NEW DELHI – India will include caste details in its next population census, in a move likely to have sweeping socio-economic and political ramifications for the world’s most populous country.

The once-in-a-decade population survey was originally due in 2021 but has been delayed mainly by the COVID-19 pandemic and logistical hurdles.

Information Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw didn’t say when the census would begin when he announced it would include caste information Wednesday. He said the decision demonstrated New Delhi’s commitment to the “values and interests of the society and country.”

The caste system is still critical in Indian life and politics, though some people say it should not have a place in a nation that aspires to be a developed economy.

India has limited data on the number of people belonging to a particular caste and their socio-economic status.

Colonial power Britain began an Indian census in 1872 and counted all castes until 1931. However, independent India since 1951 only counted Dalits and Adivasis, who are referred to as scheduled castes and tribes, respectively. Everyone else’s caste was marked as general.

There are hundreds of castes and subcastes in India’s ancient social hierarchy largely based on occupation and economic status. The last official census in 2011 counted 1.21 billion people, of which 201 million were scheduled castes and 104 million were scheduled tribes.

A new enumeration could be used to tailor affirmative action plans. India reserves government jobs, college admissions and elected seats — from village councils to Parliament — for some categories of castes.

Several layers of other lower and intermediate castes haven’t been officially enumerated for several decades but constitute about half the country’s more than 1.4 billion people.

These are recognized as Other Backward Castes, or OBCs, and the new census is expected to reveal their higher population.

That would likely lead to demands for raising the cap on quotas in government jobs, admissions and welfare programs. India’s current policy caps the overall reservation quota to 50%, of which the share of OBC category is 27%.

The announcement on caste being included in the census comes months ahead of an election in India’s poorest state of Bihar, where caste is a key issue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party runs a coalition government in Bihar. The opposition and Modi’s partners have been vocal about adding caste to the census and pressed the government to undertake a detailed census.

Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi of the Congress Party demanded the government set a timeline to start and complete the census.