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India to Begin World’s Biggest Population Count

Commuters walk on a platform after disembarking from a suburban train at a railway station in Mumbai, India, January 21, 2023. (Reuters)
Commuters walk on a platform after disembarking from a suburban train at a railway station in Mumbai, India, January 21, 2023. (Reuters)
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India to Begin World’s Biggest Population Count

Commuters walk on a platform after disembarking from a suburban train at a railway station in Mumbai, India, January 21, 2023. (Reuters)
Commuters walk on a platform after disembarking from a suburban train at a railway station in Mumbai, India, January 21, 2023. (Reuters)

India will launch the world's largest census on Wednesday, with more than three million officials to take part in a vast counting exercise over the next year.

The South Asian nation, home to an estimated 1.4 billion people, faces mounting challenges in providing electricity, food and housing to its growing population.

Many of its sprawling megacities are already grappling with water shortages, air and water pollution, and overcrowded slums.

India's government calls the $1.24 billion count a "gigantic exercise of national importance" that could support "inclusive governance and evidence-based policy formulation".

The enumeration will also include the politically sensitive issue of caste, the millennia-old social hierarchy that divides Hindus by function and social standing.

The upcoming census presents a formidable logistical challenge. India's 2024 general election, the largest democratic exercise in history, was conducted in seven phases over six weeks.

The census will be carried out in two phases.

The first phase, beginning Wednesday and running until September, will involve a staggered, month-long enumeration to record details of housing and amenities.

The process will combine door-to-door visits with an option for online self-enumeration, linking to an app drawing on satellite imagery and available in 16 languages.

A second phase will focus on population data including demographic, social and economic details as well as the more contentious question of caste.

Caste remains a powerful determinant of social status in India, shaping access to resources, education and opportunity.

A caste survey conducted in 2011 was never published, with authorities citing inconsistencies in the data.

The last time comprehensive caste data was collected as part of a census was in 1931, under British colonial rule.

Governments since resisted updating the data, citing administrative complexity and concerns over potential social tensions.

For most of the country, population enumeration will take place in the weeks leading up to the reference date of March 1, 2027.

In high-altitude Himalayan regions -- including the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir -- it will take place ahead of October 1, 2026, before snowfall begins.

India has not conducted a census since 2011, after the 2021 round was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the last census, India's population was 1.21 billion.

In 2023, the United Nations estimated that India had surpassed China to become the world's most populous country, with more than 1.42 billion people.

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Varieties

The First Canine Inducted into the Surfer’s Hall of Fame Dies

FILE - Sugar catches a wave in the first heat of medium dogs during the World Dog Surfing Championships, Aug. 3, 2024, in Pacifica, Calif. (AP Photo/Eakin Howard, File)
FILE - Sugar catches a wave in the first heat of medium dogs during the World Dog Surfing Championships, Aug. 3, 2024, in Pacifica, Calif. (AP Photo/Eakin Howard, File)
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The First Canine Inducted into the Surfer’s Hall of Fame Dies

FILE - Sugar catches a wave in the first heat of medium dogs during the World Dog Surfing Championships, Aug. 3, 2024, in Pacifica, Calif. (AP Photo/Eakin Howard, File)
FILE - Sugar catches a wave in the first heat of medium dogs during the World Dog Surfing Championships, Aug. 3, 2024, in Pacifica, Calif. (AP Photo/Eakin Howard, File)

Sugar The Surfing Dog, the first canine inducted into the Surfer’s Hall of Fame, who spent her days outside the water comforting veterans as a dedicated therapy dog, died Monday after battling cancer.

The 16-year-old rescue dog from Huntington Beach, California, who was a five-time dog surfing world champion, died “in her daddy’s arms,” a post on her Instagram said, according to The Associated Press.

“She lived to put smiles on faces, volunteer, to send it !! to change dog surfing forever !!! thank you for loving Sugar,” the post said. “Good bye my Sugar., i can’t believe in writing this .. i’m going to miss you so much.”

Sugar was found as a stray and over the years her love of the waves and natural talent took dog surfing to new heights.

Dressed in a life jacket, spectators would watch the furry white canine in amazement as she balanced on her surfboard, riding wave after wave back to the shore, sometimes with her owner, Ryan Rustan, by her side and other times all on her own.

In 2024, her paw prints joined the hand and footprints of many other renowned surfers immortalized in concrete in Huntington Beach when she was inducted into the hall of fame.

“This is just incredible. Dreams do come true even for a surfing dog and guys like me,” Rustan said at the ceremony.

A post on Huntington Beach's Facebook page described her as a local legend who the Surf City community is mourning.

“From inspiring the surfing world to advocating for rescue dogs and bringing comfort to veterans as a therapy dog, her impact reached far beyond the shoreline,” the post said.

Varieties

Meta, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube Aren’t Fully Complying with Child Account Ban, Australia Says

Cars drive past a sign of Meta, the new name for the company formerly known as Facebook, at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, US, October 28, 2021. (Reuters)
Cars drive past a sign of Meta, the new name for the company formerly known as Facebook, at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, US, October 28, 2021. (Reuters)
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Meta, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube Aren’t Fully Complying with Child Account Ban, Australia Says

Cars drive past a sign of Meta, the new name for the company formerly known as Facebook, at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, US, October 28, 2021. (Reuters)
Cars drive past a sign of Meta, the new name for the company formerly known as Facebook, at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, US, October 28, 2021. (Reuters)

Australia’s online safety watchdog said Tuesday it was considering court against Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube alleging they are not doing enough to keep Australian children younger than 16 off their platforms.

Experts say the Australian courts could decide what steps the platforms can reasonably be expected to take under the laws that took effect on Dec. 10 banning young children from holding accounts.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant on Tuesday released her first compliance report since those laws took effect demanding 10 platforms remove all Australian account-holders younger than 16.

While 5 million Australian accounts had been deactivated, a substantial number of Australian children continued to retain accounts, create new accounts and pass platforms’ age assurance systems, the report said.

Inman Grant said in a statement her office had “significant concerns about the compliance” of half of those 10 platforms. Her office was gathering evidence against the five that they had not taken “reasonable steps” to prevent young children holding accounts.

Courts could order fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for systemic failures to comply. eSafety would decide on whether to initiate court action against any platform by midyear.

Age-restricted platforms that aren’t under investigation are Reddit, X, Kick, Threads and Twitch.

Communications Minister Anika Wells said the five criticized platforms were deliberately not complying with Australian law.

“Social media platforms are choosing to do the absolute bare minimum because they want these laws to fail,” Wells told reporters.

“This is the world-leading law. We’re the first in the world to do it. Of course they don’t want these laws to work because they want that to be a chilling effect on the dozen countries that have come out since Dec. 10 to follow Australia’s step,” she added.

eSafety had identified “poor practices” such as platforms allowing unlimited attempts for a user to pass their age assurance methods and prompting the user to try to pass the age assurance method even after they declared themselves underage.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, told The Associated Press it was committed to complying with Australia’s social media ban. “We’ve also been clear that accurately determining age online is a challenge for the whole industry,” the statement said.

Snap Inc. said it has locked 450,000 accounts in compliance with the law and continued to lock more every day.

“Snapchat remains fully committed to implementing reasonable steps under the legislation and supporting its underlying goal of improving online safety for young Australians,” a Snap statement said.

TikTok declined to comment on Tuesday and Alphabet Inc., which owns YouTube and Google, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lisa Given, an information sciences expert at RMIT University in Melbourne, said she expected the courts will decide whether platforms have taken “reasonable steps” to exclude young children.

“If a tech company has said: look, we put in age assurance, we’ve done all these steps. That’s reasonable. Even though the aged assurance technologies are flawed, whose fault is that? Should they be held accountable for a piece of technology that is not 100% and likely not going to be 100% foolproof any time soon?” Given said.

“That’s really the crux of it: what the courts will deem reasonable,” she added.

Reddit has filed one of two constitutional challenges to the social media ban in the Australian High Court. The other was filed by Digital Freedom Project, a Sydney-based rights group that did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday..

Both suits claim the law is unconstitutional because it infringes on Australia’s implied freedom of political communication.

A preliminary hearing is set for May 21 when the court will set a date for oral arguments, Reddit said Tuesday.

Global online forum Reddit on Friday filed a court challenge to Australia’s world-first law that bans Australian children younger than 16 from holding accounts on the world’s most popular social media platforms.

California-based Reddit Inc.’s suit filed in the High Court follows a case filed last month by Sydney-based rights group Digital Freedom Project.

Both suits claim the law is unconstitutional because it infringes on Australia’s implied freedom of political communication.

Varieties

Rescuers Find 21 People on Raft Drifting in Indonesian Waters After Their Boat Sinks

In this photo released by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), crew look on as a rescue ship approaches a raft to evacuate the survivors boat that sank on Monday, in the waters off Taliabu Island, Indonesia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (BASARNAS via AP)
In this photo released by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), crew look on as a rescue ship approaches a raft to evacuate the survivors boat that sank on Monday, in the waters off Taliabu Island, Indonesia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (BASARNAS via AP)
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Rescuers Find 21 People on Raft Drifting in Indonesian Waters After Their Boat Sinks

In this photo released by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), crew look on as a rescue ship approaches a raft to evacuate the survivors boat that sank on Monday, in the waters off Taliabu Island, Indonesia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (BASARNAS via AP)
In this photo released by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), crew look on as a rescue ship approaches a raft to evacuate the survivors boat that sank on Monday, in the waters off Taliabu Island, Indonesia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (BASARNAS via AP)

Indonesian search teams rescued 21 people from a raft Tuesday morning, a day after their boat sank in rough seas.

Everyone on board the ship was found safely, said Muhammad Rizal, who heads the search and rescue office in Palu city. Officials earlier reported that 27 people were missing, but survivors reported that six people listed on the manifest had cancelled their plans to join the trip.

Rescuers found the survivors, who were mostly fishing crew, on a raft about 46 kilometers (29 miles) from the place where the boat sank in the northern waters of Taliabu Island.

The boat, Nazila 05, departed from a port on Taliabu island in North Maluku province just after dusk Sunday bound for Kema in North Sulawesi province, Rizal said.

He said the Nazila 05 was frequently used to transport tourists and was also known locally as a fishing or small passenger vessel.

The owner of the Nazila 05 told authorities the boat's captain had reported the vessel sank after its bow was broken by high waves during rough weather, and all crew managed to board a longboat before the ship went down, Rizal said.

Relatives reported the victims had tied themselves to a raft, and the National Search and Rescue Agency, or Basarnas, said a rescue vessel was heading toward the estimated location just after dawn Tuesday where the raft was believed to be drifting in choppy waters.

"All survivors located by rescuers will be taken to a nearby city of Gorontalo,” Rizal said in a video statement.

The search operation involved two rescue vessels and was assisted by local fishermen, the Basarnas said.

Indonesia is an archipelago with more than 17,000 islands, and boats are a common form of transportation. With lax safety standards and problems with overcrowding, accidents occur frequently.