Union Budget allocatesRs 6,000 cr for Census 2027

The Union Budget on Sunday allocated Rs 6,000 crore for Census 2027, with the 16th edition of the mega population head count slated to begin on April 1 after a delay of almost six years because of the Covid outbreak.
The Budget Estimates for 2026-27 presented in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman earmarked Rs 6,000 crore for the Census, Survey and Statistics/Registrar General of India (RGI), which is almost a six-fold increase from the Rs 1,040 crore allotted in the Revised Estimates for 2025-26.
“It includes provisions for the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India and various schemes of the RGI, including the National Population Register (NPR) and expenditure on Census 2027,” the Budget document said. The Census will be carried out in 2027 with the reference date of October 1, 2026, in snow-bound areas like Ladakh, and of March 1, 2027, in the rest of the country. The decadal exercise, which was scheduled to take place in 2021, was postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak.