According to the government, this will be the first digital Census, the first to count caste and also the first where respondents will be able to self-enumerate through a yet-to-be announced portal. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RG&CCI) on Thursday (January 22, 2026) notified 33 questions that residents will have to answer in the first phase of Census 2027, which will be conducted between April 1 and September 30.
While the notification published on January 7, 2020 for Census 2021, which was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and never took off, had 31 questions, the current notification has 33. The fresh notification splits the combined question on the type of floor, wall and roof of the Census house into three distinct questions regarding the “predominant material used in the floor, wall and roof” of the house.
According to the government, this will be the first digital Census, the first to count caste and also the first where respondents will be able to self-enumerate through a yet-to-be announced portal.
Population Enumeration (PE), the second phase of Census 2027 where caste will be enumerated, will be done in February 2027. Questions are yet to be notified for the phase.
“The notification of questionnaire of Phase I of Census of India 2027 – Houselisting & Housing Census has been issued. The questionnaire for Phase II i.e. Population Enumeration will be notified in due course,” Census India posted on X.
The notification by the RG&CCI Mritunjay Kumar Narayan in the official gazette said, “….that all the Census Officers may, within the limits of the local areas for which they have been respectively appointed, ask all such questions from all persons on the items enumerated below for collecting information through the houselisting and housing census schedule in connection with the Census of India 2027.”
Census questions
The questions are: building number (municipal or local authority or Census number); Census house number; predominant material of floor of the Census house; predominant material of wall of the Census house; predominant material of roof of the Census house; use of Census house; condition of the Census house; household number; total number of persons normally residing in the household; name of the head of the household; sex of the head of the household; whether the head of the household belongs to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe/Other; ownership status; number of dwelling rooms exclusively in possession of the household; number of married couple(s) living in the household; main source of drinking water; availability of drinking water source; main source of lighting; access to latrine; type of latrine; waste water outlet; availability of bathing facility; availability of kitchen and LPG/PNG connection; main fuel used for cooking; radio/transistor; television; access to Internet; laptop/computer; telephone/mobile phone/smartphone; bicycle/scooter/motorcycle/moped; car/jeep/van; main cereal consumed in the household; and mobile number (for Census-related communications only).
The pre-test or the preparatory exercise for the first phase of Census was held from November 10-30, 2025 in select areas across the country and it sought response to 35 questions such as composition of the floor and roof of the house, main cereal consumed, source of drinking water and cooking fuel, number of married couples in the house.
About 30 lakh field functionaries including enumerators, supervisors, master trainers, charge officers and Principal/ District Census Officers will be deployed for data collection, monitoring and supervision of Census operations. All the Census functionaries will be paid suitable honorarium as they will be collecting the data on their personal mobile phones and will be doing this work in addition to their regular duties.
Published – January 22, 2026 11:04 pm IST
