{
  "id": 391214,
  "title": "Census 2027: Ladakh to lead caste enumeration in independent India",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/09/census-2027-ladakh-to-lead-caste-enumeration-in-independent-india",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-09T16:58:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Hindu",
    "slug": "the-hindu",
    "url": "https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/census-2027-ladakh-to-lead-caste-enumeration-in-independent-india/article71325361.ece"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Ladakh, one of India's newest Union Territories, is poised to spearhead the caste enumeration for the first time in independent India during the upcoming Census 2027. The second phase of the Census, known as Population Enumeration (PE), is scheduled to commence on August 17 in Ladakh and other remote regions, including snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. This phase is expected to encompass 40 parameters and provide an open-ended column for caste enumeration, allowing respondents to self-report their caste identity. The rehearsal, or pre-test, for the PE phase took place from July 1 to 20 in 16 states and union territories, where individuals who were not Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe castes were asked to record their caste in an open column or where the enumerator noted the caste as declared by the respondent. The digital Census, which is India's first, mandates that enumerators geo-locate structures on a mobile app, a requirement that Ladakh has been accommodated for due to the presence of significant defense establishments in the region bordering China and Pakistan. The data collected during the Census will be used to create a comprehensive demographic profile of the country, and the open-column methodology for caste enumeration is expected to yield a wide range of caste names, similar to the 2011 Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC), which returned over 46 lakh different caste names.",
  "summary": "The upcoming Census 2027 in India will mark a significant shift in how caste will be enumerated for the first time in independent India, with Ladakh taking the lead. Scheduled to commence on August 17, the Population Enumeration phase of the Census will ask 40 parameters, including an open-ended column for caste. Although the final questionnaire has not been notified, Ladakh has begun preparations for the census, printing sufficient paper schedules due to security concerns preventing geo-tagging of defense establishments. The census, a first for India's digital census, will use an open-ended caste column, allowing respondents to declare their caste in their own words. Ladakh's case is unique, as it did not participate in the pre-test conducted in July, leading to the training of master-trainers based on tentative questions.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Hindu",
        "title": "Census 2027: Ladakh to lead independent India’s first caste enumeration",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/09/census-2027-ladakh-to-lead-independent-indias-first-caste-enumeration",
        "published": "2026-08-09T18:20:02.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}