Inside the survey to enumerate India’s oldest fault line

Once the operative part of the exercise got off the ground, it became clear that enumerating 29 million households was no easy task

Patna The muddy expanse of the Ganga stretched out in front of her, Afreen Jahan waited on the sandy shores on the outskirts of Patna one Monday morning in early May, her face and hands draped in a dupatta. Before her, snaking into the distance was a pontoon bridge, hundreds of metal decks grating against each other, bobbing up and down in the gentle current of the summer river. Large auto-rickshaws, cars, and a train of motorcycles sputtered nervously across

The Patna high court suspended the ₹500 crore caste survey exercise for close to three months, before dismissing all objections on August 1. (HT Photo)