NEW DELHI: With the Census 2027 exercise set to kick off on April 1, which also marks the beginning of the 2026-27 fiscal year, the budgetary allocation for conducting the delayed decennial procedure received a substantial 962 per cent increase.
In the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, Rs 6,000 crore has been allocated for census operations for 2026-27, a tremendous 962 per cent rise in allocation from Rs 574 crore allotted for the purpose in 2025-26.
The overall allocation in the Union Budget for the Union Home Ministry (MHA) saw a 10 percent rise to Rs 2,55,233 crore for 2026-27 from Rs 2,33,210 crore in 2025-26.
The first phase of Census 2027 will begin on April 1, 2026, and will continue until September 30, 2026. In this phase, houselisting and housing census will be conducted. The second phase would consist of Population Enumeration (PE), which would take place in February 2027.
However, for the union territory of Ladakh and snowbound, non-synchronous areas of the union territory of Jammu & Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, PE will be conducted in September 2026. Meanwhile, funds for the Intelligence Bureau (IB) have also seen a sharp 74 per cent increase, from Rs 3,893 crore in 2025-26 to Rs 6,782 crore in 2026-27. Significantly, however, there is no allocation for the ‘Border Area Development Programme’ in 2026-27, even though it received Rs 98 crore in 2025-26.
Even the allotment of funds pertaining to border infrastructure and management has seen a marginal fall of Rs 5,576 crore in 2026-27, from Rs 5,597 crore allotted in 2025-26. The allocation for the modernization of police forces, which includes components like the modernization of state police forces, the crime and criminal tracking network and systems (CCTNS), as well as security-related expenditure and the special infrastructure scheme for Left Wing Extremist (LWE) areas, witnessed a marginal fall, from Rs 4,069 crore in 2025-26 to Rs 4,061 crore in 2026-27.
Among the CAPFs, the CRPF led the forces with the highest budgetary allocation, at 9.5 per cent. It received Rs 38,517 crore in 2026-27, up 9.5 per cent from Rs 35,147 crore in 2025-26. The ITBP also received a 9 per cent hike in the allotment of funds for 2026-27, as it has received Rs 11,324 crore, while in 2025-26 it received Rs 10,370 crore. The BSF received a 4.7 per cent increase in budgetary allocation for 2026-27, with Rs 29,567 crore, compared to Rs 28,231 crore in 2025-26.
The Assam Rifles also received a hike in budgetary allocation for 2026-27, with Rs 8,796 crore, compared to Rs 8,274 crore in 2025-26.