The upcoming Census 2027 will include 14 new or modified questions compared to the 2011 Census, according to a notification issued by the Registrar General of India (RGI) on Friday. The population enumeration phase is scheduled to begin next month with a total of 40 questions covering various aspects of personal information, education, and documentation.
The new questionnaire includes queries on Aadhaar number, passport number, voter ID, driving licence, mobile number, spouse name, and parental details. Other additions cover nationality as declared, literacy and digital literacy levels, highest educational qualification with stream and discipline, place of Covid-19 vaccination, and total number of bank accounts. The question on Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe has also been modified to include caste as a category.
Several of these questions were previously part of the National Population Register (NPR) schedule notified in 2020. The NPR exercise had sparked significant controversy in 2019-20, particularly after the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Questions about parental birth details, including the district, state, and country of birth for both parents, had raised concerns among opposition parties and civil society groups who argued that NPR was a precursor to a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The 2020 NPR exercise was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and has not been notified afresh even as Census operations resumed this year. While the Union Budget 2026-27 allocated Rs 6,000 crore under the head “Census, Survey and statistics/Registrar General of India” for Census 2027 and NPR, the government did not announce any fresh NPR exercise when Census operations were taken up. The houselisting phase was notified for April 1 to September 30 without any mention of the NPR.
The NPR is governed by the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, framed under the Citizenship Act, 1955. These rules provide for preparation of a Population Register and verification for creating the National Register of Indian Citizens. The statutory link between NPR and NRC had made the 2019-20 exercise politically contentious, with several opposition-ruled states passing resolutions opposing it.
A Home Ministry official stated that the budget allocation was in line with provisions made in previous budgets since 2020 and was intended to ensure funds were available “if and as and when” the government decided to conduct the NPR. The NPR data was first collected in 2010 along with the houselisting phase of the 2011 Census and was updated through a door-to-door exercise in 2015.
