Census figures inaccurate?
The census is inaccurate because those who are assigned the job have never heard of Parsis or Zoroastrians. When we say we are Zoroastrians we are marked either as Hindus or Catholics. What needs to be done is to approach the authorities concerned and request that a column be inserted in the form listing all the religions practiced in India with a tick mark box, which would leave no room for confusion. SHIREEN BHARUCHA
The editors reply:
Such a list may run into pages. Census officials have been made sensitive about Parsis. The fertility rate has been declining since the 1850s. The census has reported the trend accurately.
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I think the media’s claim that there is a drop in the Parsi population is a myth. In truth, many Parsis migrate to western countries for a better life. My father migrated to Aden in 1928, by which time many Parsi business firms had been established there.
Another reason I’m sure is that bigoted Parsis do not consider a Parsi woman married to a non-Parsi to be a member of the community, and hence they are not registered in the census, thereby showing a drop in the Parsi population. ASPI RABADI
Mississauga, Canada
The editors reply:
If a person states he/she is Parsi/Zoroastrian the census personnel records it accordingly. The worldwide Parsi population (including Iran) would be a little over 1,00,000.
In a decade the world wide Zoroastrian population will be considerably less than 100,000. The main reason being an aging Parsi population in India and Iran, where the majority of the Zoroastrian population is located at the present, inter faith marriages, late marriages or no marriage at all, increasing rates of divorce plus married couples having one or the maximum of two children. It will take a Herculean effort to change the tide.