Political reactions to crucial national issues are becoming more astonishing by the day. So we find the Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal, presumably grubbing for a few extra minority votes in the impending Maharashtra elections, demanding that data relating to various religious communities should be excluded from the Census of India reports.
The demand is not isolated, and there has been a sustained attack on the Census on this ground, from certain parties claiming 'secularism' as their ideological justification, but in fact motivated by shallow electoral and political ends. It is not certain, as yet, that their fulminations will have real impact on the Census and its contents, but they are already doing untold damage to the fabric of this country and the relationship between its communities.
A Census holds up a mirror to society and to its constituent communities. The clearer and more detailed the image, the better we can understand our own strengths and weaknesses. As an unbiased index of a wide range of social parameters, it is crucial for an objective assessment of our own capacities and vulnerabilities. To believe or assert that it particularly shows off the infirmities of a specific community more than it does its advantages or achievements, is to succumb to our own prejudices.
I, as a Sikh, am both alarmed and deeply shamed by certain elements of the Census report. While data on education and economic profiles of the community is encouraging, the declining rate in population growth may possibly be a matter of transient concern. On the other hand, to the extent that this is, at least in part, a consequence of the high numbers of Sikhs migrating out of India, it is also testimony to the continuing dynamism of this community.
However, the fact that the Sikhs, today, have the worst sex ratio in the country (893, as against 931 for Hindus, 936 for Muslims and 1009 for Christians) is a matter of utter disgrace. The low sex ratio is also part of the reason why the growth rate of population has been depressed amongSikhs--the result of selective foeticide and a declining pool of women in the reproductive age group.