According to the plan, the first phase—house listing and household data collection—will be conducted over a 30-day period between April and September 2026. The second phase, population enumeration, will take place in February 2027. March 1, 2027, at midnight will serve as the national reference date for the count, in line with previous census protocols.
However, due to weather constraints, enumeration in the snow-bound regions of Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand will be held earlier, in September 2026. For these areas, October 1, 2026, will be treated as the reference date.
The ministry said the upcoming census will be “largely paperless,” supported by mobile applications, digital portals and real-time data transfer tools. AI-based character recognition, GPS tagging and standardised digital forms will be used to minimise errors. A nationwide awareness campaign is also planned to help citizens navigate the new system.
The government also responded to several related queries in the Lok Sabha. It reported that 2.49 crore ration cards have been deleted since 2020 for duplication, ineligibility or migration, while 20.29 crore remain active. Home Minister Amit Shah said Sahara Group’s cooperative societies have refunded ₹6,841.86 crore to 35.44 lakh depositors, with the Supreme Court extending the deadline for final payouts to December 31, 2026.
In the Rajya Sabha, the Centre disclosed that more than 700 cough syrup manufacturers were audited after international alerts over child deaths, with four of 19 tested samples found unsafe. The government also confirmed that 6,385 startups have shut down since their registration, even as India’s recognised startup base stands at 1.97 lakh.
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