NEW DELHI: The ministry of home affairs on Thursday notified the schedule for upcoming houselisting and housing phase of Census 2027, replicating each of the 33 questions that were proposed to be asked in Census 2021 before the pandemic forced its postponement.The fields of information sought to be collected in the housing phase of Census, scheduled to be conducted between April 1 and Sept 30, include the building number; predominant material of floor, wall and roof of the census house; use of the census house and its condition; as well as household number.Information will have to be furnished on total number of persons residing in the household, name and sex of the head of the household; and if he/she belongs to the SC, ST or other category. Also included are fields pertaining to ownership status of the house; number of dwelling rooms in possession of the household; and number of married couples residing in the household.As regards amenities, respondents will need to apprise the census authority – either digitally through the census app or during the enumerator’s visit – of the main source of drinking water, main source of lighting, access to and type of latrine, waste water outlet and availability of bathing facility. Information will also be sought on availability of LPG or CNG connection in the household and the main fuel used for cooking. Household amenities and facilities to be mapped shall include transistor, radio, TV, internet access, mobile phone or smartphone; and mode of transport. Respondents will also need to share details of the main cereal consumed in the household. The mobile number of the household (head or any other) will be collected but used only for census-related communications. The exercise will be spread over two phases, that is, houselisting and housing census to be conducted from April 1 to Sept 30, 2026, followed by population enumeration between from Feb 9 and Feb 28, 2027, with the 00:00 hours of March 1, 2027 being the reference date (except for Ladakh and snow-bound areas and non-synchronous areas of J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand). The population enumeration phase will also capture caste, a first since the 1931 census.
