The self-enumeration phase of the 2027 Census commenced on Monday in the hill states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, as well as the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh, covering remote villages, mountainous communities and difficult terrain.From August 17 to August 31, residents in these regions will be able to submit their details online.Thereafter, census enumerators will begin a door-to-door exercise from September 1 to September 30, using the list of 40 questions notified last week, including those related to caste, parental details and identity documents.Caste will be recorded as declared by respondents rather than being matched against a pre-defined list. The caste-related query is listed as Question No. 10 in the questionnaire.The population count for the rest of the country will be conducted in February 2027.The exercise has been advanced in the identified regions because winter conditions often make several remote and mountainous settlements difficult to access.In Jammu and Kashmir, 16 of the Union Territory’s 20 districts have been identified as partially snow-bound for the exercise. Self-enumeration will be available in these identified areas, while the entire Union Territory of Ladakh has been included in this phase.The exercise will also cover remote settlements and establishments where Army and paramilitary personnel are stationed.The 2027 Census will include 11 more questions than the 2011 Census, which contained 29 questions.The additional questions are related to passport details, Aadhaar, voter ID, mobile number, driving licence, Covid-19 vaccination details and permanent residential address.As many as eight of the 40 questions are identical to those included in the 2020 instruction manual issued by the Registrar General of India for the updating of the National Population Register (NPR).