New Delhi: Islam is not unkind towards the concept of family planning, and it is just a ‘propaganda’ that Muslims in terms of population can take-over Hindus, former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi said on Monday.
Several myths are being spread about the Muslim population. These myths are creating bitterness in the minds of Hindus against Muslims, Mr Quraishi said during a discussion on his book “The Population Myth: Islam, Family Planning and Politics in India” at the India International Centre here.
Speaking of myths, about the Muslim population in the country, he said that one of the myth is that they produce too many children and are solely responsible for the population explosion.
“Yes Muslims have the lowest levels of family planning (FP) — only 45.3 per cent. Their total fertility rate (TFR) is 2.61 which is the highest. But the fact that Hindus are not far behind, with second lowest FP at 54.4 per cent, and second highest TFR of 2.13, is completely missed,” Mr Quraishi said.
He said that it is a myth that the demographic balance is distressing because there is growth in Muslim population.
The demographic ratio of India indeed shows an increase in Muslims from 9.8 per cent in 1951 to 14.2 per cent in 2011, and decline in Hindus from 84.2 per cent to 79.8 per cent, but this is an increase of 4.4 percentage points in 60 years, he pointed out.
He further also asserted that Muslims are capt8uring concept of family planning faster than Hindus. The gap in their number of children is narrowing.
Pointing out another propaganda, that there is an organized conspiracy by Muslims to overtake the Hindu population in order of capturing political power, he said no Muslim leader or scholar has asked Muslims to give birth to more number of children for overtaking Hindus.
He cited a mathematical model by professors Dinesh Singh, former Delhi University Vice Chancellor, and Ajay Kumar, and said that Hindus can never be overtaken by Muslims.
Busting another myth, he said it is wrong to state that Muslims use polygamy for increasing population as a government study in 1975 found that all communities had some polygamy but the Muslims were the least polygamous.
He said, “There is a general misconception that Islam encourages polygamy but the reality, however, is different. Polygamy is also statistically not possible in India as the gender ratio (only 924 women per 1,000 men) does not permit it.”
Asserting that Islam is not against the concept of family planning, he said, “Nowhere has the Quran prohibited family planning and there are only interpretations — both for and against. Numerous verses of Quran and citations from Hadith emphasize quality over numbers, health of women and children and right of children to good upbringing.”
Islam is not only not opposed to family planning but in fact is the pioneer of the concept, he said.
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