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Social and Religious Diversity of India The Census of India records the religion of each and every Indian after every ten years. The person who fills the Census form visits every household and records the religion of each member of that household exactly the way each person describes it. If someone says she has ‘no religion’ or that he is an ‘atheist’, this is exactly how it is recorded. Thus we have reliable information on the proportion of different religious communities in the country and how it has changed over the years. The pie chart below presents the population proportion of six major religious communities in the country. Since Independence, the total population of each community has increased substantially but their proportion in the country’s population has not changed much. In percentage terms, the population of the Hindus, Jains and Christians has declined marginally since 1961. The proportion of Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist population has increased slightly. There is a common but mistaken impression that the proportion of the Muslims in the country’s population is going to overtake other religious communities. Expert estimates done for the Prime Minister’s High Level Committee (popularly known as Sachar Committee) show that the proportion of the Muslims is expected to go up a little, by about 3 to 4 per cent, in the next 50 years. It proves that in overall terms, the population balance of different religious communities is not likely to change in a big way. The same is true of the major caste groups. The Census of India counts two social groups: the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. Both these broad groups include hundreds of castes or tribes whose names are listed in an official Schedule. Hence the prefix ‘Scheduled’ in their name. The Scheduled Castes, commonly known as Dalits, include those that were previously regarded as ‘outcaste’ in the Hindu social order and were subjected to exclusion and untouchability. The Scheduled Tribes, often referred to as Adivasis, include those communities that led a secluded life usually in hills and forests and did not interact much with the rest of society. In 2011, the Scheduled Castes were 16.6 per cent and the Scheduled Tribes were 8.6 per cent Population of different religious of the country’s population. communities in India, 2011 e The Census does not yet count the s Other Backward Classes, the group Hindu a 79.8 C we discussed in Class IX. Hence there d are some differences about their n proportion in the country’s population. In % Muslim a The National Sample Survey of 14.2 n 2004–05 estimates their population o g to be around 41 per cent. Thus the l SC, ST and the OBC together account Others 2% e for about two-thirds of the country’s Othersinclude Buddhist0.7%Jain0.4%Christian 2.3 R population and about three-fourths of Other Religions and Persuasions 0.7% , Religion not stated 0.2% Sikh 1.7 e the Hindu population. Source: Census of India, 2011 d n e G 39 Reprint 2026-27