Ranjit Mahanti
MUSLIMS recorded a decadal growth rate of 24.6 per cent between 2001 and 2011 touching 17.22 crores while the Hindus grew at 16.8 per cent to clock a population of 96.63 crores during the same period.
As per the religious census data of 2011, released officially by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner on Tuesday, the total population in the country in 2011 was 121.09 crore. However, this census report does not include crores of bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators and thousands of Rohingya Muslims staying illegally in India. There has been no significant change in the proportion of Christians and Jains.
As per 2001 census, India’s total population was 102 crores of which Hindu population comprised of 82.75 crore (80.45 per cent) and Muslims were 13.8 crore (13.4 per cent). The growth rate of population in the decade 2001-2011 was 17.7 per cent. The growth rate of population of the different religious communities in the same period was as Hindus: 16.8 per cent; Muslim: 24.6 per cent; Christian: 15.5 per cent; Sikh: 8.4 per cent; Buddhist: 6.1 per cent and Jain: 5.4 per cent.
Hindu Population in India falls under 80% since Independence first time while Muslim population in India is increasing with pace. The Muslim community has registered a moderate 0.8 per cent growth to touch 17.22 crore in the 10-year period between 2001 and 2011, up from 13.8 crore, while Hindu population showed a decline by 0.7 per cent at 96.63 crore during the period, according to the latest census data on religion.
The proportion of Muslim population to total population has increased by 0.8 percentage point (PP) in 2011, the census data said.
Hindu population is 96.63 crores (79.8 per cent); Muslim 17.22 crores (14.2 per cent); Christian 2.78 crores (2.3 per cent); Sikh 2.08 crores (1.7 per cent); Buddhist 0.84 crores (0.7 per cent); Jain 0.45 crores (0.4 per cent), other religions and persuasions (ORP) 0.79 crores (0.7 per cent) and religion not stated 0.29 crores (0.2 per cent).
The proportion of Hindu population to total population in 2011 has declined by 0.7 PP; the proportion of Sikh population has declined by 0.2 PP and the Buddhist population has declined by 0.1 PP during the decade 2001-2011.
The census report published on Tuesday shows an alarming 8% increase over Hindus in Muslim’s decadal growth. In Assam the Muslim growth touched a highest at 3.3 pc out of total state population including a remarkable growth in Uttaranchal (2.0 pc), Kerala (1.9 pc), West Bengal (1.8 pc), Goa (1.5 pc) and J&K (1.3%); whereas Manipur shows a minus of 0.4 pc.