Religious Diversity In India

Religious diversity has been an important part of Indian life for centuries, despite the lack of an official state religion in India. Religion plays an important role in temple festivals, ceremonies, pilgrimages, and family traditions. In terms of religious practice, Hinduism is the most popular in India, followed by Islam, Jainism,Buddhism, Sikhismand Christianity. To know more , read the article thoroughly.

Indians take religion much more seriously than they do in the West, and nearly all the population takes it seriously. Foreigners find it difficult to comprehend the significance of religion in this officially secular nation. As a result, Hindus and Muslims in India have formed ‘communities,’ or groups who live and worship separately. Therefore, violence between groups is called ‘communal violence’.

It is common for Indian journalists to misinterpret and misquote census data on religious groups. Non-Muslims in regional and national political parties fear that a growing Muslim population will result in a socioeconomic imbalance in a Hindu-majority country. It is thus important to examine the actual numbers before delving deeper into this issue.

Communities Growing at Different Rates

A 2001 Census enumerated 1,028 million Indians, 81% of whom were Hindu. The remaining 200 million are members of other religion in india (see Table 1). The majority of Hindus live in all states except Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, where they make up 30 percent and 37 percent, respectively. Kerala had a 56 percent Hindu majority and Himachal Pradesh 95 percent.

Table 1

Religious Diversity composition of the Indian population, 1961-2001

1. North East Frontier Agency does not provide a religious breakdown of its 297,853 residents.
2. A census was not conducted in Assam in 1981.
3. Less than 1 million is rounded up.

d .It is less than 0.1 percent.

Based On Various Censuses of Religious Diversity India

Additionally, among 1,000 Indians, only 23 Christians, 19 Sikhs, 8 Buddhists, and 4 Jains were present in 2001. Muslim are the second largest religious group in the country. Christian, Jains, and Sikh populations are concentrated in fewer states than Hindus and Muslims. 

Approximately half of the Christian population in the country was concentrated in the four southern states of  Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Punjab is home to 76 percent of the 19.2 million Sikhs, and Maharashtra is home to 73 percent of the 8.0 million Buddhists in India. Traditionally, many Buddhists come from the Dalit caste (untouchable Hindus), who converted to Buddhism to overcome their low status.4.2 million Jains live in four major states, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, who make up 72 percent of the total population.

During the 1991 and 2001 censuses, the population of India increased by 21.5 percent, but this growth was not equally distributed among religious groups. The number of Parsis actually declined. (All population-change figures cited here exclude Jammu and Kashmir, since the 1991 Census was unable to take place there.) Muslims grew by 29 percent over the period, while the Sikhs (after Parsis) grew by 17 percent. Aside from Muslims, three other religious communities experienced faster growth: Jains (26 percent), Buddhists (23 percent), and Christians (22 percent).

While different growth rates can be alarming, actual figures indicate that the change is much less significant than it appears. Between 1991 and 2001, Hindus grew by 140 million, while Muslims grew by 37 million. There was only a small decrease of Hindus, from 84 percent to 81 percent, between the 1961 and 2001 censuses. According to census data, India’s religious makeup will remain the same decades from now. The Sikh proportion remained at 2 percent throughout the entire period. Moreover, family planning is on the rise among all groups, so further stabilisation is very likely.

Learn more About Role of Religion in the Indian Social System

Table 2

India, 2001: Selected Population Characteristics by Religion in India

Based On the 2001 Census of India

Social and Economic Differences

As shown in Table 2, significant social differences persist. Female literacy rates among Jains are 91 percent, among Hindus 53 percent and among Muslims 50 percent. There is a slight difference in the Muslim population because of somewhat higher fertility, with 19 percent of the Muslim population being under seven years old. There are many successful Jains in India who are urbanised and literate, and their level of urbanisation reflects this.

In addition, the sex ratio of children ages 0 to 6 shows how sex-selective abortions result from the preference for male children. Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Others have a ‘normal’ sex ratio around 950 girls per 1,000 boys. Hindus,  Sikhs and Jains, have below-average ratios, who prefer for a male child.In local and national politics, there can be some social and economic differences among religious communities that can lead to violence. 

Despite efforts by some radical groups to upset India’s religious toleration over the past 40 years, India has generally achieved remarkable religious toleration. In addition, terrorism has not incited communal violence. Census data and population trends indicate that India’s makeup will not undergo major changes; demographics, after all, determine destiny.

Conclusion 

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