Kashmir Impulse Desk

New Delhi, Aug 3

The second phase of India’s Census, covering population enumeration in Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, will be held from September 1 to 30, the government said on Monday.

A gazette notification issued by the Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan said a revisional round would be conducted from October 1 to 5.

Residents will have the option of self-enumeration from August 17 to 31 before the house-to-house population count begins.

The reference date for the Census in Ladakh and the designated snow-bound areas will be midnight on October 1, 2026.

The population enumeration exercise for the rest of the country is expected to begin next year.

The Census is being conducted in two stages, beginning with house listing and housing data collection, followed by population enumeration.

For the first time, caste details will also be collected as part of the population enumeration.

The decennial Census, originally scheduled for 2021, was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Union Cabinet has approved Rs 11,718 crore for the exercise, which is expected to be the country’s largest headcount operation.