Overview
- Late August 2026 reports based on census sources show the Census 2027 questionnaire omits the discrete 'beggars and vagrants' entry so the exercise will not publish separate counts or demographic breakdowns for that group.
- Officials told reporters past counts were small and judged unreliable because many people would not identify themselves as beggars due to stigma, with earlier censuses recording roughly 3.8 lakh in 2011, 6.3 lakh in 2001 and about 5.4 lakh in 1991.
- The form also adds other items, including 'natural calamities' as a reason for migration and conditional fields for a father's and mother's date/place of birth and religion when parents are absent or deceased.
- Enumerators are instructed to request mobile numbers and ID numbers (Aadhaar, voter ID, passport) where available, to persuade but to leave fields blank if respondents refuse, and officials say patterns of blank responses could themselves signal privacy concerns.
- Removing the label will reduce official visibility of people who beg and may hinder targeting of services and research, the parents' particulars could have implications for citizenship assessment, and final implementation details await formal publication by census authorities.