New Delhi, Feb. 11 -- Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Monday asked the government to complete the population census at the earliest, claiming that around 14 crore people in the country are being deprived of their rightful benefits of free and subsidised foodgrains under the food security law.

Making this assertion in her maiden Zero Hour intervention in the Rajya Sabha, Gandhi said beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) are being identified as per the 2011 Census, and not the latest population numbers and thus many are deprived.

"For the first time in independent India's history, the decennial census has been delayed by more than four years, despite originally being scheduled for 2021. There is still no clarity...