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NEWS ALERTS | Official data on determinants of fertility has lessons for the misguided electorate
Official data on determinants of fertility has lessons for the misguided electorate

Official data on determinants of fertility has lessons for the misguided electorate

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published Published on Nov 24, 2021   modified Modified on Jan 8, 2022

The virility of Muslim men vis-à-vis men from other religious communities have often been used as a political tool and to create a divisive agenda just before elections for getting votes from the majority of the Indian electorate who are Hindus. Instead of focusing on positive agendas like human development, employment generation, and poverty reduction, political campaigns just before the elections oftentimes reduce to mere communal propaganda (when a lot of mudslinging takes place between the rivals in lieu of informed debates and discussions). In a post-truth world where an individual's subjectivity has become more important than the objective truth, data-driven analysis perhaps helps us in seeing the world with a clear vision (or with objectivity)

In the past, the canard 'Hum Paanch, Hamare Pachees' has more than once been used to create the myth that Muslim men are more virile (i.e., sexually active) in comparison to men from other religious backgrounds. As a result, Muslim men are alleged to marry more than once and have more than one wife who gives birth to multiple children. Due to this fact, the proportion of Muslims in India’s total population happens to be rising in comparison to that of the Hindus. The alleged virile powers of Muslim men have been linked to their excessive consumption of non-vegetarian food (including red meat -- mutton, beef, etc.), excessive consumption of onion, garlic, and hot spices/ other condiments, and their religious beliefs and practices.       

Sexual Activeness 

In this news alert, using the data from the National Family Health Survey 2015-16, we will show that it is not true that Muslim men are more virile (or sexually active) in comparison to men from other religious backgrounds. 

Table 1: Percentage distribution of men aged 15-49 years by timing of last sexual intercourse, according to religious background, India, 2015-16 

Note: 1. Excludes men who had sexual intercourse within the last 1 week
2. Excludes men who had sexual intercourse within the last 1 and 4 weeks
3. Among those who have ever had sexual intercourse

Source: Table 6.9.2 Most recent sexual activity: Men, Report of the National Family Health Survey 2015-16, page 205 of 666, please click here and here to access  
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In 2015-16, at the national level, the proportion of men who never had sexual intercourse was the highest among Muslims (37.5 percent), followed by Christians (35.3 percent), Jains (33.4 percent), Hindus (32.3 percent), Buddhists/ Neo-Buddhists (32.1 percent), and Sikhs (31.1 percent). Please consult table-1. 

The proportion of men who had the last sexual intercourse within the last week was the highest among Sikhs (35.9 percent), followed by Hindus as well as Jains (31.7 percent each), Muslims (30.6 percent), Buddhists/ Neo-Buddhists (26.2 percent), and Christians (24.5 percent), if we don't consider 'Other'.     

The proportion of men who had the last sexual intercourse within the last four weeks (excluding men who had sexual intercourse within the last 1 week) was the highest among Jains (19.1 percent), followed by Sikhs (17.6 percent), Christians (16.1 percent), Hindus (15.7 percent), Buddhists/ Neo-Buddhists (15.6 percent), and Muslims (14.8 percent).

The proportion of men who had the last sexual intercourse within one year (excluding men who had sexual intercourse within the last 1 and 4 weeks) was the highest among Buddhists/ Neo-Buddhists (16.5 percent), followed by Sikhs as well as Hindus (12.4 percent each), Christians (10.6 percent), Muslims (10.3 percent), and Jains (9.8 percent), if we ignore 'Other'.

The median number of days since the last sexual intercourse (among those who have ever had sexual intercourse) varied from 5.8 days in the case of Muslims to 8.2 days in the case of Buddhists/ Neo-Buddhists. The median is the middle number in a sorted, ascending or descending, array of numbers, and it is considered to be more descriptive of that data set than the average.

Possibility of Multiple Life Partners and Sex Ratio

Is it true that polygamy is more common among Muslim men in comparison to men from other religious communities? In his article titled 'Muslims poorer, less educated than Hindus. But their kids more likely to survive till age 5', Dr. SY Quraishi, former Chief Election Commissioner of India, has stated that the incidence of polygamous marriages has diminished over time (i.e., from 1931 to 1960) thanks to the enactment of the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 that imposed a ban on polygamy for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains.

Table 2: Incidence of Polygamous Marriages in India

Source: Muslims poorer, less educated than Hindus. But their kids more likely to survive till age 5 -SY Quraishi, ThePrint.in, 17 February, 2021, please click here to access 
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The incidence of polygamous marriages among Hindus had declined from 6.79 percent during 1931-40 to 7.15 percent in 1941-50, and had further fallen to 5.06 in 1951-60. Similarly, the incidence of polygamous marriages among Muslims went down from 7.29 percent during 1931-40 to 7.06 percent in 1941-50, and had further precipitated to 4.31 in 1951-60. Please see table-2.

According to SY Quraishi, the Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India (1974), produced under the Ministry of Social Welfare was the last official study to look at polygamous marriages in India. The study undertaken by the Government in 1974 had observed that the polygamy figure was 5.7 percent among Muslims, 5.8 percent among Hindus, 6.72 percent among Jains, 9.7 percent among Buddhists, and 15.25 percent among tribal communities.

Rohan Venkataramakrishnan in his article titled ‘Muslim women and the surprising facts about polygamy in India’ (2014) had mentioned that a polygamous Hindu was likely to have 1.77 wives, a polygamous Muslim 2.55, Christian 2.35, and a Buddhist 3.41 wives (as the per the NFHS-3 carried out in 2005-06)

Table 3: Religion wise Sex Ratio among major States/UTs - Census 2011

Source: Women and Men in India 2020: A Compilation of Gender-related Indicators in India, NSO, MoSPI, please click here to access
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Is it possible that each and every Muslim man in the country is married to more than one wife? For this to be possible, the sex ratio among Muslims at the national level should be at least 2,000 females per 1,000 males. In 2011, the sex ratio for religious groups i.e., Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains was 939, 951, 1,023, 903, 965, and 954 respectively. It means that there are not enough women, which could make it possible for a man to be married to more than one wife, irrespective of whether he is a Muslim or a Hindu or from any other religion. Sex selection, son preference, and gender discrimination practiced in our society have created this imbalance in the sex ratio.  

References:

National Family Health Survey 2015-16, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), please click here to access  

Women and Men in India 2020: A Compilation of Gender-related Indicators in India, National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), please click here to access

Interview: SY Quraishi, author, The Population Myth: Islam, Family Planning and Politics in India -Sunetra Choudhury, Hindustan Times, 19 February, 2021, please click here to access

Muslims poorer, less educated than Hindus. But their kids more likely to survive till age 5 -SY Quraishi, ThePrint.in, 17 February, 2021, please click here to access  

Video: Busting population myths with Dr SY Quraishi | On The Record, Hindustan Times/ Trivedi Centre for Political Data, 9 February, 2021, please click here and here to access 

Long and deceitful history of the ‘love jihad’ bogey -Mohan Rao, The Indian Express, 1 December, 2020, please click here to access

Against My Will - Defying the practices that harm women and girls and undermine equality (released in June 2020), published by the United Nations Population Fund, please click here and here to access 

Muslim women and the surprising facts about polygamy in India -Rohan Venkataramakrishnan, Scroll.in, 8 July, 2014, please click here to access 

Scars of memory -Ziya Us Salam, Frontline.in, 21 July, 2017, please click here and here to access  

 

Image Courtesy: UNDP India



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