The Home Ministry on Thursday announced that the next census of India will be carried out in 2021 with March 1 of that year as the reference date.
"The central government hereby declares that a census of the population of India shall be taken during the year 2021. The reference date for the census shall, except for the state of Jammu and Kashmir and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, be 00:00 hours of the first day of March, 2021," in a notification, Home Ministry said.
India's last census was carried out in 2011 when the country's population stood at 121 crore.
