India, June 17 -- New Delhi: The Centre on Monday issued a notification for conducting the long-delayed 2027 Census, formally initiating the preparatory work for the world's largest population counting exercise after a gap of 16 years. Earlier this month, the Union government had said that the census will be carried out in two phases before March 1, 2027, announcing a crucial exercise that will enumerate caste for the first time since independence and likely become the base for landmark processes such as delimitation and women's reservation. "The central government hereby declares that a census of the population of India shall be taken during the year 2027. The reference date for the said census shall be 00.00 hours of the 1st day of March, 2027, except for the Union Territory of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand," said the notification issued by the Office of Registrar General of India or ORGI. "In respect of the UT of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date shall be 00:00 hours of the 1st day of October, 2026," it added. Customarily, once a gazette notification for conducting a census is issued, there are various preparatory areas on which detailed discussions take place, including with data users, training of enumerators, etc but officials familiar with the upcoming census said, "Most of these activities have already been completed since between 2021 and now." The census forms an important node of policy making in India as it is the principal source of official socioeconomic and demographic data that forms the basis for government schemes, policies, and planning. But the 2027 census has assumed more importance because it is being held after a decade-and-a-half and will also officially confirm India's status as the world' s most-populous nation. It will enumerate caste for the first time since the 1931 census, a politically explosive exercise that will have sweeping socioeconomic ramifications and possibly lead to an expansion of caste-based quotas in jobs and education, likely breaching the 50% mark mandated in a landmark 1992 Supreme Court judgment. The census might also be the basis for conducting the delimitation exercise for Lok Sabha seats, another controversial process that threatens to drive a wedge between northern and southern India, as well as potentially usher in the reservation of a third of all seats in national and state legislatures for women....