Census Trainers Flag Tough Queries on Aadhaar and Caste for Upcoming Operations

Field trainers preparing Census enumerators in Uttar Pradesh have flagged sensitive questions on Aadhaar, caste, parents' age, and birthplace as key challenges for the upcoming exercise. During a training session in Ghazipur on Thursday, a trainer advised enumerators to tell hesitant respondents that Aadhaar data is only being gathered to track coverage and cannot be used without biometrics. The trainer also suggested that Aadhaar could potentially act as a proof of citizenship in the future, though a senior Census official later clarified that no such instructions have been issued and the question is entirely optional.

Operations and New Questions

The upcoming door-to-door enumeration begins on December 1 for the second phase of Census 2027 in Uttar Pradesh and three other poll-bound States, while the rest of the country will follow in February 2027. This population phase involves 40 questions, requiring enumerators to spend 20 to 25 minutes with each respondent across blocks of 750 to 800 people. There are 13 brand new questions, covering topics such as religion, spouse's name, passport numbers, driving licences, mobile numbers, and digital literacy. Enumerators must manually type caste names in an open column for anyone not belonging to Scheduled Castes or Tribes, as there will be no drop-down menu or separate column for Other Backward Classes.

Digital Census

This marks India's first digital Census, with roughly 34 lakh enumerators capturing data through an app on their personal phones. For elderly respondents who struggle to recall their parents' birth details, trainers advised using estimation methods based on the ages of siblings. Meanwhile, government officials maintain that Aadhaar remains strictly optional during the exercise and cannot be linked to any citizenship test.

Context

The Census is a massive nationwide administrative exercise conducted periodically to collect detailed demographic and social data about the country's population. New additions like digital data collection and detailed socio-economic queries aim to modernise how the government tracks population trends and plans public welfare policies.