India has begun preparing for what is one of the world's biggest ever censuses, a survey by millions of volunteers that could affect government policies and reveal how economic growth has affected the population. Thousands of officials have started the long-drawn process of mapping cities, towns and villages that is likely to throw up new information on the changing demographic profile in the country. Millions of volunteers and census officials will visit every household around the country in the next few years to gather information on jobs, education and quality of life. India's population is projected to grow to 1.19 billion in 2011 from 1.13 billion in 2008, according to census authorities. More than a decade of reform programs is estimated to have pushed India's long-term economic growth rate to around 8.7 percent this fiscal year. But India urgently requires more infrastructure and creation of new jobs. India produces 2.5 million graduates every year, but only about 15 percent are suitable for jobs in technology and outsourcing, home ministry officials say. Millions still live in acute poverty. “The census will be a review of trends of the high growth rate economy and it is going to be the report card on how the population has responded to it,” Abheek Barua, chief economist at the HDFC Bank said. India's last census in 2001 revealed an increasing demographic divide between poorer states in the north and the economically better-off south. Experts say the imbalances have fanned political tensions, with Hindu hard-line groups in Mumbai threatening poorer migrant laborers from north India. __
