India surpasses China as world's most populous nation

India is set to overtake China as the world's most populous nation by mid-2021, with a population of 1.4 billion. The country's young population presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the world's fifth-largest economy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pushed to bring global manufacturing jobs to India and has used his parliamentary majority to deliver basic welfare benefits. However, critics argue that Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has run on a divisive platform, hostile to the country's Muslim minority, and has used the courts and tax authorities to silence political opponents and journalists.