Christian population in different states

Nine out of ten Christians in Bihar have disappeared! In Andhra Pradesh the population of Christians has decreased. The Population Growth Rate (PGR) of Christians in Goa and Kerala is a fraction of the national average. But Delhi has seen a phenomenal growth in the number of Christians. Don’t believe me, but believe the statistics of the Census of India. A study of the figures for 1961 and 2001 (the latest available) is startling. Are they facts? Yes and no, for statistics are easily manipulatable. I do not wish to be a manipulator, so I will present both facts and figures.

The figures in the attached annexure are taken from the Census of India report of 2001. In 1961 there were 502,195 Christians in Bihar. Forty years later, in 2001, they were down to just 53,137, a drop of 89%! What the statistics don’t say is that in the interregnum a new State of Jharkhand was formed, and the majority of erstwhile Bihar’s Christians are to be found there. The data shows that the All India PGR between 1961 and 2001 was 134%. In contrast the Muslim PGR was much higher at 194%, while the Christians’ was lower at 124%. IN Delhi the Christian PGR was 345%, obviously because of immigration. Andhra Pradesh is the only State where the Christian population has actually dwindled from 1,428,729 in 1961 to 1,181,917 in 2001, a negative growth of 17%. And Telengana is still a part of Andhra. What does this indicate? Andhra has been in the forefront of the Dalit Christian movement. Is this indicative that the denial of equal rights to Dalit Christians has resulted in large-scale apostasy in Andhra? So much for our evangelisation.

Kerala and Goa are the two States that had a well-entrenched Christian presence. Their statistics merit attention. As against the national PGR of 134, and the Christian PGR of 124, in Goa the Christian PGR is lowest at 58%, and Kerala is not much better at 69%. Before we set the alarm bells ringing, we need to look at some other demographic realities.

Both Kerala and Goa have a high exodus of emigrants to other countries and States. Equally, they have a large influx of immigrant labour, as Keralites and Goans find manual labour below their dignity. Family planning is also more evident in both these States. In 2001 the Proportion of Age (0 – 6 years) had a national average of 15.9%. The average for Muslims was again higher at 18.7%, while that of Christians was lower at 13.5%. Goan Christians had the lowest proportion at 9.6%, while Kerala’s was 11.2%. Literacy has been a contributory factor. In 2001 the national literacy rate was 64.8%, while for women it was 53.7%. Among Christian Goans this was much higher at 83.8% and 78.8% respectively. Kerala Christians fared even better at 94.8% and 93.5% respectively.

One’s nature of work is also related to population growth. Those who till the land believe that for every mouth to feed there are two hands to work. They consider children an asset, not a liability. But the nature of Christian workers in Goa and Kerala again is different from the national norm. Among the categories of workers in 2001, the national average for cultivators and agricultural labourers was 58.2%. In contrast, for Goan Christians this was just 11.4%, and for Kerala Christians it was 24%. Small wonder then that all these factors have contributed to the vanishing Christians of Goa and Kerala (though Andhra is a sociological, not a demographic problem).

It is in this context that we need to address recent developments like the “Welfare of Women & Children Bill 2011” in the Kerala Assembly, and the strident reactions from Muslim and Christian religious leaders in Kerala. Why is the Bill so objectionable?

It seeks to enact harsh measures to control the population. It advocates a two-child norm; and three months’ jail or a fine of Rs 10,000/- for those who don’t follow this diktat. It further says that those organisations or individuals that campaign against family planning would also face imprisonment. This draconian measure has been likened to Sanjay Gandhi’s forced sterilisation drives during the Emergency (1975-77), and China’s one-child policy (1979).

Writing in Indian Currents (IC) Dr John Dayal says that China’s population policy has resulted in 30 million Chinese men without wives, with the attendant danger of increased violence against women and prostitution. A newspaper report says that wife-supplying agencies have erupted, arranging for women (wives) from Vietnam, with a money back guarantee of satisfaction. This is not surprising. Unabated female foeticide in India has resulted in a skewed sex ratio, with men from Haryana and Rajasthan actually paying for brides from poorer States. So the danger of excessive State control is real. However, Kerala, which incidentally has a high sex ratio, also has the highest population density of 859 persons per sq km; which Dr Dayal says is 3 times higher than the national average.

How has the Kerala church responded to this complex issue of a dense population and a draconian Bill? Long before any Bill was on the horizon the late Cardinal Vithayathil had advocated larger families; accusing parents who could afford it, of being selfish, by not producing more children. At that time I had strongly rebutted the cardinal’s convoluted logic. Now St Vincent de Paul Forane Church in Wynad district of Kerala has announced a Rs 10,000/- fixed deposit to be given to parents that produce a fifth child. The person who made the announcement, Salu Mecheril, is also the spokesperson of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Conference. So the announcement cannot be treated in isolation. The secular press has already splashed the news and made adverse editorial comments. The Kerala laity has also not taken this lying down. As reported in IC, Joseph Pullikkunel, Director, Indian Institute of Christian Studies, has objected, saying that “Catholic women are not just human machines producing children”.

The Kerala Bill is downright insane, even though the Christian Chief Minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy, claims that “resentment against the draft is unwarranted”. How warranted is the reaction of the Catholic hierarchy? Rev Mathew O. Praem, writing in the same issue of IC, lets the cat out of the bag when he says that the bishops’ policy is “mainly in view of languishing vocations to priestly and religious life”. Had a layman like me said this, I would have immediately been branded anti-clerical. Coming from the horse’s mouth, need I say more? The reality is that large families in Kerala generously sent many of their offspring to novitiates and seminaries. Several foreign congregations even set up “fishing centres” in Kerala. With small families, the boom is over. They are no longer willing to contribute their mites (pun intended)!

This month the world population will cross the 7 billion mark. Here in India we are unable to define poverty. Infrastructure has collapsed, and forests have been slashed because of a burgeoning population. Voluntary family planning is essential to macro planning, and should not be opposed on purely sectarian grounds like empty novitiates and seminaries.

One must also ask the Catholic Church how effective has its propagation of Natural Family Planning (NFP) been? I taught about NFP before I got married! From the Rhythm Method we had progressed to the Sympto-Thermic Method, the Ovulation Method and the Modified Mucous Method. What happened? I throw an open challenge to the Catholic bishops of India to show us how many NFP centres are functioning in India today, and how many adherents they have. There is also mounting evidence that the Catholic Church is unable to cover the socio-economic needs of its existing members, particularly that of the Dalit Christians. So why talk of financial support to a fifth child?

The draconian Kerala bill should be thrown out, and the bishops’ fixed deposits with it. We need flexibility not fixity.

Will Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill, 2011, Prove to be an Effective Tool to Deal Communal Violence?

Even though people of this country had to wait long to find solutions to the centuries old communal violence history of India, the proposed Bill gives hope to the Nation. The Indian history is smeared with sporadic violence but large scale communal violence began in 1784 with the Mangalore Treaty signed between Tippu Sultan and the British East India Company. Tippu Sultan carried out continues persecutions of Christians and Hindus for over a decade.

The forced partition of India on communal lines, the anti-sikh riots in 1984,  the large scale violence that followed the Rath Yathra of L K Advani and the Babari Masjid demolition in 1992 , intermittent uprising of violence against the linguistic minorities,   Gujrath violence in 2002 and the Kandmal communal violence in 2008 etc. have given a wide spectrum to the makers of this Bill aimed at addressing not just victims of communal riots, but also dalits, tribals, linguistic minorities or any community that is in a minority in a particular region who are vulnerable to attack by more powerful members of society.

Following the 1992 communal violence and the growth and capturing of power by BJP have encouraged political parties to enter into secret understanding with the fundamental organizations. The extended influences of fundamental organizations have forced the political organizations to observe silence during communal clashes. We need to see the Bill against this back ground. The proposed bill gives the Centre, power to intervene in cases of communal or targeted violence by invoking a provision in Article 355 of the Constitution that states, "It shall be the duty of the Union to protect every state against external aggression and internal disturbance and ensure the government of every state is carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution."

The Bill defines communal and targeted violence as “any act or series of acts, whether spontaneous or planned, resulting in injury or harm to the person and or property, knowingly directed against any person by virtue of his or her membership of any group, which destroys the secular fabric of the nation….” In Indian law, so far, only the SC and ST Atrocity Act recognises that certain groups can be targeted.

The features of the Bill includes setting up a National Authority for Communal Harmony, Justice and Reparation that will ensure a national standards for the entire spectrum of provisions for victims, including rescue, relief, compensation, rehabilitation, resettlement, restitution, reparation and recognizing the rights of internally displaced persons. The National Authority that works as independent body will have the power to approach even the highest court of law to secure orders and the governments would have to respond to its reports within a period of one month. It has also provisions to deal with hostile environment like economic boycott, denial of public services, and forced migration etc. The national and state authorities will be empowered to take suo motu action to quell communal violence.

The National Authority will have seven members of which at least four will be women, and no more than two can be retired civil servants and thus it provide greater space for civil society members. A specific feature is that it also provides provision to punish the head of a communal organisation for the acts committed by the foot soldiers, dereliction of duty by officials including the chain of administrators and political persons like Chief Ministers etc.

The civil society activists saw this Bill as the effective step to enforce the law while the people in government perceived it as a way of usurping its powers and this controversy even led to several extensions, and exit of members of its drafting and advisory committees. The Babus accused the civil society activists of trying to disempower the existing administrative and justice mechanisms but the good will of people have persisted. Taking note of the opinions of different groups, we need to wait and see how this Bill will be used by the successive Governments to deal with communal and sectarian violence.

By Fr. Anand Muttungal

The Faithful are drawn to the cross in a special way during the period of Lent. These forty days are reserved to contemplate and resolve to live life in the steps of Jesus Christ who taught us to forgive, repent, love and give unconditionally.

This Lent there is a new cross to carry and it teaches self-control, patience and commitment! The followers of this new cross responded………….

The assembly of followers was cohesive, disciplined and included brethren of various Faiths. While many small cross were raised to the heavens, the upturned faces reflected the anguish and pain at the injustice of it all……there were no answers, only questions… and questions….

It all began on the fourth Saturday of February; the day BMC offices are closed. But the BMC staff known for their tardiness, worked zealously, stealthily pasting demolition notices on many of the heritage crosses in Bandra, giving the owners 48 hours time to prove their legality. When the notices were discovered they sent shock waves through the community that had been put through the same drill once before in 2003. The painful memories of those anxious hours returned resulting in a show of unity at Chapel road……….

According to media reports, the reason for the ‘clean sweep’ was the Supreme Court directives in an interim order to the State governments on December 7, 2009 to demolish illegal shrines. The BMC states that the show-cause notices have been sent to 729 illegal shrines in Mumbai that are said to be obstructing projects like road –widening, affecting vehicular traffic or are located on public land. But if the present reality of our roads and traffic is anything to go by, the motive for the notices is much more complex if the three reasons mentioned here are placed under the scanner. And that is what the peaceful gathering of people of all Faiths in front of the H-west Ward office intended to do- expose the hypocrisy of it all, a second time!

During 2002-2003, the BMC had issued similar show-cause notices to many heritage crosses, citing the same excuse. Descendents of the persons who had built these crosses were given just hours to prove that the crosses were legal and the reasons they were on public land at present. At that time all of Bandra had joined hands to dig out old records and files of these were handed over to the BMC authorities, proving that the crosses were not only legal but also heritage structures to be protected. History repeats itself as once again the same people are subjected to the same humiliating exercise of submitting the same documents to the BMC. It raises a serious doubt whether the documents were examined at all when submitted earlier. Why then do the BMC records fail to confirm what was proved once before?

The history of crosses dotting the landscape of Bandra is deeply knit into the fabric that is the past of ancient families that have lived in villages such as Sherly, Rajan, Khar, Chimbai and Chuim. These are the descendents of the original inhabitants of the islands who were simple, hardworking folk dependent on the community for their emotional, social and cultural needs. A cross in the clearing of the village was the focal point of all life, beckoning the folk to prayer, celebration, entertainment or plain simple chit-chat. Like the candle-lighting at shrines today, cross-building was supplication, knocking on heaven’s door for divine intervention. People in gaothans trace their crosses to the 19th and early 20th centuries…..

The dirt unearthed at this peaceful gathering is sufficient to nail BMC’s double standards and its lack of accountability to the tax-payers of this city. What motivated the BMC to paste show cause notices on crosses on a Saturday/holiday knowing that the people would be caught unawares? Considering the fact that to obtain any document from the BMC’s offices is a Herculean task taking weeks if not months, how does BMC expect the people to obtain documents from this same office in 48 hours? How is the BMC granting permission to encroachments on roads and pavements, considering its zeal for removing obstructions to its projects?

The august assembly of people on this Monday morning gathered at the BMC office chose to remind the Deputy Municipal Commissioner once again of how the reason for people’s qualms can be squarely placed at BMC’s door due to its negligence and short sight. Presenting the bare facts that have placed these heritage crosses in danger zone- 

l    As roads were widened, many crosses that were previously on private properties were left stranded on public roads, neither moved nor protected by BMC. Either the owners should have retained the custody of these crosses or the BMC should shoulder the responsibility of enclosing and tending these as heritage structures.

l    The encroachments by hawkers, and commercial establishments allowed to prosper under the patronage of the same BMC are the real obstacles to vehicular traffic. Are they left untouched, to proliferate owing to money and muscle power?  ‘Remove the log before you touch the splinter….’!

l Glaring examples of setback forcibly taken during road widening is now being merrily misused by hawkers who take over the pavements meant for pedestrians, forced to use roads, thus blocking traffic. It was painful to relate how hawkers are reigning over the portion of St. Joseph’s Convent cemetery on Hill road…..

l With BMC’s poor record of clearing hawkers and encroachments, how can the people be assured that the cross is not making way for one more encroachment?

l The onus of proving the illegality of the cross should rest on BMC, since it should substantiate its claim before taking action of demolition. The people will have the right to prove BMC wrong, with the documents they possess. Why must the people suffer at the whims and fancies that seize BMC periodically?
l Does the forthcoming Civic election have anything to do with it?

l Would the same notices be sent to other wards and demolition carried out there on all illegal shrines?

Voices were raised in queries. Documents were brandished like harmless weapons. Among the many who had come prepared were Livy Fernandes of St. Ann’s parish Pali who possessed an ancient brochure-card that clearly stated that the White Cross in Rajan gaothan was erected with “Rajan Students’ Cross Fund, 4th May 1927” Both Fernandes and Adrian Pereira from Rajan gaothan are aghast at BMC callousness in serving the demolition notice to the White cross a second time. Another strong voice that seemed to speak for the dead cross- builders was that of Wilbert D’Silva and his sister Hermione of Sherly village. He not only flourished documents which had been submitted once before to prove the legality but also with his family members articulated the history of the Red Cross nearby, built by his own ancestors in 1825! 
Anand Castelino, a long-time office-bearer, present Vice-President of the Bombay Catholic Sabha and an activist in his own right  recalls the saga of the cross near St. Michael’s church, Mahim. Though proven to be a legal monument it was demolished by BMC and a court order to rebuild it was needed to bring it back into existence.  Lessons are meant to be learnt, according to activist Anand!

There were strong indications on Monday that this was just the beginning of a long struggle……Coming on the heels of the massive one lakh-strong Christian demonstration against the biased Somshekhara report in Mangalore where churches were destroyed and the Blessed Sacrament desecrated in a well-planned reign of terror by fanatics, this not-so-small gathering of Christians no less heralds the era of Christian unity against injustice of any kind! May the commander of divine forces St. Michael lead us on……..

Vera Alvares