The New Indian Express wishes its readers a School children participate in a Har Ghar Tiranga Rally in Hyderabad | Vinay Madapu vijayawada l saturday l august 15, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Expanded questionnaire includes Aadhaar, voter ID, bank a/cs, DL M U K E S H R AN J AN @ New Delhi THE Centre on Friday notified a 40 questions for the second phase of Census 2027, including for the first time an openended caste question for every respondent, in addition to the enumeration of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The notification, issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs under the seal of Registrar General and Census Commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, lists “Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribe (ST)/Caste” as Question No. 10 in the population enumeration schedule. Officials said the caste column will remain open-ended, with enumerators recording the exact caste or sub-caste declared by the respondent. The format was retained after a pretest conducted from July 1 to 20 across 16 states and Union Territories, during which non-SC/ ST respondents were also asked to state their caste. No drop-down list The questionnaire is unlikely to carry a list of castes, and responses will be recorded as shared by respondents. The decision to include caste enumeration was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on April 30 last year The expanded questionnaire significantly widens the data net. Besides basic demographic and socio-economic particulars, enumerators will collect identification and service details, including Aadhaar numbers, mobile numbers, voter ID, passport and driving licence information where applicable. Enumeration will begin on August 17 in Ladakh and the snow-bound regions of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, ahead of the nationwide exercise scheduled for February 2027. The 40 questions cover name, a g e, sex, marital status, spouse’s name, nationality, religion, caste or tribe and parents’ details. Education-related queries include literacy digital , literacy, institutional attendance and the highest level attained. Language data will record mother tongue and other languages known. Employment questions will capture work status in the preceding year, occupation, industry or service sector, class of worker, job-seeking status and travel to the workplace. Migration particulars will include place of birth, previous residence, reasons for migration, duration of stay and permanent address. Among the notable additions for population enumeration are questions on the place of Covid-19 vaccination, the total number of bank accounts and the availability of Aadhaar, mobile, digital literacy voter I, card, passport and driving licence details. express Illustration Caste to debut in Census as open-ended question Sat image shows drought stress on 64% of farmland J I T E ND R A C H O U B E Y @ New Delhi Enumerators will ask for birthplace of respondents, place of last residence, reason for migration, duration of stay in a village/town, and permanent residential address Note from Registrar General Census: 2027 Phase II Questions Name of the person Relationship to family head Sex Date of birth and age (in completed years) Current marital status Age at marriage (in completed years) Spouse name Nationality as declared Religion Scheduled Caste (SC)/ Scheduled Tribe (ST)/Caste Father’s particulars Mother’s particulars Disability Mother tongue and other languages known Literacy and digital literacy status Highest educational level attained and Stream/Discipline Permanent residential address Total bank accounts Mobile number Aadhaar number Voter ID number Driving licence E x p r e s s Re a d SC dismisses plea against Naidu Quench people’s thirst first: CM Aadhaar enough for all in ULBs New Delhi: In a major relief to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana, the Supreme Court has declined to overturn the AP High Court’s decision to quash a case against them in connection with the alleged anomalies in the land pooling scheme | P4 Vijayawada: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed the Water Resources Department to strictly manage the State’s water assets in accordance with a structured Water Movement Plan, laying down a firm mandate that drinking water needs in urban and rural areas must take top priority | P4 Vijayawada: Citizens accessing online civic services across Andhra Pradesh will no longer be required to repeatedly submit multiple identity documents, with the State government enabling voluntary Aadhaarbased authentication across all Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) | P3 The latest satellite imagery from the ICARIndian Agricultural Research Institute’s CREAMS Lab indicates that as of August 12, as much as 64% of the country’s agricultural area is experiencing drought stress due to insufficient rainfall. India has completed 92% of its normal kharif sowing in the ongoing monsoon season, which means the standing crops are at risk as the rainfall deficiency increases. A significant portion of the country is experiencing mild drought, with regions also affected by moderate, severe, and extreme drought. The CREAMS Lab’s report highlights that the major food-producing states of Punjab, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, and Tamil Nadu fall in the extreme drought category . The area affected is currently 38% more than it was in the same period last year, reflecting increased agricultural stress. Despite some improvement in rainfall during the month of August, the country has recorded a total rainfall deficiency of 13% since June 1, with South and East India facing the highest levels of deficiency . According to the report, rainfall deficits and soil-water shortages are major contributors to dryness, particularly across parts of Central, Western, and Peninsular India. Satellite imagery shows emerging vegetation and signs of evaporative stress, suggesting localised crop moisture deficiency . Currently mild drought is affecting 111.1 , million hectares (mha), which represents 56.6% of the total agricultural area. Moderate drought affects 12.6 mha, severe drought impacts 1.6 mha, and extreme drought covers 0.3 mha. Rainfall in August has improved conditions in some areas. East, NE worst off As of August 14, rainfall deficiency was 12.6%. Highest deficiencies are in East and Northeast regions (-27%), followed by Southern Peninsula (-20%), whereas the Northwest recorded -11% rain deficiency Most hit crops Deficient rains pulled down kharif area by 2.1 million hectares. The biggest fall in sowing was in ragi (-34%), followed by tur (-4.03%), rice (-3.65%), and soybean (-1.44%) Second case of AI hydraulic fault in 10 days S L a l i th a @ New Delhi IN the second instance of a hydraulics glitch on board an Air India flight within 10 days, pilots of an A320 flight from Bangkok to New Delhi were forced to abort the takeoff on Thursday (August 13) evening when they detected the malfunction while taxiing to the runway at the Bangkok airport. The pilot announced it over the public address system to keep the fliers in the loop. An airline source conceded “a hydraulic malfunction” took place on Flight AI 2335 but added that the pilot was not supposed to announce it. On August 4, a cruising A320 Phuket-Delhi flight suffered three hydraulic failures within two seconds. It led to a steep descent resulting in injuries to 24 flyers, the initial analysis report of Airbus revealed. A hydraulic malfunction refers to a loss of pressurised fluid power used to move flight controls, landing gear, brakes, or in some cases, a total shutdown of the equipment. The AI 2335, with over 250 passengers, was scheduled to take off at 6.25 pm Bangkok time (4.55 pm IST) on Thursday . It finally took off at 7 pm local time on Friday . Rajiv Gambhir, a Delhi-based businessman, who also owns an aircraft, told this paper, “The flight was moving for take-off when we heard a loud screeching halt. The pilot announced there was a hydraulic failure. It worried us.”