News Brief
Kuldeep Negi
May 10, 2024, 12:50 PM | Updated 12:50 PM IST
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the decline in population of "all-inclusive" Hindu civilisation should be a matter of concern for the world.
In an interview with Republic Network, the Prime Minister said that the report by Economic Advisory Council To PM has exposed the "false narratives" of 'minority under threat'.
"As the minority population has gone up by 43 per cent, the wrong narrative has been exposed. Hindu civilisation is all accommodating, no point spreading false narratives anymore," PM Modi said in response to EAC-PM report showing sharp decline of Hindu population in India.
PM Modi further said that the decline of Hindu population should be a global concern.
"A great culture which is all-inclusive, which can somehow keep the world in balance in the future, which is no one's enemy, will not be able to influence if its share declines. Today the world should be concerned about the how the Hindu population will increase," he added.
The study done by Dr Shamika Ravi, Abraham Jose and Apurv Mishra on 'Share of Religious Minorities' across countries revealed that India witnessed the biggest decline in the majority population after Myanmar.
The study is a part of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister Working Paper Series. It analyses the demographic transitions in 167 countries from 1950 to 2015.
India's neighbours like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Afghanistan witnessed the share of the majority religious denomination increasing and minority populations have shrinking alarmingly.
In India, the report said that the share of Muslim population in 1950 "was 9.84 percent and increased to 14.09 percent in 2015 - a 43.15 percent increase in their share".
"The share of Christian population rose from 2.24 percent to 2.36 percent - an increase of 5.38 percent between 1950 and 2015.The share of Sikh population increased from 1.24 percent in 1950 to 1.85 percent in 2015 - a 6.58 percent rise in their share. Even the share of the Buddhist population witnessed a noticeable increase from 0.05 percent in 1950 to 0.81 percent," it added.
Kuldeep is Senior Editor (Newsroom) at Swarajya. He tweets at @kaydnegi.