IANS Special: Taxpayers under pressure due to changing demography, right time to adopt population policy

New Delhi, May 9 (IANS): The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, in its cross-country analysis, studied the changing demography in as many as 167 countries with regard to religion-based population and came up with mind-boggling details.

A series of findings show that the number of Hindus in the country has decreased by 7.82 percent during the period 1950-2015, while the number of Muslims has grown by 43 percent.

Speaking exclusively to IANS, social activist and president of Taxpayers Association of Bharat (TAXAB), Manu Gaur shared his concerns over the population explosion and changing demography in the country and also underlined the need for a population policy.

The EAC-PM report studied the changing population dynamics in terms of religion not only in India but also in many countries in Asia, Africa and other continents.

The report highlights the growing and declining proportion of religious majority and minority populations in their countries of birth.

In the Indian subcontinent, all Muslim-majority countries have witnessed an increase in the share of the majority religious group, with the exception of the Maldives, where the share of the majority group declined by 1.47 percent.

As expected, the report provoked a series of political reactions, especially from the BJP, which lambasted the previous Congress regimes for ‘shrinking’ the country’s Hindu population in recent decades.

Sharing his views with IANS, Manu Gaur said the report is worrying as it reflects the changing religious dynamics in as many as 167 countries between 1950 and 2015.

“Out of 167 countries, 123 countries have recorded a decrease in the majority share, while the minority share recorded an increase in their population. Although this report does not explain which religion clocked the maximum growth in numbers, it is not difficult to decipher the reason behind this. this irrational and rapid change in religious demography,” said Manu Gaur, citing the changing population matrix in the Middle East.

He further said that India is no exception to this trend and it is not difficult to explain which religion has outgrown whom, at whose expense.

“According to a report, India and Nepal, both countries, have seen a rise in the minority population, while neighboring countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan have seen a consistent decline in the minority population there. It is for this reason that the government was pushed to persuade CAA to grant citizenship to persecuted minorities from these countries,” he pointed out.

Manu Gaur also said that the population explosion is putting a heavy strain on the country’s resources and the time is ripe for a population policy to address these challenges.

“The unprecedented changes in the country’s demography are placing a burden on taxpayers, who largely belong to the middle and upper middle class. Today they are forced to reconsider their tax contributions. They send their departments abroad for further studies, who are now also settling abroad,” he said.

“Many government social services depend on taxpayers’ money. If there are no taxpayers, who would finance social services?” he asked, underlining that there is an urgent need to implement population policies to address these challenges.