Cabinet approves Rs 11,718 Cr digital Census 2027 with caste data

• Cabinet approved Census 2027 at a cost of Rs 11,718.24 crore.
• The census will be conducted in two phases: Houselisting (April-September 2026) and Population Enumeration (February 2027).
• It will be India's first fully digital census, utilizing mobile applications for data collection and offering self-enumeration.
• Caste data will be captured electronically during the Population Enumeration phase.
• The exercise is expected to generate 1.02 crore man-days of employment and deliver data for policymaking via Census-as-a-Service (CaaS).

Why It Matters: This digital census will provide critical data for India's future policy and resource allocation.