India, Aug. 14 -- India's Census will, for the first time since Independence, ask citizens their caste - and record it exactly as they state it, with no pre-set list to choose from.

The Registrar General of India (RGI) on Friday notified 40 questions for the population enumeration (PE), the second and final phase of Census 2027.

Self-enumeration for the phase begins on Monday, August 17, in Ladakh and the snowbound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand - regions where winter forces an early start.

Enumerators will follow up door-to-door from September 1 to 30. The rest of the country will be counted in February 2027.

Caste is question 10 on the household schedule, clubbed with the query on Scheduled Caste/Schedu...