Census 2027 Pre-Test Begins: How India's Digital Countdown Starts Next Month

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) made the declaration through a notification extending the provisions of the Census Act, 1948, to facilitate the pre-test for the first phase of the Census of India, 2027.

According to the notification issued by Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, the pre-test for the first phase of the 2027 Census is scheduled to take place from November 10, 2025, to November 30, 2025.

Additionally, the residents will have the option for self-enumeration from November 1 to November 7, 2025, allowing them to submit information digitally ahead of the main survey.

The pre-test of the first phase of the Census of India, 2027, specifically the Houselisting and Housing Census in selected sample areas, will be conducted from November 10, 2025, to November 30, 2025, in all States and Union territories. There shall also be an option for self-enumeration from 1st November, 2025 to 7th November, 2025," reads the notification.

The move is part of the government's broader effort to ensure accuracy, efficiency, and preparedness ahead of the 2027 nationwide census.

Officials in the ministry emphasised that the pre-test will help identify any operational challenges and refine methodologies before the full-scale enumeration begins.

In the notification, Narayan urged citizens to actively participate in the pre-test exercise and utilise the self-enumeration facility to contribute to a comprehensive and reliable census.

The notification further pointed out that the "Central government hereby extends the provisions of the said Act for the conduct of the pre-test of the first phase of the Census of India, 2027 in exercise of the powers conferred by section 17A of the Census Act, 1948 (37 of 1948) read with rule 6D of the Census Rules, 1990."

In June this year, the MHA announced that the Population Census-2027 will be conducted in two phases, and for the first time, it will also include the enumeration of castes. The MHA then mentioned that the census will follow different reference dates depending on the region, in accordance with logistical and climatic factors.

As per the then statement, "it has been decided to conduct Population Census-2027 in two phases along with enumeration of castes.:

According to the MHA statement, the reference date for the "Population Census-2027 will be 00:00 hours on March 1, 2027, for most parts of the country."

However, for the Union Territory of "Ladakh, and the non-synchronous snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, the reference date will be 00:00 hours on October 1, 2026."

A notification of intent to conduct the census, adhering to the above-mentioned timelines, was also published in the Official Gazette on June 16, 2025. The census will be done under Section 3 of the Census Act, 1948, which governs the legal framework for the decennial census exercise in India.

The census was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is now slated to be one of the most comprehensive data-gathering exercises undertaken by the Indian government.

The Census of India is conducted under the provisions of the Census Act, 1948 and the Census Rules, 1990. The last Census of India was conducted in 2011 in two phases, namely i) Phase I - House Listing (HLO) (1 April to 30 September 2010) and (ii) Phase II - Population Enumeration (PE) (February 9 to February 28, 2011) with reference date - 00:00 hours of the first day of March 2011, except for snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh for which it was conducted during September 11 to 30, 2010 with reference date as 00.00 hours of the first day of October 2010.

Census 2021 was also proposed to be conducted in two phases in a similar manner, with phase I during April-September 2020 and the second phase in February 2021. All the preparations for the first phase of the Census to be conducted in 2021 were completed and field work was scheduled to begin in some states and UTs from April 1, 2020. However, due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic across the country, the census work was postponed.

- ANI