The MHA then made the announcement through a statememt mentioning that the census will follow different reference dates depending on the region, in accordance with logistical and climatic factors. “It has been decided to conduct Population Census-2027 in two phases along with enumeration of castes,” the MHA had then said.According to the MHA statement, the reference date for the “Population Census-2027 will be 00:00 hours on March 1, 2027, for most parts of the country. But, for the Union Territory of Ladakh, and the non-synchronous snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, the reference date will be 00:00 hours on October 1, 2026”.This development marked a significant step in the preparation for the upcoming national census, which was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is now slated to be one of the most comprehensive data-gathering exercises undertaken by the Indian government.The Census of India is conducted under the provisions of the Census Act, 1948 and the Census Rules, 1990. The last Census of India was conducted in 2011 in two phases.Census 2021 was also proposed to be conducted in two phases in a similar manner with phase I during April-September 2020 and second phase in February 2021. All the preparations for the first phase of the Census to be conducted in 2021 were completed and field work was scheduled to begin in some States/UTs from April 1, 2020. But, due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic across the country, the exercise was postponed.
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