The Union Cabinet on Friday cleared a budget allocation of ₹11,718 crore for conducting the 2027 Census, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced after the meeting. He said the nationwide exercise will follow the government’s two-phase plan for the decennial census. The first phase - house listing and housing census - will be carried out between April and September 2026. The population enumeration phase is slated for February 2027. In snow-bound areas, however, the enumeration will be advanced to September 2026 due to harsh weather.
Vaishnaw also highlighted that the 2027 exercise will mark India’s first fully digital census, designed with strong data protection features. Around 30 lakh personnel will be engaged, and the process will include caste enumeration. The government added that all data will be safeguarded under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act. Citizens will also have the option to self-enumerate using a mobile app, and a new “Census as a service” mechanism will make on-demand data accessible to various government agencies.