Myth About Muslim Population

Pune: Muslim population despite its polygamous system is not growing in India, according to social researcher M. P. Mangudkar. Talking to newsmen here Dr. Mangudkar on Feb. 17 contended that the Muslim population based on the census figures for 1951-1971 did not increase oven by one per cent. He said that Muslims constituted 10.2 per cent of the total Indian population in 1951 came to 11 per cent 1971. Dr. Mangudkar, who is the principal of the Jain arts and science college at Pimpri-Chinchwad, said he surveyed the census population figures to disprove the much-publicised notion that Muslims attained a higher rate of population. The assumption that Muslims usually had more than one wife was not correct. The ratio of men and women was 1,000-941 among the total population of India. In Muslim community it was 1000- 934. This nullified the significance of Muslims having more than one wife. (Indian Express 18-2-82)