A census official collects information from a household in Bonda, on the outskirts of Gauhati, India, during the 2011 national census. Anupam Nath/AP/File India’s caste system is controversial ...

NEW DELHI — India will include caste details in its next census, in a move likely to have sweeping socio-economic and political ramifications for the world's most populous country.

So, it came as a surprise when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration announced that caste would be counted in the upcoming national census for the first time since 1931 – when India ...

The Registrar General of India is preparing for the 16th Census, scheduled for 2027. This Census will include caste ...

The Indian census is said to be the largest peacetime mobilization in the world. Almost 2.7 million people were hired to implement the 2011 census, visiting more than 240 million households.

The announcement on the census comes months ahead of a crucial election in India’s poorest state of Bihar, where caste is a key issue. Modi’s party runs a coalition government in Bihar.

India’s caste system has roots in Hindu scriptures, ... Modi’s U-turn on the caste census, his rivals claim, is a political maneuver to shore up support in upcoming state elections, ...

NEW DELHI (AP) — India will include caste details in its next census, in a move likely to have sweeping socio-economic and political ramifications for the world’s most populous country.

India has limited data on the number of people belonging to a particular caste and their socio-economic status. Colonial power Britain began an Indian census in 1872 and counted all castes until 1931.

NEW DELHI (AP) — India will include caste details in its next census, in a move likely to have sweeping socio-economic and political ramifications for the world's most populous country.