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Census 2027 enumeration notified from 10 January; Manipur, UP, Goa, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Ladakh left out
The Home Ministry notified on 30 October that Census 2027 self-enumeration runs from 10 to 24 January, house-to-house from 25 January to 28 February. Manipur is excluded until further declaration amid the 'No NRC, No Census' demand; UP, Goa, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Ladakh are also left out.
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The Ministry of Home Affairs has notified the schedule for Census 2027 enumeration, with self-enumeration starting on 10 January, but several states and territories are left out of it for now. The notification was issued on 30 October and published in the Gazette of India under Section 3 of the Census Act, 1948. Manipur is excluded 'until a further declaration by the Central Government', and the notification does not say when its enumeration will happen.
For the areas it covers, self-enumeration runs from 10 to 24 January 2027, house-to-house enumeration from 25 January to 28 February, and a revisional round from 1 to 5 March. The reference date is 00:00 hours on 1 March 2027.
Besides Manipur, the notification excludes Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Ladakh, and certain snow-bound areas of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. The reports do not explain why the other states and territories were excluded.
Manipur's exclusion follows a campaign by Meitei and Naga civil society organisations under the slogan 'No NRC, No Census', and from some groups 'No NRC, No Delimitation'. They want the National Register of Citizens updated first, then the Census, then delimitation, with several groups advocating 1951 as the base year. They say undocumented migrants, including alleged recent arrivals from Myanmar and Bangladesh, could otherwise be counted as residents, which they fear would distort demographic data and affect indigenous communities, political representation and resources. The state Assembly passed resolutions seeking an NRC in August 2022 and March 2024.
The Centre had already decided to defer operations in the state. After a review meeting chaired by Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, an official in the chief minister's office said that it had agreed to defer the exercise considering the feelings and aspirations of the people of Manipur. A September notification had excluded the state from the house-listing operations. Agitations in the Imphal Valley in August, including a 48-hour shutdown, preceded those decisions.
Former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh welcomed the decision as recognition of the long-standing demand of indigenous communities and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The United Meitei-Pangal Committee called it significant but not a permanent cancellation. The Kuki-Zo Council opposes the NRC demand as premature and says the Census should come first. The United Naga Council backs an NRC-first approach.
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