Gazette Notification UPSC relevant
A gazette notification is the formal instrument by which census decisions acquire legal force, published in the Gazette of India under the Census Act, 1948.
Census 2027's paper trail so far: the Section 3 notification of intent to conduct the census, published June 16, 2025 (ORGI Gazette Notification_01, archived in the censusindia.gov.in catalogue); a pre-test notification for the houselisting phase; the January 2026 notification of the first phase and its houselisting questions (33 questions per news reports); and the August 14, 2026 notification of the 40 Population Enumeration questions, including caste.
Reference dates and enumeration periods are likewise fixed by notification. For a tracker site, gazette notifications are the ground truth — dates and question lists are official only once gazetted, whatever earlier press statements say.