Odisha's Dhenkanal district, prompting the state government to formulate a standard operating procedure (SOP) to safeguard census officials from physical harm and heat-related risks.
Over 93,000 individuals in Delhi have participated in the self-enumeration exercise for Census 2027, with North East, South West, and North West Delhi districts leading in registrations. The initiative, part of a broader census effort, allows residents to submit household details online, contributing to the overall data collection process.
A new study projects that by 2100, only 38% of the world's population will reside in large cities, a significant reduction from previous estimates. This revised projection is based on a newly discovered urban life cycle, where the growth rate of large cities slows down as countries become more urbanised, contrasting with the rapid growth seen in less urbanised regions. The research highlights the importance of understanding these dynamics for future infrastructure and climate adaptation planning.
The Union Cabinet on Friday approved Rs 11,718 crore for conducting the Census of India, 2027, which would include the caste enumeration for the first time.
The Census 2027 will be conducted in two phases, the first between April and September 2026 and the second in February 2027, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
'As soon as the BJP feels they are going to lose power, they will publish the caste census data of 2011 and conduct the caste census of 2021.'
India has launched digital tools for its upcoming fully digital Census 2027, including mobile apps and a self-enumeration portal, aiming for efficient and accurate data collection.
Odisha and Uttar Pradesh are among the first to roll out the digital exercise.
Delhi recorded four cases of 'crimes and atrocities against Scheduled Tribes (STs)' in 2024, up from two reported in 2023, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data.
US President Donald Trump has signed two executive orders aimed at cracking down on 'birth tourism' and limiting eligibility for birthright citizenship, weeks after the Supreme Court rejected a similar directive.
The next Census' findings will help identify the extent of India's ageing population and vulnerability levels.
'The reason why they rushed through the bill was they wanted to avoid using the 2026 Census because the 2026 Census by their own decision will be a caste census.' 'The BJP knows that a significant share of the OBCs who will get captured in the census, for the first time after the 1931 Census, are against the BJP. Only a segment of the OBCs are in their favour.' 'So they wanted to avoid the OBC reservation among women, which is a demand of a lot of Opposition parties.'
The Lok Sabha is set to expand to 815 seats, with 272 seats reserved for women, according to Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal. The move aims to implement the women's quota without disadvantaging men or any state. The proposed legislations also include provisions for reservation for women from SC and ST categories within the women's quota.
A recent SBI Economic Research report indicates that the significant gap between credit and deposit growth, currently over 530 basis points, is likely to persist if geopolitical risks and external supply shocks continue. However, an improvement in deposit growth is anticipated with inflows into foreign currency non-resident (bank) deposits.
Congress leader Kumari Selja expresses concern over the NCRB report highlighting a surge in crimes against children in Haryana, urging the state government to take immediate action.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor criticised the proposal to increase the Lok Sabha's strength to 850, while BJP leaders defended delimitation as a democratic necessity at the Stanford India Conference 2026.
The Supreme Court has called for strict enforcement of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act to counter the deep-seated patriarchal preference for male children and prevalent sex-selection practices. The court highlighted declining child sex ratios and the continued need for efforts despite government welfare schemes, stressing that true equality is yet to be achieved. The observations were made while dismissing a doctor's appeal in a PCPNDT Act violation case.
The much-delayed decadal census exercise and the work to update the National Population Register (NPR) are likely to begin early 2025 and the data will be declared by 2026, thus changing future census cycles completely, official sources said.
Reports of stopping of trains and road blocks are coming in from Patna following the bandh called by the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar against withholding of the caste-based census data by the central government.
The Indian government has released the list of questions to be asked during the first phase of the Census 2027, focusing on houselisting and housing enumeration. The survey will cover various aspects of housing conditions, household characteristics, and access to basic amenities.
The government has no proposal at present to release the report of the caste census carried out in 2011, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
The upcoming delimitation exercise should reflect the social realities uncovered by the census, ensuring proportional political representation for marginalised groups, it read.
A bill to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies by increasing the lower house's strength to 850 is slated for introduction in Parliament. The bill seeks to amend Article 81 of the Constitution and utilise 2011 Census data for redrawing constituencies.
Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai also said that the central government has not enumerated caste-wise population other than SCs and STs in census since Independence.
A special dedicated web portal will be launched for self-enumeration during the upcoming Census, which will be available for both phases of the national enumeration exercise, officials said Monday.
The population is gripped by anxiety against arbitrariness and the cruelty of a state that sells its actions as minimum government, asserts Aakar Patel.
'Even lower middle class parents in cities opt for just one child. A son is a must.'
'What is going on is the under counting of the migration population in urban areas.' 'It has been going on in the last few censuses.'
The delimitation in Assam has quietly changed the political scene, raising questions about whether new constituency boundaries helped the BJP by spreading out Muslim-majority voters.
While data can empower communities, it reinforces identities, making local politics more caste-centric, with decisions increasingly contested on the grounds of representation.
Such dynamics could lead to shifting alliances and, in the worst case, local governance getting paralysed as each group demands proportional power-sharing, explain Amitabh Kundu and Mehebub Rahaman.
