An ongoing rehearsal (pre-test) for the second phase of the Population Census—running in 16 States and Union Territories from July 6 to July 20, 2026—includes an open-ended column that lets respondents record their caste. Census officials say the final method for caste enumeration will be designed after evaluating feedback from this pre-test.
Unlike the earlier practice of enumerating caste only for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Independent India has not previously counted caste-wise populations comprehensively; the last full caste enumeration was in 1931.
The BJP-led NDA announced on April 30, 2025 that caste would be enumerated during Population Census 2027, responding to a long-running demand from opposition parties.
A key methodological debate exists on whether to use an open column (like in the 2011 SECC) or a pre-prepared list of castes, as seen in Bihar’s 2022–23 caste survey. The open-ended method received criticism for producing unreliable data due to a wide variation in caste understanding among respondents.
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- THE GIST (summary box for the explainer)