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New Delhi: The Union government announced on Wednesday (June 4) that the population census along with the enumeration of castes will be conducted in two phases starting October 1, 2026.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in a statement said that the reference date for the  population census will be 12 am on March 1, 2027, while for the Union territory of Ladakh and the non-synchronous snow-bound areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date will be 12 am October 1, 2026.

This will be the first time that the population census will be conducted after a gap of 15 years. The last population census was conducted in 2011, with the exercise in 2021 delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The last Census of India was conducted in 2011 in two phases, namely (i) Phase I – House Listing (April 1 to September 30, 2010) and (ii) Phase II – Population Enumeration (February 9 to February 28, 2011)  with reference date – 00:00 hours of the first day of March 2011, except for snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh for which it was conducted during September 11 to 30, 2010 with reference date as 00.00 hours of the first day of........

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