War of the babies: Census the new frontier; AP and Pakistan updates

If someone were to chart Indian media/intellectual  coverage of recent American politics, it would look like a step function. Complete silence during the democratic primaries was followed by a blitzkrieg of coverage which lasted roughly till the inauguration. After that it has dropped to a near bottom level again. Perhaps it is for the better, right now there is just too much info coming out.

Here is an excerpt from a dated news from the WSJ:

Why [The President] Wants Control of the Census

Counting citizens is a powerful political tool.

By JOHN FUND

President [..] said in his inaugural address that he planned to "restore science to its rightful place" in government. That's a worthy goal. But statisticians at the Commerce Department didn't think it would mean having the director of next year's Census report directly to the White House rather than to the Commerce secretary, as is customary. "There's only one reason to have that high level of White House involvement," a career professional at the Census Bureau tells me. "And it's called politics, not science." [link]

India's last census was done in 2001. We are due for another one in 2011. Quite clearly, a lot will be riding on who controls New Delhi at the time. Partial information is available from NSSO reports, but they are clearly inadequate. If you are a betting person, don't put you money on a full caste census for 2011. 

Andhra Pradesh update:

General secretary of the AICC Prabhu Kumar spoke of the need for inclusive politics, which should serve and protect the interest of Minority members. He said that though official records state the percentage of Christians in the State to be close to 9%, the actual figure is about 19% of the total population, which is a significant number that needs to be accounted for, he said. [link]

More details at Indian Catholic. Now, 9% to 19% is quite a jump by any standards. Although, given the rock star like efforts by the CM's own son-in-law, this is not entirely surprising. Of course, the beneficent state helps out in no small measure.

In other words, expect some surprises in 2011. 

Pakistan updates:

So, how is our pesky little neighbor doing? 

Pakistan has a very high rate of population growth. Although it has declined from three percent at the time of the census in 1981 to the present 1.9 per cent it is still the highest among populous countries of more than 50 million, except Nigeria. The more reliable indicator of population growth is the total fertility rate -- the number of children born to a woman in her reproductive span. Pakistan's TFR is four. A TFR of 2.1 is considered replacement level which leads to a stable population.

In Pakistan, the under-15 population is 37 per cent of the total. Given the poor education, health and skills of this youth, they are fodder for jihad and little else. With the mullahs constantly drumming that all of Pakistan's ills are due to the evil Hindu India/Zionist Israel/Christian America troika, Pakistan's biggest export for a long time is likely to be terror. [link]

That's a lot of Ajmal Kasabs.