Of birth rates and Kerala Christians
Many of you must have read the recent news-reports on the Kerala Catholic Bishops� Council’s�recent call to Christians to have more children. It has also been pointed out in�various discussions on this subject that�Christians in Kerala have been at the forefront of family planning and have generally had fewer children than the rest.
However, a fact that has been conveniently ignored by most reports is that�not only is�”the Christian and Muslim population in the state (is)…well above the national average”, it is also growing faster than the Hindu population (emphasis mine):
T.R. Dilip, demographer and faculty member at the Centre for Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram, says Christians in Kerala already have a higher average fertility rate that borders around two children, compared with 1.64 for Hindus. Muslims there have an average rate of 2.5%, he said, pointing to statistics from the National Family Health Survey. [ link ]
Another example of self-censorship by� the mainstream media?
You decide.
Related Posts:
The great joke that is Indian media – part 2 *must�read*�
The great joke that is Indian media series:�Part 1,�Part 2,�Part 3, Part 4�and Part 5.�
I was shocked to read this news item some days back and found it very stupid.
When everybody says, produce less children, these people come and say, lets have more!
A Hindu or a Muslim having more children should not make any sensible soul make such a statement.(though facts state otherwise)
Two wrongs still do not make a right.
The degradation of media and journalism in Kerala is a reality and not a fiction.
After the Church, it now seems to be the turn of Sh Abu Azmi (slightly dated news):
Excerpts from Now, Kerala church to help family ‘unplanning’ by Ketaki Saksena:
You can count on organized religion to stand in the way of anything progressive. We have the current “burn the faggots” alliance. To add to the pantheon of “make more kids” gurus, we could consider the Shankaracharya, famous for coining the word “Viraprasu” for a woman who had ten children. And of course, the VHP, who want four kids per family, two for yourselves and two for the cause.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/now-vhp-takes-on-family-planning/376410/
This, in spite of the fact that Hindu scriptures do not support an anti-family planning stand – in spite of our liking for bigger families. Dasharatha had only four children by his three consorts. Janaka adopted a girl he found in a field. We knew and acknowledged methods of contraception.
So all “great” minds think alike.
With all this, you will note that the people in Kerala do not necessarily follow what the kooks say. With the advent of education, women have been taking the lead in adopting family planning measures, mostly without consultation with the man, and across the faith spectrum. This is because, all said and done, many men do not adopt such measures. No fertile woman, no children. Of course, widow remarriage among Muslims (and in Hindus, at least in Kerala, though to a lower extent) could involve certain reconsiderations. And there are other considerations than finance involved in producing children. A family isn’t a goat farm, for God’s sake! So the “cash for kids” might not have many takers. If they had promised to support adoption, that would have been a welcome (and painless) way of increasing the number of Christians. No takers?
So poor John Dayal’s complaint is that the Christians have a low rate of growth? Could he attribute it to their comparatively better levels of education? The only way to encourage people to have more kids is to cut down on their level of education. This is slightly difficult. So, even if the Church says next that the earth was created in 4004 BC, there might not be any takers – for a long time.
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