New Delhi, October 20 — The Central government has amended the Census Rules, 1990 to widen the pool of people who can be appointed as census enumerators, allowing states and Union Territory administrations to appoint teachers from aided and unaided private educational institutions, as well as clerks and officials from banks, companies, public sector undertakings and other establishments, IANS reported.

The Census (Amendment) Rules, 2026 were notified in the official gazette on Friday, October 16, by Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan, under Section 18(1) of the Census Act, 1948, the Ministry of Home Affairs notification said. The amendment substitutes the entries against serial number 5 in the table under Rule 3 of the Census Rules, 1990, and came into force on publication in the gazette.

Under the revised rules, teachers of educational institutions run by the government, local authorities, aided or unaided private bodies, societies or trusts can be appointed as enumerators. Clerks and officials of the Central and state governments, local authorities and establishments — including public sector undertakings, statutory bodies, banks, companies, institutions, societies and trusts — are also eligible, and state and UT administrations may appoint any other person they consider suitable, according to the notification reported by PTI.

The change comes amid a legal challenge by private unaided schools. The Haryana Progressive Schools Conference petitioned the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the requisition of private-school teachers for census duty, and on October 8 Justice Harpreet Singh Brar stayed two Haryana government communications seeking teacher details; the matter is listed for April 29, 2027, PTI reported.

India conducts a population census under the Census Act, 1948; the last full census was in 2011 and the 2021 exercise was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, IANS reported. The upcoming Census 2027 is being conducted in two phases — house-listing and housing census, and population enumeration — and enumerators are the officials who visit households to collect demographic, social and economic information.

Sources: IANS; PTI; Ministry of Home Affairs gazette notification, Census (Amendment) Rules, 2026.