The Centre has deferred Census operations in Manipur until further orders, while notifying January 25 to February 28, 2027, as the population enumeration period for most of the country.
BY PC Bureau
NEW DELHI, October 30: The Centre has deferred Census operations in Manipur until further orders, even as it has notified the schedule for the population enumeration phase of Census 2027 across most states and Union territories.
A Gazette notification, S.O. 5913(E), issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs through the Office of the Registrar General of India, states that house-to-house population enumeration will take place from January 25 to February 28, 2027, in all states and Union territories except Manipur, where the exercise will remain deferred until further declaration.
A revisional round will be conducted from March 1 to March 5, 2027. The Census reference date has been fixed at midnight on March 1, 2027. The notification also provides for self-enumeration from January 10 to January 24, ahead of the door-to-door exercise.
Signed by Registrar General and Census Commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, the notification excludes several other regions from the January-February schedule. These include poll-bound Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand, the Union Territory of Ladakh, and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Separate schedules are expected for these regions.
The voices of Manipur’s indigenous people have been heard. While Census operations will proceed in other states, the Gazette notification defers the exercise in Manipur. This is a welcome development amid the long-standing demand for NRC before Census.
My heartfelt gratitude to Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi Ji and Union HM Shri @AmitShah Ji for their concern towards the indigenous people of Manipur.
— N. Biren Singh (@NBirenSingh) October 30, 2026
The latest decision follows the earlier deferment of the house-listing phase in Manipur, formally notified in September. It comes amid sustained demands from indigenous organisations, particularly Meitei and Naga civil society groups, for the implementation of a National Register of Citizens (NRC) before the Census is conducted in the state. Several organisations have demanded that the NRC exercise use 1951 as its base year.
These groups argue that a Census without prior verification of citizenship could affect the state’s demographic profile, particularly in view of concerns over illegal immigration from Myanmar and population movements following the ethnic violence that began in May 2023.
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They have also raised concerns that changes in population figures could have implications for future delimitation of Assembly constituencies, potentially affecting the political representation of indigenous communities. The Manipur Legislative Assembly has passed resolutions on multiple occasions urging the Centre to implement the NRC before undertaking the Census.
The deferment is likely to provide the Centre and the state government additional time to examine these concerns. However, the notification does not specify when Census operations will resume in Manipur or whether the NRC demand will be addressed before a fresh schedule is announced.
The decision has been welcomed by sections of the state’s indigenous communities. A community representative expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, saying the move reflected concern for the interests of Manipur’s indigenous population.
With population enumeration scheduled to begin in most parts of the country in January 2027, the focus will now be on the Centre’s next steps in Manipur. The key question is whether the government will announce a separate Census timetable after addressing the demand for citizenship verification, or continue the deferment until conditions are considered suitable.
