PIB fact checks Congress’s misinformation on ‘2027 caste census’

New Delhi: The Congress party landed in controversy on Monday after spreading misleading claims yet again. This time it was about the 2027 Census. 

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh accused the Modi government of going back on its promise to include caste data in the upcoming Census, calling a recent Gazette notification a “damp squib” and alleging the government was hiding its intentions.

However, the government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) quickly fact-checked these claims on X (formerly Twitter). 

The PIB clarified that the government is fully committed to caste enumeration in Census 2027, in line with the Cabinet’s decision on April 30, 2025. The PIB urged the public to trust official sources and not be misled by political statements.

Several social media posts are claiming that the Central Government is not including the Caste enumeration in Census 2027.#PIBFactCheck

❌ These claims are misleading.

✅ The Government has already announced that the Caste enumeration will be conducted along with Census… pic.twitter.com/TXQ7eavetx

— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) June 16, 2025

Congress’s criticism ignored that its own governments in the past had either avoided or delayed caste-based census data. The first post-independence Census to drop caste enumeration was in 1951, under Congress’s leadership. Even when the UPA government conducted a Socio-Economic and Caste Census in 2011, the data was never fully released.

In contrast, the Modi government announced in April 2025 that caste data would be collected in the next Census, responding to rising demand from states like Bihar, which had already released its own caste survey in 2023.

Experts point out that including caste data is a major shift, with the potential to help shape fairer policies in areas like education, jobs, and health. But for this process to work, both government and opposition need to share accurate information with the public.

Instead of welcoming the move, Congress tried to create confusion by twisting the language of the government notification, even though earlier announcements made the government’s position clear.