♦ The Union Government issued a notification to conduct the Census on 16 June 2025.

♦ The notification issued by the Home Ministry said, the reference date for the census shall be 1st March 2027, except for the Union territory of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the States of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

♦ For these areas, the reference date shall be 1st October, 2026.

♦ The Census will be conducted in two phases.

♦ The phase one is House listing Operation, in which the housing conditions, assets and amenities of each household will be collected.

♦ In the second phase which is Population Enumeration, the demographic, socio-economic, cultural and other details of every person in each household will be collected.

♦ In this Census, Caste enumeration will also be done.

♦ For Census activities, about 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors and around 1.3 lakh Census functionaries will be deployed.

♦ The ensuing Census will be conducted through digital means using mobile applications.

♦ This Census will mark the 16th national Census since its inception and the eighth since India’s independence.