New Delhi : RSS-affiliated magazine Organiser has demanded a national population policy in its article. It says that this will ensure that demographic changes do not disproportionately affect any religious community or region. The article has expressed apprehension of socio-economic inequalities and political conflicts in view of demographic changes. Organiser has raised the issue of population imbalance in the context of 'increasing Muslim population' and low birth rate. Along with this, it has been said that the western and southern states will 'lose out' during delimitation. Delimitation is expected to take place during PM Modi's third term.
Concern over rising Muslim population
The article titled 'Demography, Democracy and Destiny' clearly states that another important dimension of population growth is imbalance, both religiously and regionally. While the population is stable at the national level, it is not uniform across religions and regions. There has been a significant increase in the Muslim population in some regions, especially the border districts. The border states of West Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Uttarakhand are witnessing unnatural population growth due to illegal migration across the border. In a democracy, when numbers are important for representation and demography decides destiny, we should be even more alert to this trend.
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Dravidian parties including Rahul and Mamta are on target
The article further states that politicians like Rahul Gandhi may sometimes risk insulting Hindu sentiments. Mamata may also play the Muslim card to justify atrocities on women by Islamists. Dravidian parties may take pride in misusing Sanatan Dharma by relying on the consolidation of the so-called minority vote bank that has developed with the population imbalance. Learning from the horrors of Partition and what is happening with politically correct but socially and culturally incorrect migration from West Asian and African countries, we have to address this issue urgently, the article states, citing various RSS resolutions and judicial pronouncements.
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Western and southern states performed better
According to the article, regional imbalance is another important dimension that will influence the process of delimitation of parliamentary constituencies in future. States in the west and south are performing relatively better with regard to population control measures. Therefore, there is a fear of losing some seats in Parliament if the base population changes after the census. According to the article, there is a need for policies that ensure that population growth does not disproportionately affect any one religious community or region. This can lead to socio-economic inequalities and political conflicts.
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What does the census say about population and birth rate?
According to a report by the Indian Express, the census has recorded a higher birth rate among Muslims than Hindus. The birth rates of both communities are gradually coming closer to each other. The decline in the decadal growth rate of Muslims between 1991 and 2011 has been higher than that of Hindus. According to data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), Muslims have seen the sharpest decline in fertility rate among all religious communities in the last two decades. It fell from 4.4 in NFHS 1 (1992-'93) to 2.3 in NFHS 5 (2019-'21).
