Ladakh is set to become the first region to demonstrate how caste will be recorded during Census 2027, marking the first caste enumeration as part of India’s official Census since Independence.
The second phase of the Census, known as Population Enumeration (PE), will be conducted ahead of the rest of the country in Ladakh and other snow-bound areas. The exercise is expected to include around 40 parameters, with caste likely to be recorded through an open-ended column.
The final questionnaire, however, was yet to be formally notified at the time of the report.
One of the most significant changes in Census 2027 is the inclusion of caste information in the population enumeration phase.
During the pre-test conducted between July 1 and July 20 across 16 States and Union Territories, respondents other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were asked to provide their caste through an open column.
Under this approach, there is no fixed list from which respondents have to select. Instead, the respondent declares their caste and the enumerator records the name provided.
The same methodology is likely to be retained in the final Census questionnaire.
A senior government official involved in the preparations said the caste column would remain open-ended, with enumerators recording the caste as declared by respondents.
Census 2027 is being conducted as India’s first digital Census, but Ladakh will require an important exception.
Officials are preparing paper schedules because the Union Territory contains sensitive defence establishments along the borders with China and Pakistan.
The digital Census requires structures to be geo-located through a mobile application. Defence installations cannot be geo-tagged because of security concerns.
As a result, sufficient paper schedules are being printed for the Ladakh exercise.
The Census involves the enumeration of structures and buildings, including those located in strategically sensitive areas.
Officials have therefore instructed enumerators to exercise caution while recording defence structures along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Such structures are expected to be recorded as “special charges” on paper schedules rather than being geo-located through the digital Census system.
This makes Ladakh a unique case in India’s otherwise digital population enumeration exercise.
Preparations are already underway in Ladakh and snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
These regions will undergo population enumeration before the rest of the country because of their difficult winter conditions.
According to the August 3 notification issued by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, population enumeration in Ladakh and the specified snow-bound areas will take place from September 1 to September 30, 2026.
A revisional round will follow from October 1 to October 5.
Before the house-to-house exercise, residents will also have the option of self-enumeration from August 17 to August 31.
For the rest of India, population enumeration is expected to take place in February 2027.
The final Census questionnaire had not been notified when the report was published.
However, officials said master trainers were being prepared using around 40 tentative questions.
The questions are expected to cover demographic and population-related information, along with caste details.
Unlike a simple multiple-choice questionnaire, officials have indicated that the questions will be more descriptive in nature.
The open-ended approach is significant because India has previously faced major challenges in standardising caste information.
The 2011 Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) reportedly recorded more than 46 lakh different caste names.
One factor behind the unusually large number was the variation in how people identified and understood caste.
The government has subsequently maintained that the caste data collected through the 2011 SECC contained significant errors.
The methodology adopted for Census 2027 will therefore be closely watched for how effectively caste information can be collected and subsequently organised.
The Directorate of Census Operations for Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has completed a three-day Master Trainers’ Training Programme for Population Enumeration.
The training covered several aspects of the upcoming exercise, including:
- Census concepts
- Caste data collection
- Demographic information
- Digital Census tools
- Self-enumeration
- Interviewing techniques
- Mobile application use
The training is intended to prepare officials for the population enumeration phase beginning in the region.
Ladakh’s preparations are different from those of the 16 States and Union Territories that participated in the July pre-test.
The pre-test of population enumeration questions was conducted from July 1 to July 20.
Ladakh was not part of this exercise.
As a result, its master trainers are being trained using tentative questions while officials await formal notification of the final questionnaire.
