India to release final Census 2027 questionnaire next week, with caste enumeration

India's first digital Census, which will enumerate caste for the first time in independent India, is expected to have its final questionnaire announced next week. The population enumeration phase is set to begin on August 17 in Ladakh and snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. The questionnaire is likely to include 28 questions, with new additions such as whether respondents consume packaged or bottled water and including natural calamities as a reason for migration. A detailed code directory for educational qualifications is also expected, replacing self-declaration, while all residents' castes will be recorded during this phase. The open column method previously used in the 2011 Socio Economic Caste Census yielded over 46 lakh different caste names, which the government deemed unreliable. The 1931 Census recorded 4,147 castes, and the SECC data was never released due to collection errors.