Demographic debates need sanity, not crude rhetoric | Number Theory
This two-part data journalism series seeks to throw official numbers at the always simmering pot of demographic debates in India
The public discourse around demographics in India is usually divisive. Sometimes it is about the population as a whole, at other times, its religious composition, and still other times, the north-versus-south debate. The overall demographic paranoia is perhaps a ghost of the early years of independence, when population growth far outpaced the growth in economic resources, including food. These pages have argued in detail why India needs to get over its demographic paranoia and instead focus on exploiting its demographic dividend. Debates about the North versus the South are rooted in distributional concerns, both fiscal and political; and the faith debate is overwhelmingly political dog-whistling.
This two-part data journalism series seeks to throw official numbers at the always simmering pot of demographic debates in India and separate fact from (convenient) fiction. The first part will look at demographic trends by state and district and the second part will look at the issues around India’s religious demographics.
