tricky sc question

[jamesk486]

The population of India has been steadily increasing for decades, and it will probably have what is estimated as 1.6 billion people by 2050 and surpass China as the world's most populous nation.

A. it will probably have what is estimated as
B. they are likely to have
C. the country will probably have
D. there will probably be
E. there will be an estimated

please provide an explanation

[discreet]

It appears to be C as all other choices have ambigous referrents(it,they,there)...Am I right?

[jayhawk2001]

The population of India has been steadily increasing for decades, and it will probably have what is estimated as 1.6 billion people by 2050 and surpass China as the world's most populous nation.

A. it will probably have what is estimated as
B. they are likely to have
C. the country will probably have
D. there will probably be
E. there will be an estimated

please provide an explanation

The clue is in "... and surpass china". So, for parallelism, we need a
noun (country). The subject of the main phrase is "population of India"
and so we cannot have it/they to refer back to India.

Only C has this parallelism. Another vote for C.

[mv12]

We can have parallelism between countries here..So another vote for C.

[alex.gellatly]

The population of India has been steadily increasing for decades, and it will probably have what is estimated as 1.6 billion people by 2050 and surpass China as the world's most populous nation.

A. it will probably have what is estimated as -->mean the same thing... redundant
B. they are likely to have --> who is they?
C. the country will probably have --> Correct
D. there will probably be --> where? In India, the world? Unclear.
E. there will be an estimated --> where? In India, the world? Unclear.

please provide an explanation