India will begin its long-delayed decadal census likely next year, people aware of the details said on Monday, potentially marking the beginning of a mammoth exercise that continued uninterrupted since 1872 but was thrown off schedule by the pandemic in 2020. The country’s population count was conducted every 10 years since 1951, but the census work in 2021 could not be carried out due to the pandemic. (HT Photo) The decadal census is always important, but this particular round will hold outsized significance because this enumeration – likely to be completed by 2026, said the people cited above – will act as the basis for the redrawing of Lok Sabha constituencies. This process, called delimitation, is expected to be fractious and open up old disputes of political representation between India’s poorer northern states that are more populous, and prosperous southern provinces where birth rates are below replacement levels. The country’s population count was conducted every 10 years since 1951, but the census work in 2021 could not be carried out due to the pandemic. So …