In an important move on Friday, the Centre amended the Census Rules to allow states and union territories (UTs) to deploy teachers employed by private aided and unaided institutions for enumeration duties.In a notification issued on Friday, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs amended the 1990 Census Rules to specify three categories of people who can be engaged to carry out Census-related tasks.These categories include: “Teachers of any educational institution of the government, local authority, aided or unaided private bodies, societies or trusts; clerks of any office of the central government, state government, local authority or establishment (including public sector undertakings, statutory bodies, banks, companies, institutions, societies and trusts); and any person whom the state government or UT administration may consider suitable to perform the duties of an enumerator.”The Ministry of Home Affairs issued the amendments following the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s stay on the operation of two Haryana government orders concerning the deployment of private school teachers for Census work.The High Court stayed the orders and sought details of the availability of teachers for Census duty after the Haryana Progressive Schools Conference filed a petition challenging the deployment of teachers from private unaided schools. The petitioners argued that the Centre lacked the legislative authority to mandate their deployment.The petitioners contended that the government had no statutory powers to engage private school teachers for the exercise. They cited the Census Act, 1948, and the 1990 Census Rules, which, they argued, were silent on the deployment of teachers from private institutions.With the case scheduled for its next hearing on April 29, 2027, the Centre amended the Rules on Friday to extend their scope to cover the relevant category of teachers.The eighth Census exercise is being conducted in two phases: the House Listing and Housing Census and Population Enumeration.The House Listing and Housing Census (HLO) took place across India between April and September 2026, except in Manipur, where it has been deferred.Population Enumeration is scheduled for February 2027, except in poll-bound states such as Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa, where it has been advanced to the period between December 1, 2026, and January 4, 2027.In Ladakh and the snow-bound, non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the Population Enumeration exercise was completed between September 1 and 30.Census 2027 marks India’s first digital Census, with mobile-based data collection expected to enable faster and more efficient nationwide data processing and availability.The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, at its meeting on April 30, 2025, also decided to include caste enumeration in Census 2027.The Census is backed by an institutional framework and an outlay of Rs 11,718.24 crore.