The second phase of the Census—the Population Enumeration (PE)—which starts on August 17 in Ladakh and other snow-bound areas, is likely to ask questions on 40 parameters and provide an open-ended column for caste enumeration. While the ongoing Census is India’s first digital Census, officials are making an exception for Ladakh by printing a sufficient number of paper schedules. According to Chief Principal Census Officer Amit Sharma, the three-day programme provided comprehensive training on all aspects of Census 2027 population enumeration, covering census concepts, caste and demographic data collection, digital tools, self-enumeration, interviewing techniques and hands-on use of the mobile application. The open-column methodology had resulted in the 2011 Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) returning over 46 lakh different “caste names”, largely owing to the differences in what people understand by caste. An option for self-enumeration will be available from August 17 to 31, before the start of house-to-house population enumeration, the notification said.