Let’s not intervene
1 min read 05 Oct 2022, 10:46 PM ISTAs for the slight gap in births between Hindus and Muslims, what matters is that fertility among both groups is falling fast and cannot alter India’s faith-wise demographic profile. As for any ratio-shift-led unrest, as alluded to by Bhagwat, we have a Constitution designed well for inter-faith harmony to prevail
PremiumRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat, in a speech on Wednesday, called for a population-control policy, arguing that an imbalance in the headcount of religious groups, as he saw it, could no longer be ignored. “[A] population policy has to be formulated considering all these factors mindfully," he said at the RSS’s foundation day event. “It should be applicable to all. Only then rules pertaining to population control will yield results," he added. While the RSS has advocated such stiff intervention in the past, too, Bhagwat’s words suggest an urgency to impress the idea upon the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an ideological ward that has fobbed it off so far; and sensibly so, given that our fertility-rate data shows our baby boom is in the past and our numbers are set to stabilize, which negates the need for any restriction. As for the slight gap in births between Hindus and Muslims, what matters is that fertility among both groups is falling fast and cannot alter India’s faith-wise demographic profile. As for any ratio-shift-led unrest, as alluded to by Bhagwat, we have a Constitution designed well for inter-faith harmony to prevail. Adherence to it shouldn’t be a big ask.
