KOCHI, Feb 14 – The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) today said there has been “abnormally high” growth of Christian population in the North East, especially in the districts bordering Bangladesh, and the Commission had sought details from the Christian leadership. While the proportion of Christians in India has remained the same for both decades – 1991 and 2001 at 2.3 per cent – in terms of percentage, Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya have the highest percentage of Christians – 90 per cent, 87 per cent and 70.3 per cent respectively, NCM Chairman S Tarlochan Singh told reporters here.
The Commission today held a meeting on scientific analysis of census data of 2001 of the Christian community in India, in which Church heads, including Cardinal Mar Varkey Vithayathil, Major Archbishop of the Syro Malabar Church participated. The report, ‘Christians in India’, presented by Prof Ashish Bose, Chairman, NCM Expert committee on ‘Census Data On Religion’, was discussed at the meeting.
Later, addressing a press meet, Singh said given the ethnic demands and socio-cultural diversity in the north-eastern States, it would be “unscientific” to make hasty generalisations.
“We believe that the possibility of illegal Muslim migrants from Bangladesh reporting as Christians cannot be ruled out,” Singh said. There was every possibility of the migrants recording their religion as Christian as a survivial strategy, he said, adding this needs to be looked into.
Singh said the Commission had urged the Christian leadership to discuss the report. Singh said a related factor concerns Muslims marrying Naga or tribal women reporting as Christians.
Due to “disturbed” conditions in tea-garden areas, there was “out-migration” of tribals and Christians and with the return of normalcy most of these migrants might have returned to their earlier place of residence.
Another type of conversion, which is not forced, relates to enumeration of some Hindus, Buddhists and Tribals, who had reported in earlier Census as belonging to “other religions,” but at the 2001 Census reported themselves as Christians, he said.
Bose said analysis of data on religion in North East India leads to some intriguing questions about the role of illegal migration (of both Hindus and Muslims) from Bangladesh and also the controversial role of conversion to Christianity. In Tripura, while in 1991-2001, the Hindu population grew by 15 per cent, the Christian population grew by 121 per cent. There is no evidence of large scale migration of Christians from Bangladesh where the Christains are very small in number. This would make conversion the dominant factor explaining the high growth rate figures of Christians,he said.
In Assam, during the 1991-2001 decade in Dhubri district, the Christian growth rate was 66 per cent. The committee was surprised that in Assam as a whole, where the growth rate was 18.9 per cent during 1991-2001 for all religious communities, the Christian growth rate was as high as 32.5 per cent, even higher than the Muslim growth rate of 29.3 per cent, he added. In Gujarat also, the Christian population has grown very rapidly.
The question of foreign money in sensitive areas and “injecting politics in development programmes is another controversial issue which needs the attention from the Government,” Bose added.
Singh said the issue of female foeticide had not yet touched the Christian community. While the child sex ratio was 927 for all communities in India, it was much higher for Christians – 964. This shows that the girl child receives due care from the community. In Punjab, while the child sex ratio was as low as 798 for all communities, the Christian child sex ratio was 870, while in Gujarat it was 883 and 927 respectively.
Earlier, Cardinal Vithayathil in his opening remarks said it was an individual's personal choice to adopt the religion of his choice and there was no need for any forcible conversions. – PTI
No comments:
Post a Comment