>> My mom used to do census work in some of the villages in India, where people would give out questionable and unverifiable details based on benefits offered b

>> My mom used to do census work in some of the villages in India, where people would give out questionable and unverifiable details based on benefits offered by the Govt. > While incorrect data being used for beneficiary fraud happens, census is india is limited in scope by law, and is not used for targeted benefits delivery - there is very little reason to lie here, since the data isn't correlated back with, for eg, your ration card. Would that matter? That seems to imply a certain amount of legal savvy that I'm not sure should be assumed of anyone, including "villagers" who I assume are typically uneducated. If I were engaging in beneficiary fraud (like the OP describes), I probably would tell the same lie to every government agent that comes by, unless I had a compelling reason not to. Staying consistent is safer and also far easier than sorting out the minimum amount of lying required to pull it off.