INDIA will launch the world’s largest census on Wednesday, with more than three million officials to take part in a vast counting exercise over the next year. The South Asian nation, home to an estimated 1.4 billion people, faces mounting challenges in providing electricity, food and housing to its growing population.
Many of its sprawling megacities are already grappling with water shortages, air and water pollution, and overcrowded slums. India’s government calls the $1.24 billion count a “gigantic exercise of national importance” that could support “inclusive governance and evidence-based policy formulation”.
The enumeration will also include the politically sensitive issue of caste, the millennia-old social hierarchy that divides Hindus by function and social standing. The upcoming census presents a formidable logistical challenge. India’s 2024 general election, the largest democratic exercise in history, was conducted in seven phases over six weeks. The census will be carried out in two phases.
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