Census 2027: World's largest census exercise begins with Houselisting and Housing Census (HLO)

• Census 2027 is India's 16th decennial census and the first-ever digital census, with optional online Self-Enumeration, conducted by the Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India (ORGI) under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
• Operates under the Census Act, 1948; data is legally confidential and used only in aggregated form.
• For the first time since 1931, caste enumeration will be carried out alongside the population count.
• Examinable because it touches GS-I (society/population), GS-II (governance/federalism), GS-III (data/technology) and feeds delimitation, women's reservation rollout and welfare targeting.