The Union Cabinet approved Rs 11,718 crore to conduct India’s first fully digital Census in 2027. The exercise will take place in two phases and involve 30 lakh field workers.
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that the government cleared the proposal during a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He emphasised that the Census will mark a historic shift by adopting mobile-based data collection and a central monitoring portal to ensure accuracy and efficiency.
First, the Census will begin with house-listing and housing surveys from April to September 2026. Next, officials will conduct population enumeration in February 2027. For Ladakh and snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, the enumeration will take place in September 2026.
Furthermore, Vaishnaw highlighted that the digital format will capture caste data electronically and deliver cleaner, more reliable datasets. He explained that the new system will improve dissemination, making information accessible in a user-friendly format for policy-making.
In addition, he introduced the concept of Census-as-a-Service (CaaS), which will provide ministries with machine-readable, actionable data. This innovation aims to transform how government departments use Census information for planning and governance.
Finally, officials described the upcoming Census as a gigantic national exercise that will strengthen India’s ability to design evidence-based policies and deliver services more effectively.
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