The growth rate of population of the different religious communities in the same period was: 16.8% for Hindus; 24.6% for Muslims; 15.5% for Christians; 8.4% for Sikhs; 6.1% for Buddhists and 5.4% for Jains. Hindus make up 79.8 per cent of the population at 96.63 crores and Muslims, with 17 crore people, are 14.2 per cent of the population. Christians form 2.3% (2.78 Cr) of the total Indian population, followed by Sikhs (1.7% or 2 Cr), Buddhists (0.7% or 84 Lakh) and Jains (0.4% or 45 Lakh).
Advertisement
Sections of Muslim leaders have questioned the government’s timing of the release of the religious data in the run-up to the Assembly polls in Bihar, where Muslims have a sizeable population in over 40 of the state’s 243 constituencies.
“The proportion of Hindu population to total population in 2011 has declined by 0.7 percentage points (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 release said.
While the census figure on religion was released today, more than four years after compilation of the data, the caste data is yet to be made public.
The distribution is total population by six major religious communities namely, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain besides “Other Religions and Persuasions” and “Religion not stated”.
Parties such as Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal-United were demanding release of the caste census.
There has been no significant change in the proportion of Jains and Christians.
The data was cleared for release just after US President Barak Obama’s visit in January this year. In 2001, on the other hand, the Hindus and the Muslims numbered 82.75 crore and 13.81 crore, respectively (total population was 102 crore).
“It’s been shown, for instance, that the growth rates of Muslims in southern states, such as Kerala, are lower than the growth rates of Hindus in Bihar or Uttar Pradesh”.
The Modi government decided to release the data soon after coming to power in May, say sources.
Advertisement
Muslim population registered a marginal growth of 0.8%, and the Hindu population showed a declining trend, down 0.7%.
