Government notifies questions to be posed to citizens for first phase of Census starting April 1

The government has notified 33 questions that will be put to citizens during the first phase of the Census, starting April 1. The first phase of Census 2027 – houselisting operations – will take place during a 30-day period specified by each State and Union Territory between April 1 and September 30 this year. 

The enumerators will ask about the ownership status of the house, its use, the type of material used in flooring and roof, the number of rooms, and the sex of the head of the household during the survey. The enumerators will then ask about the use of the house, its condition, and the number of persons normally residing in the household. Officials will also collect information about the head of the household, like the name and sex, whether the head of the household belongs to the Scheduled Caste, the Scheduled Tribe or other communities and the ownership status. 

The citizens will also be asked about the basic facilities in their houses, like the main source of drinking water, main source of lighting, access to and type of latrine, wastewater outlet, availability of bathing facility, availability of kitchen and LPG and PNG connection and the main fuel used for cooking.

The enumerators will also collect information about radio and transistor, television, access to the Internet, gadgets like laptop, computer, telephone, mobile phone, smartphone, type of vehicle, main cereal consumed in the household and mobile number for census-related communication.

There will also be an option for self-enumeration to be conducted in a 15-day period just before the start of houselisting operations of 30 days.

The Census will be conducted in two phases – house-listing and housing census from April to September; and population enumeration in February 2027.