Parsis should increase their population

It refers to three-day Iranshah Udvada Utsav of Parsi community concluded on 27.12.2015 in small Udvada town of Gujarat, where Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley rightly pointed out need to increase population of the community. Parsis topped every field of life may it be, industry, sports, legal or any other field but with hardly any examples of corruption, favouritism or self-interest. It is necessity of the society to preserve genetic features of this great community. United Nations Organisation (UNO) and Indian government should take steps to save world’s most talented community from being totally finished. However there were some satisfying reports of six-percent increase in Parsi population in last six years. Best thing about the community is that they live for society rather than for themselves or for producing children!

Parsis are the only community in the world which is fast decreasing in number due to strict community restrictions. Orthodox Parsis should adjust themselves with changing needs of time to preserve their community. It was against their interests that a ban was once imposed on two community-priests for their conducting Navjote ceremonies of children of women married to non-Parsis, conducting marriages where one partner was a non-Parsi, and for conducting after-death prayers for Parsis who were cremated. It is satisfying to note that some Parsi youth have united by bringing non-Parsi family-members into the Zoroastrian fold. All such reforms are need of time to prevent world’s most talented Parsi community from total disappearing. Such changes would have made Parsis proud by finding one of the most influential Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as their community member by virtue of her marriage with Parsi Feroz Gandhi.

Articles 331 and 333 of Indian constitution provide two nominations in Lok Sabha for Anglo-Indian community which was about 8 lakh strong at time of independence of India. But now with majority of Anglo-Indian community having migrated to other commonwealth-nations, their number has gone down to just one lakh which is much-much less than normal population in each of the Lok Sabha constituency. Parsi community known to have world’s admittedly most intelligent persons in every field of life, is the only and fast decreasing population with just about 60000 in numbers rather deserves more to have nomination in Lok Sabha.

—Subhash Chandra Agrawal,

1775 Kucha Lattushah

Dariba, Delhi.

Published on Kashmir Times