REPORT BUSTS PROPAGANDA ON INDIA'S TREATMENT OF MINORITIES

Unlike in India, where the majority’s share has gone down, Muslim majority countries in the neighbourhood have witnessed an increase in share.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

Amidst years of unfounded criticism, attacks and concerns expressed by Western organisations on the state of minorities in India and the ongoing political slugfest and debate over minority rights, researchers with the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister have found that contrary to “popular” perception, the share of the majority Hindu population in India decreased by 7.82% between 1950 and 2015 (from 84.68% to 78.06%), while the share of Muslim population witnessed a 43.15% increase, moving from 9.84% in 1950 to 14.09% in 2015.

Similarly, the number of followers of other minority religions in India too, just like that of Islam, witnessed a rising curve in the 65 years’ time period that was covered in the study.

While the share of Christian population rose from 2.24% to 2.36%—an increase of 5.38% between 1950 and 2015, the share of Sikh population increased from 1.24% in 1950 to 1.85% in 2015—a 6.58% rise in their share. Even the share of the Buddhist population witnessed a noticeable increase from 0.05% in 1950 to 0.81%. However, the share of

Jains decreased from 0.45% in 1950 to 0.36% in 2015. A trend that was also observed in the case of the Parsi population, which witnessed a stark 85% decline, reducing from 0.03% share in 1950 to 0.004% in 2015.

The said study, “Share of Religious Minorities A Cross-Country Analysis”, done by members of the EAC, Shamika Ravi, Apurv Kumar Mishra and Abraham Jose, is likely to bust the narrative that was for long being spread including by representatives of global bodies like the United Nations, claiming that India was not a conducive place for minority population to thrive.