Census enumnerators during door-to-door survey of digital mapping for the Census in the Jahangir Puri area in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
The story so far: The rehearsal or the “pre-test” of the second phase of Census, which started in 16 States and Union Territories on July 6, 2026, has an “open column” for respondents to record their castes, several officials involved in the exercise told The Hindu. The pre-test is on till July 20, 2026, and the outcome will decide how Independent India enumerates caste for the first time as part of the Census. Other than the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), caste-wise population has not been enumerated in Independent India; the last time such data was collected was in 1931.
After repeatedly opposing caste enumeration, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) finally announced on April 30, 2025 that caste would be counted during Population Census 2027. Before this, the Opposition parties, particularly Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, had consistently demanded that caste of all people be counted in India.
Published – July 07, 2026 12:23 pm IST
