[BBC News - September, 2004, 13:40 GMT 14:40 UK]
Indian census findings 'flawed'
The rate of growth among Muslims has actually declined
Population experts in India are questioning the findings of a census that says Muslims are the fastest growing community in the country.
They say this is a miscalculation since Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir state was not included in the 1991 census.
According to government figures, the Muslim community grew by 36% between 1991-2001 - while population growth rates for other religious groups fell.
The census commissioner has blamed the media for misinterpreting the data.
A leading population expert, Ashish Bose, told the BBC that data from Kashmir had been used in the 2001 census but not in the previous one in 1991, thereby skewing the result.
The Muslim community has actually declined at a greater rate than the Hindus
Ashish Bose
Population expert
Far from increasing from 34.5% to 36% over the last 10 years, the growth rate in the Muslim community has actually declined to 29.3%, he says.
"They should have issued a footnote clarifying that the data had not been adjusted to included the fresh figures from Kashmir," Mr Bose said.
"The Muslim community [growth rate] has actually declined at a greater rate than the Hindus."
Political fallout
Census commissioner JK Banthia says that the data released needed to be adjusted to reflect the discrepancy but argued that the issue had been overplayed.
"There is absolutely nothing wrong with our data. It is a case of misinterpretation for which the media needs to take the blame," he told the BBC.
He says even with adjustments for Kashmir, the change in the Muslim population is marginal.
According to figures released by the census commissioner, India's Muslim community now stands at 138 million, or 13.4% of the total population, while Hindus account for 80.5% of all Indians.
Christians make up the third largest group (24 million) followed by Sikhs (19 million).
Hardline Hindu groups were quick to react to the data when it was published on Tuesday, saying the growing numbers of Muslims posed a threat to "India's unity".
The Hindu nationalist RSS - a body affiliated to the opposition BJP - said it "only confirmed what we have been saying for a long time".
"There is a continuous fall in the population of Hindus... and a corresponding rise in the Muslim population," RSS spokesman Ram Madhav told The Indian Express newspaper.
Demographer Ashish Bose says politicians should leave it to sociologists to interpret the data and not exploit it politically.
"The fact is that there is still a big difference between the Hindu and Muslim growth rates - this is something which should be studied," he said.
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