It is estimated that in two months, India will become the most populous country in the world with a population of more than 1.4 billion. But for at least a year, and possibly even longer, the country will not know how many people there are because it has not been able to count them, Reuters and News.ro reported.

India’s decennial population census, which was due to take place in 2021, has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is now hampered by technical and logistical hurdles, and there are no signs that the mammoth operation can begin anytime soon.

The United Nations estimated that India’s population could reach 1,425,775,850 on April 14, surpassing China’s on that day. Last November, the world’s population reached the 8 billion mark.

The 2011 census estimated India’s population at 1.21 billion, which means that the country’s population has increased by 210 million people in 12 years, almost as much as the population of Brazil.

Concern over delay in census in India

Experts say the delay in updating data such as employment, housing, literacy rates, migration patterns and infant mortality recorded by the census affects social and economic planning and policy-making in the huge Asian economy.

A senior official from the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation said data from the 2011 census, when the last count was conducted, was used for projections and estimates needed to estimate government spending.

“In the absence of recent census data, the estimates are based on data from a decade ago and are likely to give estimates that are far from reality,” said Rrachna Sharma, a fellow at the National Institute of Public Policy and Finance.

Two government officials said the delay in the census was largely due to the government’s decision to improve the process and make it secure with technology. The software that will be used to collect the census data in the mobile phone app must be synchronized with existing databases of identification information, including the national identity card, which will take time.

Great preparation for the census

India’s census is conducted by about 330,000 public school teachers who first go door-to-door in every household across the country and then return to them with a second list of questions.

Each time they will ask more than 20 questions in 16 languages, the two stages will stretch over 11 months, according to the plan drawn up for 2021.

The numbers will be centralized and the final data will be released in a few months. In 2019, the entire operation cost 87.5 billion rupees ($1.05 billion).

On the other hand, teachers who have returned to school after the pandemic, in addition to the census, have to deal with nine state elections in 2023 and a national election in 2024, which again would interfere with teaching.

Payments have also become a problem. Teachers are required by law to help with elections and censuses, and the government must increase the pay they receive.

The main opposition Congress and critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have accused the government of delaying the census to hide data on politically sensitive issues such as unemployment ahead of national elections in 2024.

Article photo: Samrat 35 / Dreamstime.com.