India launches biometric survey

I think of the child I sponsor through Project Mala when I hear on the BBC news that India is launching a new census in which every person aged over 15 will be photographed and fingerprinted to create a biometric national database. The government will then use the information to issue identity cards. Apparently officials will spend a year classifying India's population of around 1.2 billion people according to gender, religion, occupation and education. Although this exercise takes place every 10 years this is the first time a biometric element has been included. It is also the first time that information about the use of the internet and the availability of drinking water and toilets in each household will be recorded. The BBC reports that over the next year, some 2.5 million census officials will visit households in more than 7,000 towns and 600,000 villages.

From the information Project Mala passed on to me I know that the child I sponsor is under 15 so she will not be included in this survey but her parents and older siblings will be. I have also been given some details about where she lives. From this information I gained an insight into what life may be like for her, living in mud rooms, with no electricity, relying on the village handpump for water. The family own two cows.