[The census office had compiled this data by March last year, but the UPA government held back the release, perhaps fearing political repercussions of the findings on the eve of Lok Sabha elections. Union home minister Rajnath Singh last week gave his go-ahead when Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner C. Chandramouli asked whether the "sensitiive' figures should be released.]
By Bharti Jain,
 |
| Yahoo News India |
While the growth rate of the
Muslim population has slowed from around 29% between 1991 and 2001, it is still
higher than the national average of 18% for the decade.
The data accessed by TOI showed
that the most rapid rise in the share of Muslims in the total population was
witnessed in Assam .
Muslims constituted 30.9% of the state's population in 2001, but accounted for
a 34.2% share a decade later. The state has had a persisting problem of the
illegal influx of Bangladeshi immigrants.
West Bengal, another state where
illegal immigration from Bangladesh has been an old phenomenon, has also
registered a rise in the share of Muslims in total population from 25.2% in 2001
to 27% in 2011, a growth of 1.9 percentage points over the 10 years, more than
double the national average.
Uttarakhand, significantly, has
also reported a sharp rise in the share of Muslim population from 11.9% to 13.9%,
a growth of 2 percentage points against the countrywide growth of 0.8
percentage points between 2001 and 2011.
Other states with a significant
rise in the share of Muslims in the total population as per the 2011 census
were Kerala (from 24.7% to 26.6%), Goa (6.8% to 8.4%), Jammu
& Kashmir (67% to 68.3%), Haryana (5.8% to 7%) and Delhi
(11.7% to 12.9%).
The census office had compiled
this data by March last year, but the UPA government held back the release, perhaps
fearing political repercussions of the findings on the eve of Lok Sabha
elections. Union home minister Rajnath Singh last week gave his go-ahead when
Registrar General of India
and Census Commissioner C. Chandramouli asked whether the "sensitiive' figures
should be released.
Singh on Wednesday confirmed that
the data would be made public soon.
Interestingly, Manipur was the
only state to show a fall in Muslim population as a percentage of its total
population (a fall of 0.4 percentage points).
The high growth of Muslim
population in Assam
has been intensely debated and has been a source of political confrontation. In
fact, a report prepared on the issue in 1998 by the then governor of Assam ,
Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha, had warned that illegal immigration was slowly
changing the demographic profile in several districts. The Supreme Court has on
more than one occasion expressed concern over the change in demography and
chided the government for not stopping infiltration from Bangladesh .
[Madrasses have for long been associated with traditional Islamic religious teachings, but now most of them have joined the mainstream education system and are teaching mainstream subjects.]
Press Trust of India
According to the principal of
Madrassa Jameeatul Ansar, it is the parents' love for the Urdu language and
literature which motivated them to put their children in the madrassa.
The Hindu students and their
parents "love Urdu" and poets like Mirza Ghalib, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Jigar
Moradabadi and others have a following, cutting across distinctions of
community religion. Also, the families are keen that the children learn the
traditional etiquette," said Khalid Ansari, principal of the madrassa.
Madrasses have for long been associated
with traditional Islamic religious teachings, but now most of them have joined
the mainstream education system and are teaching mainstream subjects.
Ansari says 11 Hindu boys have
been enrolled in the madrassa, who besides learning other subjects, study Urdu
language with keen interest.
The students from both the
communities also offer morning prayers together.
Meanwhile, about 140 children
have been enrolled in a school run by the right-wing organisation RSS, known
for its Hindutva ideology.
"As many as 140 Muslim boys
have been enrolled in various classes of Saraswati
Vidya Mandir Inter
College
"The day starts for the
students with surya namaskar and singing of Vande Mataram besides vedic hymns,"
he said.
Singh later said all the students
take their lunch together.
Speaking about the Muslim
students, Singh said that a pass-out of the institute, Danish Mustafa, has
succeeded in getting an engineering job in Saudi Arabia, and claimed hundreds
of Muslims students have availed very good jobs in various parts of the country.
