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| << September10, 2004 - [India Thinkers Net]MANUFACTURING HYSTERIA: ON CENSUS-INSPIRED `NATIONALISM' |
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From: Sukla Sen <suklasen@yahoo.com> Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 Revised Census data 'adjusts' Muslim growth http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=144052&category=Frontend&Country=INDIA&pro=0 Revised Census data 'adjusts' Muslim growth Friday, September 10,2004 NEW DELHI: The Census Commissioner’s office came out with a new set of figures on Thursday that show the Muslim growth rate falling, rather than rising as interpreted earlier, and the Christians’ rate of growth increasing by five percentage points. The new figures exclude Jammu and Kashmir and Assam from the calculation for growth rates of different religious communities. No data is being withdrawn from the Census 2001 report on religion statistics, but when fresh copies of the publication are up for sale next week it will have two extra tables. Along with "unadjusted" growth rate figures for the main religious communities, it will include a set showing "adjusted" statistics. Another existing table, which shows the proportions of the communities in the total population, will also be accompanied by one with adjusted figures. The additional tables exclude all data since 1961 from the two states, which together account for 10 per cent of India’s population. In an informal conversation, Census Commissioner Jayant Banthia said this, too, could be criticised by demographers. It, however, corrects the perception that the Muslim decadal growth rate had increased from 34.5 per cent in 1981-91 to 36 per cent in 1991-2001. Those figures had not taken into account the fact that there had been no census in Jammu and Kashmir in 1991. In the new calculation, the commission has also excluded Assam, where the census didn’t take place in 1981. Excluding Assam and J&K, the Muslim growth rate for the 1991-2001 decade comes to 29.3 per cent, which is a 3.6 per cent fall from the adjusted 1981-1991 rate of 32.9. But, without the two states, the statistics look different for other decades as well. So, going by the "adjusted" table, the Muslim growth rate was 31.2 (compared to the unadjusted 30.6) during 1961-71 and 30.8 (rather than a low 22.9) in 1971-81 and 32.9 (not 34.5) in 1981-91. And this is how the adjusted Hindu growth figures look (compared to the unadjusted ones): 23.4 (23.7) in 1961-71, 24.2 (21.3) in 1971-81, 22.8 (25.1) in 1981-91 and 20 (20.3) in 1991-2001. By this method, the Hindu growth rate has declined by only 2.8 percentage points, and not 4.8, since the last Census in 1991. The new calculation show a steeper, 5.1 percentage point rise in the Christian growth rate since the last Census. By the original interpretation, there had been a slight 1.1 per cent increase. The adjusted Christian growth figures are 36 (compared to 32.6 per cent, unadjusted) in 1961-71, 19.2 (13.7) in 1971-81, 17 (21.5) in 1981-91 and 22.1 (22.6) in 1991-2001. The figures for the other main communities show little or no variation. Without counting the two states, Hindus make up 81.4 per cent of the country’s remaining population and Muslims 12.4. But the overall figure is 82.5 and 13.4 per cent. Mr Banthia admitted things would have been clearer had the Jammu and Kashmir factor been stated in the press release, but it had been mentioned during the press conference. Attributing motives was unfair, he said. "It is a question of interpreting the data in several ways," he said, maintaining that the commission took the "simple way" in its analysis. Demographers and technical papers published later would offer other ways at looking at the figures. Asian Age | |
| << September10, 2004 - [India Thinkers Net]MANUFACTURING HYSTERIA: ON CENSUS-INSPIRED `NATIONALISM' |
September10, 2004 - [India Thinkers Net]Look Beyond the Camel >> |
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