Muslims are falling behind in most respects, and this takes down various indices; the govt takes satisfaction in the fact that non-Muslims might be doing better
If roughly every seventh Indian is a Muslim, the Interim Budget or Vote on Account presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tries to tell that the other six could well be under threat of societal changes because of the seventh.
In her Budget speech on February 1, she did not name the communities but addressed ‘societal changes’ to say as much through a separate head.
The 76th para of her Budget speech under this head reads – “The government will form a high-powered committee for an extensive consideration of the challenges arising from fast population growth and demographic changes. The committee will be mandated to make recommendations for addressing these challenges comprehensively in relation to the goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’.”
Population claims
What the Finance Minister said is in sync with similar ‘challenges’ often enumerated by BJP Chief Ministers Yogi Adityanath and Himanta Biswa Sarma, except the fact that the CMs of Uttar Pradesh and Assam have been more explicit by pointing towards Muslims as the main source of rise in population, which could pose a demographic question or issues in the times to come. Other BJP bigwigs have also often expressed similar views.
This story was originally published in thefederal.com. Read the full story here.
