The Ministry of Home Affairs has notified a set of 33 questions that officials will ask during the house-listing and housing phase of the Census-2027. While most questions are similar to those asked in the 2011 Census, three new questions have been added this time.These relate to the main cereal being consumed in a household, mobile number of the family and the access to Internet facilities. The mobile number is presumably of the head of the household, though it is not specified in the notificationIt is, however, mentioned that the mobile number being sought for the Census relates to communication only. In addition to this, under the query related to availability of telephone and mobile phone (which was also asked in 2011), availability of smartphone has also been included, considering the fact that in 2011, they were not in popular use in the country.The query related to Internet access holds significance considering the fact that data consumption has risen by leaps and bounds in the past 15 years.Other queries include the main fuel used for cooking, whether households have radio or transistors or TV, whether there is availability of laptop or computer, and also predominant material used for the floor, wall and roof of the house.Information will also be collected regarding the head of the household, including name and sex, whether the head belongs to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes or other communities and the number of married couples living in the household.”The Centre hereby instructs that all the Census officers may, within the limits of the local areas for which they have been respectively appointed, ask all such questions from all persons on the items enumerated below for collecting information through the house-listing and housing phase,” the gazette notification said.The Census exercise will be held in two phases, starting from April 1. In the first phase, house-listing will be done, while the second phase which will commence from February 1, 2027, will consist of population enumeration.The house-listing phase will be conducted over a 30-day period to be notified by each state and UT between April 1 and September 30. A 15-day window for self-enumeration will be available just before the start of field operations.Meanwhile, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan held a meeting with all Chief Secretaries of states and UTs on Friday. The modalities for preparedness of the decadal exercise were discussed in the meeting with the Home Secretary directing the Chief Secretaries to arrange the manpower for conducting the house-listing process under the first phase, sources said.