300 million households, 1 billion people — India's census is under way

THREE weeks, 29 questions and an estimated 1.17 billion heads to count. India is busily conducting its 15th national census, with millions of government officials travelling the country to get a clearer picture of the world's most populous democracy and its vast needs.

It's a monumental effort. The census workers - most of them school teachers armed with clipboards and computer surveys - are out negotiating skyscrapers, navigating farm roads and forest paths, visiting village huts and knocking on slum doors to find everyone over the age of 15 they can before the census deadline of 1 March.

This year, following a decade of liberalisation and unprecedented economic growth, there is an eagerness among many citizens to participate. They know the 10-year census may help authorities identify areas where neglect is high, where poverty is particularly rife and where large numbers of people are unable to read or to work.

This is the second census phase, with the first last year listing some 300 million Indian households. Baljeet Nagar holds some 7,000 of those homes, many no wider than their front door and divided by narrow alleys strewn with garlands of laundry lines and loose electrical wires. Former soldier Hira Lal, sitting on the broken concrete steps of his modest home, said he hoped the census would lead to better benefits. "The way inflation is going, maybe they will see a need to raise pensions," Lal said.

There are 89 teachers assigned to canvass Baljeet Nagar, and for the first time they will be considering that women may be the heads of their households, rather than just men. The census now asks for actual birth dates, to avoid respondents giving only approximate ages. If someone can remember only that they were born, say, during a certain festival in 1934, it's up to the census worker to find out what date that is.

For the first time, the census is noting whether people live in mud huts or concrete structures, have electricity or access to toilets and if they have ever been to school even if they don't go any more - key questions for a country with some 800 million people living in poverty.

One area deemed too sensitive to ask about was that of caste. That will be surveyed separately later this year.

Meanwhile, the millions of homeless Indians sleeping on railway platforms, under bridges and in parks will be the last counted, on the evening of 28 February, with revisions conducted until 5 March.