New Delhi, June 4 -- India's next census - the exercise to count population and along with caste enumeration - will begin from March 1, 2027, Union government officials said on Wednesday, 4 June.

The exercise will, however, begin in October 2026 in snow-bound states and union territories, such as Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, the officials said.

The census exercise will be conducted over two phases.

The last census was done in India in 2011. The Census is a decennial population-based survey that has been conducted 15 times until 2011. A pan-India census, due in 2021, was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The dates of the new exercise come over a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Cabin...