RELIGIOUS GROUPS OF INDIA

RELIGIOUS GROUPS OF INDIA

According to Census 2001, at the national level, of 1028 million population, 828 million (80.5 per cent) have returned their religion as Hindus followed by 138 million (13.4 per cent) as Muslims and 24 million (2.3 per cent) Christians. 19 million (1.9 per cent) persons follow Sikh religion; 8 million; (0.8 per cent) are Buddhists and 4.2 million (0.4 per cent) are Jains as per the 2001 Census. In addition to these, 6.6 million belong to 'Other Religions and Persuasions' including tribal reli­gions which are not part of the six main religions stated above. About seven lakh (or 0.7 million) persons have not stated their religion.
The adjusted growth rate of Hindu population has come down from 22.8 per cent in 1981-91 to 20.0 per cent in 1991-2001. Similar trends are observed among Buddhists which declined from 36.0 per cent in 1981-1991 to 23.2 per cent during 1991-2001. If adjusted data is considered, the Muslim growth rate will decline from 32.9 per cent during 1981-91 to 29.3 per cent during 1991-2001, while for Christians it would increase from 17.0 per cent to 22.1 per cent during 1991-2001. In addition, Jain population also has registered growth rate of 26.0 per cent against very-low growth rate of 4.6 per cent during 1981-1991. Abnormally low population growth of Jains in the last decade appears to be an aberration when compared with the previous decades. Overall adjusted growth rate among the 'Other Religion and Persuasions' has been very high during 1991­2001 Census at 113.1 per cent followed by 'Religion Not Stated' (75.1 per cent). In brief, emergence of 'Other Religions and Persuasions' is one of the key findings of Census 2001.

The Parsi population deserves an exceptional but definite mention due to their very small numbers not only in India but also in the world. As per 2001 census the Parsi population in the country is 69,601 (33,949 males and 35,652 females) as against their population of 76,382 (37,736 males and 38,646 females) in the 1991 census. This is a clear visible but extremely unfortunate decline of a rich civilisation of Zoroastrians and its people. It is apparent from 2001 census results that urgent and drastic interventions are required by all concerned including possibly by the government and­ definitely the Parsi community leaders to ensure survival of Parsi population in India. Fertility improvement inno­vative initiatives rather than fertility control measures adopted by the community so far are possibly the need of the hour before it reaches a point of no return.