The Hindu : Front Page : Census Commissioner meets officials

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 09, 2004

Front Page

Census Commissioner meets officials

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 8. With doubts being raised about the growth rate of Muslims projected in the "First Report on Religion Data" — released this week by the Office of the Census Commissioner — the Government today sought to take stock of the situation and nip the controversy in the bud.

The Cabinet Secretary, B.K. Chaturvedi, convened a meeting on the issue today, and the Registrar-General and Census Commissioner, J. K. Banthia, also met the Home Secretary, Dhirendra Singh, in this regard earlier in the day.

Though the collection of data on religion has always been part of the census exercise, the question doing the rounds is why it was brought out as a separate report and released with fanfare.

That there was an internal debate within the Office of the Census Commissioner on whether or not such a report ought to be published was admitted by Mr. Banthia while releasing the report.

Also, in the preface of the report — released on Monday — the Census Commissioner wrote: "I have been repeatedly advised by many census experts to refrain from taking such a step but I am convinced that this bold initiative of putting socio-economic and demographic characteristics based on religious composition of the population is in the public interest and ultimately will result in public good.''

Meanwhile, independent of the controversy, the National Commission for the Minorities has decided to set up a committee of demographers to analyse the report.

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