India is about to count itself. Every person. Every household. In a country of more than 1.4 billion people. The last time it did this was 2011 — fourteen years ago. The next count was due in 2021, delayed by Covid, then delayed again by elections. Now it has a new name and a new date: Census 2027. Starting tomorrow, more than three million government officials will spend an entire year going door to door, village to village, city to city, across the length and breadth of India.