Religion Based Count

• Four years after census figures on religion were compiled; the Central Government has released the data, still keeping with it the caste count, in a move rife with bitter political debate on secular India’s religious fault lines.
• The data collated by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner shows the population of Hindus has declined proportionately while population of Muslims has not only increased in proportion, it has also recorded the highest growth rate among all communities.
• According to a Ministry of Home Affairs statement, the proportion of Hindus in the total population has declined by 0.7 percentage point, Sikhs by 0.2 and Buddhists by 0.1 percentage points during 2001-2011.
• No significant changes were shown in the population of Christians and Jains in the statistics released as ‘Data on population by religious communities of Census 2011’ under the categories of Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, ‘Other religions and persuasions’ and ‘Religion not stated’. As per the 2001 Census, India's total population was 102 crores, of which the Hindu population comprised 82.75 crore (80.45%) and the Muslims were 13.8 crore (13.4%).
• India’s total population stood at 121.09 crore in 2011, the Hindus comprising 96.63 crore (79.8%), Muslims 17.22 crore (14.2%), Christians 2.78 crore (2.3%), Sikhs 2.08 crore (1.7%), Buddhists 0.84 crore (0.7%) and Jains 0.45 crore (0.4%). The count of ‘other religions and persuasions’ was 0.79 crore (0.7%) and ‘religion not stated’ 0.29 crore (0.2%), as per the data.
• This is for the first time that the proportion of Hindus has fallen below the 80 per cent mark in the country. The country’s population grew by 17.7% from 2001-11. The maximum growth (24.6%) was of the Muslims, followed by Hindus 16.8%, Christians 15.5%, Sikhs 8.4%, Buddhists 6.1% and the Jains 5.4%.
• In July, a United Nations report, ‘2015 Revised World Population Prospect’, had said India was on course to become the world’s most populous nation by 2022, surpassing China sooner than previously estimated in 2028. 

Analysis

There are dangers of mischief-makers misinterpreting the religion-based census data. The calls of some misguided religious leaders urging women to produce more children notwithstanding, there are multiple factors that guide parents in deciding the number of children they will have. The foremost of these are the level of family income, the literacy rate and access to healthcare. A high literacy level among the Christians, Sikhs and Jains may be a reason for the decline in their growth rates. Increasing Sikh migration might have contributed to the slight decline in their numbers in Punjab. The faster growth rate among the Muslims may be attributed to their economic backwardness and lower literacy level. If the growth has slowed down, it shows their economic and educational status is improving. Religion does not play as important a role in deciding the size of a family as economic well-being. How to feed, educate and skill a rising population is the real challenge. Also important are issues thrown up by the rise of the nuclear family and slow dismantling of the joint family. This has caused social and emotional tensions. The data should be seen in the larger context to counter problems that a fast-expanding population creates at the individual, family and societal levels.

By: Vishal