India has begun counting its population in the world’s largest census, which will include caste enumeration for the first time in nearly a century.This year’s census is a $1.24bn exercise during which more than three million Indian officials will spend a year surveying about 1.4 billion Indians about their household composition, living conditions and access to basic amenities.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThe last census was conducted in 2011. Another one was due in 2021, but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving India’s data on such things as its demographics, housing conditions and welfare amenities outdated.How will the gargantuan task of counting more than a billion people spread out across a vast country be carried out, and why is the latest census being watched particularly closely?Here’s what we know:How will India’s census take place?According to the Press Information Bureau, India’s first modern census was conducted from 1865 to 1872 during the British colonial period, but it did not happen simultaneously across all regions of the country. It was only in 1881 that India conducted its first coordinated census.After independence in 1947, India conducted its first census in 1951.The census this year, which is the eighth since independence, will take place across the country’s 28 states and eight union territories (federally run territories), which include more than 7,000 towns and 640,000 villages.For the first time, the census will be conducted di …
