Three days from today something outrageously extraordinary is scheduled to happen in Telangana, the newly created 29th State of the Union of India. On August 19, some four lakh ‘enumerators’ will be knocking on the doors of 84 lakh households across the state to collect data that has never ever been collected before by any authority in such a manner anywhere in the country.

The seriousness with which Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (C) is pursuing this so-called ‘enumeration’ is evident from the fact that a public holiday has been declared and public transport facilities suspended on August 19. Pic/AFP