The one sole aim of the Abrahamic religions (Christianity and Islam) is to increase their numbers, and they take all possible steps to do the same. In order to increase the number of its followers, a diocese of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in Kerala has announced a slew of incentives including 1,500 rupees per month to couples with five or more children.
As per the report by The Indian Express, “For the fourth and subsequent children in a family, a scholarship will be provided for studies at the St Joseph’s College of Engineering and Technology, Pala. Additionally, the Mar Sleeva Medicity hospital in Pala will cover pregnancy-related expenses for women delivering their fourth and subsequent children. Both the college and hospital fall under the Church.”
The Kerala catholic body wants to take the community of the Christians forward. The number of Muslims and Christians is increasing exponentially in the state of Kerala but both communities are not satisfied with this and want the number to increase further – through conversion as well as an increase in birth rates.
Christians constituted only 13.9 percent of Kerala’s population in 1901, the first proper religious census of the state. As per the 2011 census, the percentage of Christians has increased to 18.4 percent and by this year (2021), it would have probably crossed 19 percent.
Similarly, the percentage population of Muslims was 17.5 percent in 1901, and in 2011, it reached 26.6 percent. In the 2021 census, it would probably reach above 27 percent.
On the other hand, the percentage of Hindus in the total population has reduced from 68.5 percent in 1901 to 54.9 in 2011 and would reach less than 50 percent in the next few decades. This means that Hindus would be in the minority while the followers of the Abrahamic faith would be in majority in the state of Kerala.
On one hand, the Hindus are being encouraged to have a maximum of two children and the states like Uttar Pradesh are mulling to pass a law for the same, while on other the Abrahamic communities are using a two-pronged strategy – conversion and greater number of children to increase their numbers.
The priests of the Muslim and Christian communities are further encouraging their people to increase numbers. These communities and their religious institutions continue to enjoy various benefits awarded to the minority community and institutions run by them despite the fact that in many districts, the Abrahamic communities are already in majority.
In the TMA Pai Foundation & Ors vs State of Karnataka & Ors case, the Supreme Court held that ‘a minority either linguistic or religious is determinable only by reference to the demography of the State and not by taking into consideration the population of the country as a whole. In a similar case in ’71, the Supreme Court held that even though Hindus were a majority in India, they could be treated as a minority in a state like Punjab. In the Kerala Education Bill case (1957), the Court held that since the bill pertained to Kerala, the religious demographics of Kerala must be considered to decide the meaning of minority.
First of all, the governments at all levels should end the benefits and SOPs to minorities in order to ensure that they do not get favourable treatment and increase their numbers. And the second should be an Assam model population control bill at the country scale.
