Coming to one’s census

There is a reason why the number of caste/ethnic groups went up from 60 in 1991 to 125 in 2011.

Anyone with more than a casual interest in Nepal’s demography is soon confronted with the inescapable conundrum that the sum of the constituent sections of the population tends to exceed 100 by far. Or at least that is the case with the sum of the figures claimed for themselves by different groups in the Nepali population, namely, ethnic categories like Dalits and Janajatis as well as for groupings based on region—Madhesis; religion—Muslims and Christians; and linguistics—speakers of languages such as Doteli and Baitadeli.