Indian Muslim Society and Economy

Abstract

India accounts for a meager 2.4% of the world surface area and yet it sustains a whopping 16.7% of the world population. According to the 2001 census, the national population stood at a little over one billion people living in 29 states and 6 union territories. Slightly more than 12% of the national popula tion is Muslim. The variation across the states is enormous in regards to physical size and geography, language and economic conditions. Some states have a Mus lim population as high as nearly 30 %, e.g. Assam, and others as low as less than one percent, e.g. Sikkim. Muslims constituted 24% of the population before in dependence in 1947, but the Partition gave all the Muslim majority areas ex cept parts of disputed Kashmir to Pakistan. Barring the Union Territory of Lakshadweep Islands, and the districts of Murshidabad, West Bengal and Ma lappuram, Kerala, the Muslim population is thinly spread over the ever-changing boundaries and numbers of districts in the country. Muslims living in the rural areas constitute the majority of the total Muslim population, although Muslims represent a higher percentage of the total national population living in the urban areas. Ever since the first census of 1881, Muslim population has shown an in crease slightly higher than the national average.1 The only exception to the growth was the decennial census of 1941-51, which showed a decrease in Mus lim population due to the twin upheavals of the Indian partition and the an nexation of Hyderabad State in 1947 and 1948 respectively resulting in large number of deaths, migration, and territorial transfer. Poverty is the major cause of higher population growth. As sociologist Mah mood Mamdani pointed out, people aren't poor because they have too many children; they have too many children because they are poor.2 Children are con sidered an asset in a poor family; they are a potential source of labor. The other reasons for a higher rate of growth may be lower infant mortality, widow remar riage, high protein diet of red meat, residence in urban areas enabling escape from famine and disease. The increase is not owing to disapproval of family