Caste, Not Class, Will Be Counted In 2027 Population Census: Sources

New Delhi:
Caste, and not class, will be taken into consideration during the exhaustive count of the population of the country that will be held in 2026-2027, sources said on Thursday.
Each person will have to mention their caste and religion for the 16th Census that will be conducted in two phases in 2027.
"Along with religion, everyone will have to declare their caste, irrespective of whether one is from the general category, OBC or Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe category," a source said.
Explaining the need to specify the caste, rather than class, the source said there is no unified or single list for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), unlike the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
"The OBC list varies from state to state and that from the Centre," the source said.
Two separate lists of OBCs are maintained - the central list is maintained by the National Commission for Backward Classes and used for reference in providing reservations in central government jobs and educational institutes; the state lists are managed by the respective governments and are often longer and more extensive than the central list.
On Wednesday, the Union Home Ministry announced that India's 16th Census with caste enumeration will be carried out in 2027 with the reference date of October 1, 2026 in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and of March 1, 2027 in the rest of the country.
The Census is being carried out after a gap of 16 years as the last one was held in 2011. More than 30 lakh enumerators and their supervisors are likely to be engaged to carry out the mega exercise.
It will also be the first digital Census giving the citizens an opportunity to self-enumerate.
The population of the country as per the Census 2011 was 1210.19 million of which 623.72 million (51.54 per cent) were males and 586.46 million (48.46 per cent) were females.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Business Standard

5 hours ago

• Business Standard

Polling underway in 3,894 Gujarat gram panchayats under new OBC quota

As many as 3,894 gram panchayats went to polls in Gujarat on Sunday in the first such exercise after the state government announced 27 per cent reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the local bodies elections in 2023. The State Election Commission (SEC) said 81 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to elect 3,656 sarpanchs and 16,224 panchayat members. People queued up in large numbers in rural Gujarat to cast their votes using ballot papers across 10,479 polling stations. Polling has been largely peaceful, with a few incidents of violence, and people turned up to vote despite the rains in parts of the state. In a village in Banaskantha district, a 95-year-old woman arrived to exercise her franchise with her grandson amid heavy rains. Police personnel assisted the elderly and differently-abled voters. Kheda MLA Arjunsinh Chauhan and former Tharad MLA Gujlabsinh Rajput were among the early voters. "Panchayat is an important pillar of democracy, so the right candidate should win the elections. I would appeal to people to record 100 per cent voting," Chauhan said. An incident of violence was reported in Panchmahal district, where the son of a sarpanch candidate was attacked by rival groups in Dhanitra village and was taken to a hospital for treatment. The counting of votes will take place on June 25. The SEC has identified 3,939 polling stations as sensitive and 336 as highly sensitive. Out of 8,326 gram panchayats, for which elections were declared on May 25, general and mid-term polls are being held for 3,541, and bypolls for 353 panchayats. As many as 1,023 gram panchayats have been declared uncontested and vacant with no candidate filing nomination, the SEC said. The SEC said gram panchayat polls in six talukas under the Kadi and Visavadar assembly seats were cancelled due to by-elections held there on Thursday. Gram panchayat elections are usually not contested on party lines. Candidates do not fight on party tickets, though they may be affiliated with political parties. This is the first time that elections are being held on a big scale in Gujarat after the state government in August 2023 announced a 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in panchayats, municipalities and civic corporations on recommendations of the Zaveri Commission's report. Earlier, OBC reservation in local bodies was capped at 10 per cent. After the Supreme Court ruled that the OBC reservation should be proportionate to their population, the state government, in July 2022, set up the KS Jhaveri Commission to gather and analyse data on the nature and implications of backwardness in local bodies. The existing quota for Scheduled Castes (14 per cent) and Scheduled Tribes (7 per cent) in local bodies remained unchanged, and there has been no breach of the 50 per cent reservation ceiling. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

The Hindu

8 hours ago

• The Hindu

Polling underway in 3,894 gram panchayats in Gujarat

As many as 3,894 gram panchayats went to the polls in Gujarat on Sunday (June 22, 2025) in the first such exercise after the state government announced 27 per cent reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the local bodies elections in 2023. The State Election Commission (SEC) said 81 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to elect 3,656 sarpanchs and 16,224 panchayat members. People queued up in large numbers in rural Gujarat to cast their votes using ballot papers across 10,479 polling stations. Polling has been largely peaceful, with a few incidents of violence, and people turned up to vote despite the rains in parts of the state. In a village in Banaskantha district, a 95-year-old woman arrived to exercise her franchise with her grandson amid heavy rains. Police personnel assisted the elderly and differently-abled voters. Kheda MLA Arjunsinh Chauhan and former Tharad MLA Gujlabsinh Rajput were among the early voters. "Panchayat is an important pillar of democracy, so the right candidate should win the elections. I would appeal to people to record 100 per cent voting," Chauhan said. An incident of violence was reported in Panchmahal district, where the son of a sarpanch candidate was attacked by rival groups in Dhanitra village and was taken to a hospital for treatment. The counting of votes will take place on June 25. The SEC has identified 3,939 polling stations as sensitive and 336 as highly sensitive. Out of 8,326 gram panchayats, for which elections were declared on May 25, general and mid-term polls are being held for 3,541, and bypolls for 353 panchayats. As many as 1,023 gram panchayats have been declared uncontested and vacant with no candidate filing nomination, the SEC said. The SEC said gram panchayat polls in six talukas under the Kadi and Visavadar assembly seats were cancelled due to by-elections held there on Thursday. Gram panchayat elections are usually not contested on party lines. Candidates do not fight on party tickets, though they may be affiliated with political parties. This is the first time that elections are being held on a big scale in Gujarat after the state government in August 2023 announced a 27% reservation for OBCs in panchayats, municipalities and civic corporations on recommendations of the Zaveri Commission's report. Earlier, OBC reservation in local bodies was capped at 10 per cent. After the Supreme Court ruled that the OBC reservation should be proportionate to their population, the state government, in July 2022, set up the KS Jhaveri Commission to gather and analyse data on the nature and implications of backwardness in local bodies. The existing quota for Scheduled Castes (14%) and Scheduled Tribes (7%) in local bodies remained unchanged, and there has been no breach of the 50% reservation ceiling.

Time of India

8 hours ago

• Time of India

Polling underway in 3,894 gram panchayats in Gujarat

As many as 3,894 gram panchayats went to polls in Gujarat on Sunday in the first such exercise after the state government announced 27 per cent reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the local bodies elections in 2023. The State Election Commission (SEC) said 81 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to elect 3,656 sarpanchs and 16,224 panchayat members. People queued up in large numbers in rural Gujarat to cast their votes using ballot papers across 10,479 polling stations. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Villas For Sale in Dubai Might Surprise You Villas In Dubai | Search Ads Get Rates Undo Polling has been largely peaceful, with a few incidents of violence, and people turned up to vote despite the rains in parts of the state. In a village in Banaskantha district, a 95-year-old woman arrived to exercise her franchise with her grandson amid heavy rains. Live Events Police personnel assisted the elderly and differently-abled voters. Kheda MLA Arjunsinh Chauhan and former Tharad MLA Gujlabsinh Rajput were among the early voters. "Panchayat is an important pillar of democracy, so the right candidate should win the elections. I would appeal to people to record 100 per cent voting," Chauhan said. An incident of violence was reported in Panchmahal district, where the son of a sarpanch candidate was attacked by rival groups in Dhanitra village and was taken to a hospital for treatment. The counting of votes will take place on June 25. The SEC has identified 3,939 polling stations as sensitive and 336 as highly sensitive. Out of 8,326 gram panchayats, for which elections were declared on May 25, general and mid-term polls are being held for 3,541, and bypolls for 353 panchayats. As many as 1,023 gram panchayats have been declared uncontested and vacant with no candidate filing nomination, the SEC said. The SEC said gram panchayat polls in six talukas under the Kadi and Visavadar assembly seats were cancelled due to by-elections held there on Thursday. Gram panchayat elections are usually not contested on party lines. Candidates do not fight on party tickets, though they may be affiliated with political parties. This is the first time that elections are being held on a big scale in Gujarat after the state government in August 2023 announced a 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in panchayats, municipalities and civic corporations on recommendations of the Zaveri Commission's report. Earlier, OBC reservation in local bodies was capped at 10 per cent. After the Supreme Court ruled that the OBC reservation should be proportionate to their population, the state government, in July 2022, set up the KS Jhaveri Commission to gather and analyse data on the nature and implications of backwardness in local bodies. The existing quota for Scheduled Castes (14 per cent) and Scheduled Tribes (7 per cent) in local bodies remained unchanged, and there has been no breach of the 50 per cent reservation ceiling.