India Begins Counting Over 1 Billion People in Digital Census

India has begun its long-delayed national census, a policy-shaping exercise that will collect a wide range of data and, for the first time since independence, include citizens’ caste.

The population count — the country’s first in 15 years — will deploy about 3.3 million officials to collect information on more than a billion people, covering everything from marital status to mobile connections. Originally scheduled for 2021, it was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic and national elections. The government describes it as the world’s largest of its kind.