New Delhi: The Registrar General of India (RGI) on Friday notified a 40-question schedule for the second phase of the Census 2027, including, for the first time, an open-ended question on caste for all respondents, apart from the existing enumeration of SCs and STs.The notification, issued by Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, places "Scheduled Caste (SC)/ Scheduled Tribe (ST)/Caste" as Question No 10 in the Population Enumeration schedule.Officials said the caste field will be an open column, allowing enumerators to record the caste or sub-caste exactly as declared by the respondent.The format was retained after the pre-test for the Population Enumeration phase, conducted from July 1 to 20 across 16 states and union territories. During the exercise, respondents other than SCs and STs were also asked to state their caste, with enumerators recording the responses in the open column.The 40-question schedule broadens the range of information to be collected during Census 2027.Along with demographic and socio-economic details, enumerators will seek identification and service-related information, including Aadhaar numbers, mobile numbers, voter ID numbers and passport and driving licence details.The exercise will begin on August 17 in Ladakh and snow-bound areas of J&K, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, ahead of the main enumeration across the rest of the country in February 2027.The schedule covers basic demographic information such as name, age, sex, marital status, spouse's name, nationality, religion, caste or tribe, and details of parents. It also seeks information on education.The Census will collect language data. Employment-related questions will cover whether a person worked during the preceding year, occupation, industry or service sector, class of worker and whether the respondent is seeking employment. Information on travel to the workplace will also be recorded.Migration will form another key component of the enumeration, with questions covering place of birth, previous place of residence, reasons for migration, duration of stay at the current location, and permanent residential address.Women who are currently married, widowed, divorced or separated will be asked about the number of surviving children, children ever born alive and, in specified cases, births during the preceding year.Among the notable additions are questions on the place of Covid-19 vaccination and the total number of bank accounts.