India's 2027 census adds 13 new questions on migration, parents and birthplace

India's 2027 census will introduce 13 new or modified questions during the population enumeration phase beginning next month, including details about parents' names and birthplaces, additions that mirror global shifts in how governments measure migration and identity.

The expanded questionnaire builds on the National Population Register schedule notified in 2020, which drew opposition scrutiny over the government's intentions at the time. Australia, conducting censuses every five years, asked eight questions on heritage and migration backgrounds in its latest August 2026 enumeration, a reflection of political anxieties in a nation where more than a third of residents were born overseas.

From Colonial Tool to Welfare Instrument

Census forms do more than count people; every question added or dropped signals what the state values and seeks to govern, argue Seema Jain and Madhav Shyam in Population Census in India: A Futuristic Perspective. The 1872 enumeration, the first covering British-ruled territories, prioritised religion, caste and community, categories essential to colonial administration, while educational qualification appeared only in 1941.

Independence and the launch of Five-Year Plans exposed information gaps in housing and infrastructure. Until 1951, states used their own formats; the uniform houselisting schedule introduced in 1961 marked the transition to a state measuring material conditions systematically. By 1991, questions covered drinking water, electricity, sanitation and cooking fuel; the 2001 and 2011 schedules added bathrooms, kitchens, drainage, household assets and banking access, shifting focus from mere enumeration to quality-of-life assessment.

Work, Migration and Identity

Early censuses defined work narrowly. By 1991, unpaid labour on family farms and businesses gained recognition, and new categories, main workers, marginal workers and non-workers, reflected concern with labour participation and underemployment in an agrarian economy. From 1981, forms recorded birthplace and last residence to capture migration flows.

Marital status classifications expanded beyond married, unmarried and widowed to include separated and divorced persons; age at marriage was added in 2001, signalling policy attention to gender and reproductive health. The 2011 census recognised a category beyond male and female, later codified as "transgender person," acknowledging identities earlier frameworks had erased. Dedicated slum enumeration in 2001, expanded in 2011, responded to urban poverty as a central development challenge.

Viewed together, the evolution of India's census questionnaire charts the state's own transformation.

Source: The Hindu