Caste Census Under Fire: Congress Flags ‘Flawed’ Methodology In Census 2027

The Census 2027 questionnaire has triggered a fresh political confrontation, with the Congress alleging that the methodology for collecting caste data is “deliberately flawed” and questioning the purpose behind several detailed questions.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday objected to what he described as new “micro questions” concerning religion, date of birth and the place of birth of both parents, including details down to the village level. He alleged that such questions had not featured in previous censuses and claimed that the exercise had a “deeper nefarious purpose”.

The controversy comes days after the Centre notified the questionnaire for the second phase of Census 2027, which will include caste enumeration for the first time since Independence on a comprehensive basis. The government has said caste will be recorded through respondents’ answers, while Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will continue to be identified according to their notified lists.

Congress has particularly questioned the absence of a pre-defined caste list or drop-down menu. Ramesh pointed to a 2021 affidavit filed by the Modi government before the Supreme Court, which had observed that a registry of castes could have enabled a drop-down system and produced more consistent data.

The party now wants to know why that approach has not been adopted in Census 2027, arguing that an open-ended response could make caste data harder to standardise and analyse.

There is, however, an important historical nuance to the Congress claim: religion and place of birth are not entirely new census subjects. Official Census records show that both were collected in several earlier censuses. The more significant issue is whether the specific granular details about parents’ birth information represent a new level of data collection.

The dispute therefore goes beyond the wording of a questionnaire. At its heart is a larger question over how caste data will be standardised, verified and ultimately used for policymaking, making Census 2027 a potentially significant political and administrative exercise.