Disability groups flag gaps in proposed Census 2027 categories

Disability rights organisations and activists have raised concerns over the proposed classification of disabilities for enumeration in Census 2027. They say the nine-category framework does not adequately include several disabilities recognised under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016.

The National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) stated that the proposed Census categories — seeing, hearing, speech, mobility, intellectual disability, mental illness, acid attack, chronic neurological disease and blood disorder — did not adequately reflect the 21 “specified disabilities” recognised under the Act. Activists warn the limited categories could risk underrepresentation of various disabilities that are legally recognised.