India Launches Historic Census Including First Caste Count Since 1931

World's Largest Population Survey Begins

India has embarked on the world's most ambitious population counting exercise, launching a comprehensive census that will document the lives of over 1.4 billion people after a delay of more than 15 years. More than 3.3 million officials will spend the next year reaching every corner of a country where 1.4 billion people live , making this the largest census operation in human history.

This year's census is a $1.24bn exercise that marks a technological milestone as India's first fully digital census, with enumerators using mobile applications to collect and upload data in real time . The new census had been planned for 2021 but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and logistical challenges , leaving critical demographic data frozen in time since 2011.

The scale of the operation is staggering: it covers 36 states and federally-administered territories, over 7,000 sub-districts, more than 9,700 towns and nearly 640,000 villages . The census will unfold in two phases, with the first phase gathering information on housing conditions and household assets, while the second phase scheduled for February 2027 will focus on population enumeration and collect detailed data on demographics, education, migration, and fertility patterns .

The Return of Caste Enumeration

The most politically significant aspect of this census is its inclusion of comprehensive caste data for the first time since British colonial rule ended. "This would be the first systematic, population-wide count of jati [caste] since 1931, which makes it a genuinely historic – and deeply contested – exercise," said Deshpande, an Ashoka University economist .

The last attempt to gather detailed caste information through a census dates to 1931, during British colonial rule. Since independent India's first census in 1951, it counted only Dalits and Adivasis, members of marginalized groups known as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes . After independence, caste enumeration was stopped by the newly independent Government of India led by Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1951 to avoid reinforcing social divisions in Indian society .

Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has historically opposed caste enumeration in the census, saying it believed it would create further divisions in society. However, in May, the government announced caste enumeration would be included in the census after pressure from campaigners and caste groups . The process will take place in the second phase of the census and will involve asking every individual their caste rather than simply recording whether someone belongs to an SC or ST as previous censuses have done .

Political and Social Implications

Caste is an ancient system of social hierarchy in India and is influential in defining social standing and deciding who gets access to resources, education and economic opportunity. There are hundreds of caste groups based on occupation and economic status across India, particularly among Hindus, but the country has limited or outdated data on how many people belong to them .

Population data collected through the census underpins the distribution of government welfare programmes and a wide range of public policies. It could also prompt a redrawing of India's political map, as seats in the lower house of parliament and state legislatures may be increased . Without current data, the government cannot accurately judge which areas count as rural, urban or somewhere in between. This affects India's vast welfare system, as programmes base eligibility on faulty or outdated numbers .

"Much of access to essential services in India — education, healthcare, nutrition, and social protection — is shaped by structural inequalities of caste, region, religion, and economic status. A caste census is critical to uncover these intersectional disparities and to design policies and programs that are truly equitable and inclusive," said Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India .

A Nation Transformed

India overtook China as the world's most populous country in 2023, according to United Nations figures. Yet despite having more than 1.4 billion people, India remains one of the globe's youngest nations, with the median age at 28 and nearly 70 per cent of people of working age . This demographic dividend represents both opportunity and challenge for policymakers designing everything from education systems to pension programs.

The census results will provide the foundation for political representation and resource allocation for the next decade, potentially reshaping how the world's largest democracy governs itself. The announcement marks a major policy pivot after over 70 years of resistance to comprehensive caste enumeration, but how the data will be collected, categorised, and used remains to be seen . As India continues its rapid economic and social transformation, this historic count will capture a nation