Six Months to Census: India Grapples with How to Count Caste
Public Lokpal
July 22, 2026
Six Months to Census: India Grapples with How to Count Caste
With just six months remaining until the population enumeration phase, the government faces a complex challenge: determining the optimal methodology for counting caste identities in India’s upcoming digital Census.
Policymakers are caught between two distinct approaches.
An open-ended format, where citizens freely self-declare their identity, risks duplicating the flaws of the 2011 SECC exercise, which yielded nearly 4.7 million erratic entries and regional spelling variations.
Conversely, a pre-coded drop-down menu utilizing state-sanctioned list items faces criticism for potentially rigidifying social divisions and overlooking local nuances.
Demographers suggest a hybrid model—combining standard pre-coded lists with limited write-in fields for exceptions—as the most practical fix.
How enumerators capture this data within the Census mobile app will ultimately decide whether the output serves as an actionable welfare tool or becomes an administrative bottleneck.