Diminishing Parsi community finds beacon of hope in new births despite losing 178 to COVID
Last month, Parsiana compiled death figures from 11 major locations in India where significant Parsi populations exist. The list includes figures from Bombay, Delhi, Surat, Navsari, Ahmedabad, Poona, Nagpur, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore. At least 178 community members have passed away since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in the country in March 2020. As per the report, Mumbai has recorded the maximum deaths at 105 with nearly 44 deaths in April 2021 alone. Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Fali Major, president of the Bangalore Parsi Zoroastrian Anjuman told Parsiana, “We have not lost any of our community members due to Covid-19. While we did have a few community members who tested positive, they all recovered and are doing fine now.”
Jiyo Parsi scheme recently recorded 319 births since its inception in 2013-2014. The scheme was introduced by the Ministry of Minority Affairs to arrest the decline in the Parsi population in India. According to the TOI report, the community with the help of the scheme witnessed around 83 births in 2020-2021 during the pandemic with 61 births in 2020 and 22 until June 2021.
However, this isn’t yet a source of celebration as the community lost more than double the figures to the pandemic, and the numbers only represent major locations where Parsis are known to reside.
According to statistics compiled by Parsiana magazine on COVID deaths in the community, 178 Parsis in India have succumbed to the coronavirus pandemic since March 2020.
Speaking to International Business Times, Jehangir Patel, editor of a Parisian magazine that has been writing about the Parsi community since 1964 said, “The declining population is a given and that’s not going to change. In the 2001 census, the Parsi community in India was at 69,601 and in 2011, the figures stood at 57,264 which is an 18 percent decline, and since then the trend is the same.”
Mumbai records 44 covid deaths in April 2021 alone, Bangalore reported none
Last month, Parsiana compiled death figures from 11 major locations in India where significant Parsi populations exist. The list includes figures from Bombay, Delhi, Surat, Navsari, Ahmedabad, Poona, Nagpur, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore. At least 178 community members have passed away since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in the country in March 2020. As per the report, Mumbai has recorded the maximum deaths at 105 with nearly 44 deaths in April 2021 alone. Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Fali Major, president of the Bangalore Parsi Zoroastrian Anjuman told Parsiana, “We have not lost any of our community members due to Covid-19. While we did have a few community members who tested positive, they all recovered and are doing fine now.”
Decline in population a concern since 1941
The population of Parsis-Zoroastrians, a notified minority community under the National Commission of Minorities Act 1992 has been a cause of concern for the Ministry of minority affairs. In 1941, the community that stood at 1,14,000 went drastically down to 57, 264 as per Census data of 2011. The community has an aging demographic profile with a large number of middle-aged and elderly populations. While migration to other countries can be assumed as one of the reasons for lower population figures in India, late marriages, voluntary and involuntary childlessness are factors cited by the Jiyo Parsi scheme for the low fertility rates among the Parsi community. There is also a significantly higher percentage of unmarried Parsi males as compared to non-Parsis who are unmarried.
Jiyo Parsi scheme
In 2013-2014, the ministry inaugurated the Jiyo Parsi scheme, a Government of India-supported scheme to arrest the decline in population. And since then it has been making advocacy and campaigning efforts to encourage Parsi couples to marry timely, influence their mindset to have their first or next child, tackle the stigma associated with IVF/ART therapy, introduce them to benefits of medical reimbursement, detect fertility problems, make them realize the significance of concepts like work-life balance.
BMC no longer revealing population figures for Mumbai
During the interview, Mr. Patel told IBTimes that while BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) revealed population figures until the 2001 census, during the 2011 census, Mumbai figures for Parsis weren’t revealed. “In 2001 census, Parsi population in Bombay was 46000, however, in 2011, BMC didn’t give the Bombay figures. The BMC has not disclosed the number of births in Bombay for the last five years or so. The figures are sent to some database in Delhi and not publicly released. The total figures for Bombay in the 2011 census were not released by the Census Bureau.”
Based on an assumption of an 18 percent decline every 10 years since 2001, as reported by Parsiana, in the upcoming census of 2021, the Parsi community in Mumbai might stand at 30,931.
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