Census

The 15th Indian National census was conducted in two phases, houselisting and population enumeration.  The second population enumeration phase was conducted between 9th to 28th February, 2011. Census has been conducted in India since 1872 and 2011 marks the first time biometric information was collected. According to the provisional reports released on March 31, 2011, the Indian population increased to 1.21 billion with a decadal growth of 17.64%. Adult literacy rate increased to 74.04% with a decadal growth of 9.21%.                                

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Scope and process
2.7 million officials visited households in about 7,000 towns and 600,000 villages, classifying the population according to gender, religion, education and occupation. The cost of the exercise was in the region of 22bn rupees ($490m; £300m). The exercise, conducted every 10 years, faced big challenges, not least India's vast area and diversity of cultures and opposition from the manpower involved
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Inclusion of caste
Information on castes was included in the census following demands from several ruling coalition leaders including Lalu Prasad Yadav, Sharad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadavsupported by opposition parties Bharatiya Janata Party, Akali Dal, Shiv Sena and Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.[1] Information on caste was last collected during British Raj in 1931. 
Houselisting
Houselisting Schedule contained 35 questions.[5]
Building number
Census house number
Predominant material of floor, wall and roof of the census house
Ascertain use of actual house
Condition of the census house
Household number
Total number of persons in the household
Name of the head of the household
Sex of the head
Caste status (SC or ST or others) | Ownership status of the house
Number of dwelling rooms
Number of married couple the household
Main source of drinking water
Availability of drinking water...