The Union Cabinet has approved a Budget of 11,718 crore rupees for the Census 2027. Briefing the media in New Delhi today, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said Census 2027 will be conducted in two phases – Phase I and Phase II. He said Census 2027 will be the 16th in the series and the 8th since Independence. He said India’s Census is considered the largest administrative and statistical exercise in the world. Caste Enumeration will be included in Census 2027. Mr Vaishnaw said it will be the first-ever digital Census. Data will be collected using mobile applications that will be available for both Android as well as iOS versions. Mr Vaishnaw said 30 lakh field functionaries will be involved in the exercise.
Census 2027 will cover the entire population in the country. The process involves visiting each and every household and canvassing a separate questionnaire for Houselisting and Housing Census, and Population Enumeration.
The Minister also announced that the Cabinet approved reforms in the coal linkage policy, CoalSETU. He said India is moving towards Aatmanirbharta in the coal sector. The Policy will allow allocation of coal linkages on an auction basis for long-term use for any industrial use and export by adding a separate window named CoalSETU in the Non-Regulated Sector Linkage Auction Policy of 2016, wherein any domestic buyer requiring coal can participate in the linkage auction.
The Cabinet has also given its approval for the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for copra for the 2026 season. In order to provide remunerative prices to the cultivators, the Government had announced in the Union Budget of 2018-19 that MSP of all the mandated crops will be fixed at levels of at least 1.5 times all all-India weighted average cost of production.
