New Delhi, Aug. 14 -- The Centre on Friday, August 14, notified 40 questions to be asked during the population enumeration phase of Census 2027, including one on caste, marking the first time caste will be enumerated in independent India beyond the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.

Question number 10 on the census schedule reads "Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribe (ST)/Caste," with the enumerator recording the caste as declared by the respondent, as it is an open column.

The questions were notified by Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, expanding the scope of data collection to include Aadhaar numbers, mobile numbers, voter IDs, bank accounts and COVID-19 vaccination details, wherever a...