Srinagar, June 16 : The Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will witness the launch of the long-delayed national census from midnight of October 1, 2026, the first such enumeration in the region since 2011.
The Centre on Monday announced that J&K and Ladakh, along with Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, will begin the process earlier than the rest of the country, where the census is set to start from March 1, 2027. The early rollout is attributed to climatic and logistical factors.
The census will be held in two phases—House Listing Operation (HLO) to record housing and amenities, followed by Population Enumeration (PE) to collect demographic, socioeconomic, and cultural details, including caste and religion.
For the first time, the census will also include data on Other Backward Classes (OBCs), in addition to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), as part of a nationwide caste count.
This will also mark India’s first digital census, allowing residents in J&K and Ladakh to self-enumerate online. The 2026 exercise comes 16 years after the last headcount, with the 2021 census delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (CNS)
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