Ray

UNNUMBERED HEADS
- The census bungling was bad enough, what lies behind it is worse
Sunanda K. Datta-Ray

Not counted

The furore over the census figures for Indian Muslims recalls Ying Ma, a Chinese American campaigner against black militancy, describing racism as “the hate that dare not speak its name”. Hate begets hate. It also often masks fear which explains the far more crude posturing of Britain’s shadowy White Nationalist Party. Indian Muslims owe it to themselves and to national harmony not to give the WNP’s Hindu equivalent any excuse for mischief.

Statistically, fears of being overwhelmed are not without substance. Two east London townships already have more Afro-Asians than native whites. The demographic composition of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and West Bengal’s border districts has changed. Substantial groups of people in both countries are disinclined to treat such change as normal evolution, unlike the United States of America which faces a mixed future with equanimity. Bill Clinton’s acknowledgment in 1998 that “a half century from now…there will be no majority race in America” means that whites, blacks, Chicanos and Asians will balance each other in the world’s greatest melting pot.

WNP literature preys on the fear that Britain’s coloured population (Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Africans, Indians, West Indians in the order of family size), which increased from 6 per cent in 1991 to 9 per cent in 2001, will be the majority 64 years from now. “We’re being bred out of existence,” it laments. No wonder the British Office for National Statistics did not disclose ethnic figures until 1991. In India, Jayanti Kumar Banthia’s report for 2001 was the first ever based on religion. Political sensitivity explains official reticence on the subject of minorities, racial or religious. While enlightened white Britons are now prepared to co-exist amicably with the Asians and Africans in their midst, the 1991 finding that whites accounted for 94.5 per cent of the population also assures them that WNP propaganda notwithstanding, they have little reason to be afraid of being swamped.

British liberals and Indian secularists both pay lip service to the concept of a society based on the universal brotherhood of man but ideals often vanish the moment tribal loyalties are seriously challenged. There is, however, an internal reason for the difference between the US on the one hand and Britain and India on the other. Regardless of origin, all minority groups in the US subscribe to the American dream and aspire to the same totems of success. Harmony is based on the uniformity of taste in food, dress, housing, education and leisure activities. In contrast, most immigrants in Britain still live in cultural isolation, while Indian Muslims seem more and more determined to keep the mainstream at bay.

How great the gulf is was unwittingly exposed when the respected population expert, Ashish Bose, was at pains to announce that despite Banthia’s controversial figures, “the Muslim community has actually declined at a greater rate than the Hindus.” What he should have declared bluntly was that religious composition makes no difference to the national label in a state that sees all its citizens as equal, and that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh anxieties reflect disgracefully on India’s casteless, creedless ideal. But such a claim would be too far removed from reality to be taken seriously. Hence, a well-meaning statement that actually concedes, albeit implicitly, the legitimacy of the fears expressed by M. Venkaiah Naidu and other RSS worthies who warn darkly that at this rate the subcontinent will have more Muslims than Hindus by 2050.

Bose advised them not to worry on this score because the statistical evidence does not support their misgivings: the RSS can note with relief that there is no danger of Muslims ever equalling or outnumbering Hindus. Of course, it was not Bose’s intention to support the RSS thesis that it would be calamitous for “India’s unity” if they did but that is the effect conveyed. It is all the more revealing of general Hindu thinking for being unintentional and instinctive.

Repeated in a British or Indian context, Clinton’s revolutionary view of the future would overthrow all accepted notions of what either country stands for. Understandably, therefore, the Bharatiya Janata Party government shied away from allowing Banthia’s figures to be published. The BJP might arguably have been able to make political capital out of the suggestion of high Muslim growth but the claim would also have been social dynamite. The BJP may have felt that the risk of a violent fall-out outweighed the possibility of electoral gain.

It is curious, however, that it did not tumble to the astonishingly simple explanation offered by the present government. We are now told that the Muslim growth rate appeared to have gone up by 1.5 per cent to 36 per cent in 1991-2001 only because Jammu and Kashmir’s 6.7 million Muslims were not included in the 1991 census and that this was no more than a “clerical” error. The plea is that when the figures are “adjusted” in light of the Jammu and Kashmir population, they prove comfortingly that there is no need to worry: the Muslim growth rate actually plummeted from 34.5 per cent to 29.3 per cent during this period. Hindu ascendancy faces no danger.

If this were all, why did the BJP not spot the omission? Why, for that matter, did Banthia himself not make the correction before being forced to do so by the public reaction? There may well be innocent explanations for both lapses but the lay public is always sceptical about official figures and does not take kindly to chopping and changing. Mark Twain’s comment about lies, damned lies and statistics comes to mind.

Returning to the underlying cause of the census controversy, the parallel between India and Britain is valid only up to a point. The crucial difference lies in the minority’s identity. While Britain (like France, Germany and the Netherlands) faces the challenge of settlers from abroad (though 50 per cent of coloured British were born in the country), India’s minority is indigenous and, therefore, immune even to the theoretical threat of deportation. Our 138 million Muslims are as Indian as our 19 million Sikhs, 24 million Christians, or Hindus who comprise 80.5 per cent of the population. The problem of adjustment and accommodation is thus a national problem, as much a problem of Muslims as of Hindus.

Whether Muslims are conscious of their responsibility in this respect is another matter. The worldwide spirit of assertiveness is most evident in countries where Muslims are in a minority. Bangladeshis have absorbed rituals like gaye holud into their marriage ceremonies as part of the Bengali heritage but that would be unthinkable (for Bengali Muslims) in India. Mention has been made in these columns before of a Calcutta seminar where a maulvi ruled out ordinary schools or even part-time religious instruction because a Muslim child has to read the Quran first and last. ]From early childhood, therefore, he is taught to see himself as different. Similarly, Muslim housewives told a family planning worker I know in Andhra Pradesh to preach birth control to Hindus until numbers were equal.
Syed Shahabuddin’s objection to smashing a coconut at a ship launch or the insistence on a personal law that violates many canons of natural justice are other instances of the exclusiveness that plays into the hands of Hindu bigots. They are ready to accuse Muslims of deliberately making a bid to achieve numerical parity (or superiority) and of seeking to dilute what are generally regarded as the cultural characteristics of the Indian nation. Politicians pander to this separateness instead of enforcing Amartya Sen’s prescription of women’s education as one way of countering Muslim inversion.

The census bungling was bad enough. What lies behind it is infinitely worse. A community in a mental ghetto does honour neither to god nor to Caesar. By blurring the distinction between the two, it perpetuates its own backwardness and weakens the overall social fabric.

[url]http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040925/asp/opinion/story_3796479.asp[/url

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"Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

HAKUNA MATATA

Jay

The muslims should realize themselves that these maulvis and mullahs and learning koran 24/7 will only make them poor, miserable and militant. More and more muslims should integrate with the other communities and for heavensake send them to schools.
I dont think Allah (or any religion for that matter) will condemn educating a child with worldy sciences rather than godly ones.

__________________
A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

Ray

I agree.

But try teeling the same to the illiterate Maulavis, Mullahs and otherbasically brainwashed idiots.

One workman who was a Moslem was erviving my AC. Dutin g the conversation withg him, I learnt that the US was funded totally by Saudi Arabia and that if Saudis cut the money off the US will collapse. On more questioning, he saiod the Maulavi of his Mosque said that during the Friday (Jumma) prayers.

He would agree NOT with me that it was not so, event hough I showed him newspaper clippings. He said it was a US Plot and also a Hindu Plot to defame Islam!

So, what do you do with folks who sell their brains to the illiterate Maulavis/ Mullahs!

Confed999

I remember you telling me about that, it's funny and very sad at the same time.

__________________
No man is free until all men are free - John Hossack
I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat-John Kerry

tarek

The radical Muusli'im's new and improved answer - quantity, not quality - Still do not see the curious similarities between radical Islam and marxism? Not to worry, the commisar in the masjid will not allow you to forget.

Not just India but in Palestine and in France and in UK and in....like a plague and not a blessing.

Ray

As far as Indian Moslems go, smaller families and hence education and hence better jobs and more money power will mentally liberate them of the grip the Moulavis have currently.

A hungry man is ready to live in make belief that dreams of a better future or allows escapism to blame others for their abysmal situation.

This is also what the Communist Govt in my State is upto. Hence, we are not as progressive as before and the common man blames the fedral givt for all ills as is being taught by their Communist mentors.

Samudra

Actually there are two types of mulsims in my town,
One the rich and educated.
The other the poor,underdeveloped and un-educated.

The first group , i have a friend among them and they are nice lot to move with really.They go to their buisness places , they return.

The second group , well i should say i dare not go into their ghetto at all.

So where is this problem ? Education .
in the madrassa ? no . in schools as how other kids do.Many kids of the first group learn in the best schools in my town.

the second group ? well most kids are being made theives,cheaters and terrorists.
heard of coimbatore bomb blasts ? the second group did that.

tarek

presuppositions inform attitudes - a change in presuppositions, a change in attitudes, leading to changes in society


Communalising census findings
Iftikhar Gilani
Hindu nationalists were bound to take notice when the country's first ever population census based on religion showed an increased growth rate among minority Muslims


The census data on religious communities released on September 6, 2004 has become a source of headache for the Indian government. Many officials are now criticising Census Commissioner JK Bainthia for the way he handled the sensitive data on religion. Congress President Sonia Gandhi has demanded a comprehensive probe into the data which shows an increase in the Muslim population and decreases in Hindu, Sikh and Parsi populations.

Armed with these figures, Akal Takht, the highest temporal body of the Sikhs, is contemplating issuing an edict ordering the community to shed birth-control methods and procreate. On the other hand, Hindu religious leaders have threatened to issue similar dictates if a vigorous family planning campaign was not launched in the Muslim-dominated localities

Hindu religious leaders argue that the rate of growth of Muslims has been considerably high and its continuation will render them a minority in their own country. According to the figures, the population of Muslims has grown from 35 million in 1951 to 138.18 million in 2001, an increase of 288 percent over half a century. As opposed to this, there has been a 226 percent growth in the Hindu population from 303.6 million to 827.57 million.

Demographer RH Cassan does not give any credence to the Hindus insecurity about being relegated to a minority status. “It will take the Muslim population 390 years to grow larger than the Hindu population,” he said. “And in these 390 years, the Muslims will have to maintain a growth rate of 2.71 percent per annum in order to become a majority.” This [2.71 percent] was the growth rate that prevailed between 1971 and 1981 and if maintained, could result in a population explosion whereby the Indian population would reach the unreal figure of 5,000 billion – five thousand times what it is today – in 390 years.

“This higher growth rate among Muslims is due to higher fertility rates among their women and their socio-economic backwardness,” Cassan told TFT. “In the economically advanced states of South India, the fertility rate of both Hindus and Muslims is low, while it is higher in the backward states.”

However, a question that is haunting demographers all over India is the extent to which the threat of increase in the Muslim population is real. A scientific study conducted by Maria Bhat at the Institute of Economic Growth has projected a population of 0.32 billion Muslims in India by 2101, a figure which will mean an 18.8 percent increase in the total population. The study report stated that by 2101, India’s population would be stable and balanced.

Controversies apart, the religious data has revealed some interesting indicators. While the Muslim community is lagging far behind in every field, their women have shown better health conditions as compared to Hindus. Another interesting feature about the Muslim population is that the community has recorded a lower infant mortality rate than other communities. They also fare better in terms of the sex ratio, which is 931 females for 1000 men against the Hindu and Sikh ratios of 931 and 893 females to every 1000 men respectively. Muslims are also recorded to have a higher proportion of population within the “less than 15 years” age bracket.

Besides these positive indicators, Muslim statistics for education and economic conditions continue to be dismal. “Despite Constitutional safeguards, Muslims do suffer discrimination within the public and private employment market in India,” India’s leading demographer and National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) Chief Economist Abu Saleh Sharief told TFT.

Talking about a study conducted by Satish Sabarwal to look into the causes of the Moradabad communal riots, Sharief said the study revealed that the root cause of the riots was the formation of cooperative societies by Muslim artisans to break the stranglehold of Hindu traders. Similarly in the recent Gujarat riots, Hindu tribesmen attacked Muslims in Mehsana district because most of the Muslims used to lend money to these tribesmen, said Sharief.

He revealed that even though Muslims had a high share of jobs in the transportation sector, their presence in government, administrative, police, defence services and financial and banking institutions was nominal. “In the Indian administrative and police services, the Muslim share has been recorded at 2.97 percent and 3.92 percent respectively against their share of 13.4 percent in the total population,” he said. “In public-sector banks, their employment share rests at 2.18 percent and in central government offices, it is a mere 4.41 percent.”

Another staggering piece of information Sharief gave TFT was the literacy rate, which is lowest among Muslims. Hindus and Sikhs have 65.1 percent and 69.4 percent literacy rates respectively while the literacy rate for Muslims is 59.1 percent. The Muslim female literacy rate is 50.1 percent while the Hindu and Sikh female literacy rates are 53.2 percent and 63.1 percent respectively.

But the most dangerous trend among Muslims is the school dropout rate of girls in North India. This trend, according to Sharief, started in 1990 and was followed by BJP leader LK Advani’s ‘rath yatra’ that culminated in the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. “Unfortunately, this trend continues,” said Sharief. “School attendance rates are the highest among Christians, followed by Hindus. Muslims have the lowest school attendance rate in India.”

Ray

Chandragupta,

You are absolutely correct that there are two types of Moslems. The rich (though I would like to think, the educated) and the poor (and illiterate).

Of course, even in these classifications there will be aberrations, but such people are marginal.

My personal observations have been that it is so with other religions too; where the lower income groups of all religions is easily convinced with the religious dogmas. The priests/ padres/maulavis hold their brains and souls to ransom for the dispensation of salvation.

India specific, the aberrated groups in religions (other than Islam) are less visible excepting in spurts like the Togadia lunatics and the Jehovah’s Witness (who refused to sing the National Anthem).

So, why the focus on Islam?

Technically, because Islam has been cornered ever since Osama bin Laden blew up the WTC, the terrorist action in Iraq and irrational beheadings, the remainder of the world is looking at Islam with deep suspicion and, more importantly, with morbid apprehension.

Therefore, there is this apparently displaying of Moslem cohesion as a backlash (as it appears to eye); the cohesion being illogical when instead they should rebel against the fundamentalists, fuels further apprehensions.

Dispassionately looking, the Moslems cannot be blamed for their reaction. The onslaught on them (justified/ unjustified) is so heavy and relentless that they are not being allowed to recover their breath and do some introspection. Being confused, the Moslems are firing contradictory interpretations leading to more confusion and apprehension in the non Moslem mind.

Yet, out of this unhappy situation some Moslems (like Tarek and Nissar) are still keeping their heads. While not been apologists for their religion or justifying their religion, are indicating the contradictions that are in their religion and the many voices who are trying to take a bold step to modernise their religious thought tempered with logic and rationale of the contemporary times.

I personally have much to thank them for giving me a re-look at the issue.

I wish that their brethren in my country too imbibe from them and people like that lady who wrote the article which Tarek posted in another thread.

Thank you Tarek.

Thank you Nissar.

Samudra

Ray

Sir , i should say i view things from a better perspective from the time i have been reading this forum.I , along with you should extend my thanks to those folks.

Meanwhile I would also like to probe the view that muslim people are still viewed as invaders who came from Arabia amidst the common Hindus and Christians and other sects which are native except xianity.

And those rats hoisting Pakistani flags , refusing to sing Vande Mataram arent helping things any better.

For strange reasons i come to think that all religions in their post-expansion phase experience what islam is today. i.e. religious fundamentalism, illiteracy and stuff.

* It happened with brahminism and rigid caste society with Hindus.
* It happened with Xtians in the form of missionaries. I rememeber reading that religious heads enjoyed much like present maulvis in the pre-revolution era France.Like what Dickens said , a lad had his tongue cut off for not kneeling at the sight of a procession of some dirty monks in pouring rain.You see the similar in islam today dont you ? And imagine similar events happened with Brahminism , where people cut and kill for the caste.

* I know zilch about jews.

And it happens with Islam today.But all those other religions could get away from getting a "bad" brand , except islam , because the sort of world community we have today , did not exist then and the fall of those fundamentalists just happened without much notice.

Fact is , muslim people will come around and reform with a little help from the society ( sometimes a little stick too ) and the privileged educated muslims.

Jay

Islam is the youngest religion when compared to others. Religions do evolve. They dont need to go thro the dark ages like Hinduism. Proper education and dose of reality will do lot of wonders. But in a sense, Muslims might after all revamp their religion from fundamentalists, but we all have to pay the price for it and that sucks big time!

Ray

Yes, the Indian Moslems (most of them) are obscurantist and give a wrong impression I reckon.

When I find articles which shows emancipation amongst Non Indian Moslems, I wonder why has modernity not hit our Moslems to make India a better place.

They (Indian Moslems; most of them) are in the Dark Ages.

The awesome grip the Mullahs have over them here is really amazing!

I saw a thread by a Bihari Moslem Mullah, that spews 'hatred' and gave the virtues of why the Moslems must have a beard and a thin moustache.

I did not post that one the forum and I exchanged notes with my Moslem friends. They were equally horrified!

On the other hand, see some of the emancipated thinking of Non Indian Moslems.

ChrisF202

Ray, do everything possible to keep the Shira Law from taking over. Also could the radical mullahs be charged with supporting terrorism or inciting hate? Does India have such a law on the books?

Ray

Oh sure, we have a law that books guys for spreading communal hatred.

That is what is being used to book guys (Hindus) in the Gujerat riots, those who cannot be booked for direct criminal acts.

However, in my Country we have to show we are very tolerant lest the Human Rights speaks badly about the 'Land of Gandhi'! Therefore, the Moslems are beyond all this. Others can be a bit screwed, but not the Moslems.

Heavens, it is also oil.


They have moved out the cases out of Gujerat to Maharastra, so that there is no 'interference'.

After all India is secular, what? Got to prove it even if it means shoving our finger in where you know where!



Moslems have Special Laws for themselves to maintain their 'special' identity!.

ajaybhutani

why dont teh indian muslim leaders want to settle down in the same alw structure as others.. Are they planning for some revolution or somethin.. ??