Religion in Arunachal Pradesh

Share of Christians in the total population has reached 30.26 percent and it may have reached 40 percent among the Scheduled Tribes.

a)     Share of Christians in the population of Arunachal Pradesh has increased substantially from 18.72 percent in 2001 to 30.26 in 2011.

b)    Detailed data for the religious profile of the Scheduled Tribes in the State is not yet available. In 2001, 90.79 percent of 2.06 lakh Christians in the State were from the Scheduled Tribes; and, share of Christians in the ST population was 26.47 percent.

c)     If we assume that the same about 91 percent of the 4.19 lakh Christians counted in the State in 2011 are from the Scheduled Tribes, than the share of Christians in the Scheduled Tribes now turns out to be around 40 percent.

d)    Share of Christians in many of the individual tribes is much higher and is reaching the level of nearly complete Christianisation.

Wancho and Nocte of Tirap are likely to have been almost entirely Christianised.

a)     Share of Christians in Wancho and Nocte of Tirap district had reached 73.54 and 42.35 percent, respectively, in 2001, when Christian share in the total population was 50 percent.

b)    In 2011, share of Christians in the district has increased to 74.45 percent and their share in the ST population is likely to have reached 83 percent.

Nyishi, Nissi and Nishang of East Kameng, Papum Pare and Lower Subansiri also seem to be reaching the level of almost full Christianisation.

a)     After Tirap, the highest presence of Christians in the western districts of East Kameng, Papum Pare, Lower Subansiri and Karung Kumey. In 2011, they have a share of 47.19, 47.18, 41.43 and 55.59 percent, respectively. In 2001, the Christian share was 25.45 and 29.98 percent in East Kameng and Papum Pare, respectively, and it was only 24.51 percent in Lower Subansiri, which then included Karung Kumey.

b)    Share of Christians in the ST population of these districts in 2001 was somewhat higher at 28.84 and 26.43 percent, respectively, in East Kameng and undivided Lower Subansiri; and, it was much higher at 49.50 percent in Papum Pare.

c)    The substantial increase in the proportion of Christians in the total population since 2001 indicates that their share in the ST population is likely to have increased to above 50 percent in in East Kameng and Lower Subansiri and to around 67 percent in Papum Pare.

d)    The main Scheduled Tribes communities in these districts are from the Nissi group, and are listed under the heads of Nyishi, Nissi and Nishang in the Census of 2001. Our analysis indicates that these communities may have now been fully Christianised, at least in these three districts.

Many of the tribes of the Adi group in West Siang, East Siang and Dibang Valley are likey to have been fully Christianised.

a)   In the central districts of West Siang, East Siang and Dibang Valley (including Lower Dibang Valley), the presence of Christians in 2011 is relatively low at 26.69, 18.40 and 15.20 percent, respectively. But, in 2001, they had a much smaller share of 19.36, 15.34 and 10.63 percent, respectively.

b)    In the ST population of these districts, the share of Christians in 2011 is likely to be even higher at around 35, 20 and 25 percent, respectively.

c)   The main Scheduled Tribes communities of these central districts are from the Adi group. In 2001, the proportion of Christians in some of these communities, especially among Adi, Abor, Bokar and Bori in West Siang; among Adi Gallong and Galong in East Siang; and, among, Adi, Abor, Adi Gallong, Galong, Adi Minyong and Adi Padam in Dibang Valley was much higher than the average of all STs. In many of these communities, the share of Christians in 2001 was already above 40 percent and in some it was even above 70 percent. With the considerably increased share of Christians in these districts, many of these communities are likely to have been fully Christianised by 2011.

Many of the smaller tribes of the Tangsa group in Changlang have been fully Christianised and Christians may have reached overwhelming majority in the main Tangsa community.

a)     Share of Christians in the population of Changlang in 2001 was 17.49 percent; it has risen to 24.27 percent.

b)    The share of Christians among the Scheduled Tribes of Changlang was much higher at 39.86 percent; it is likely to have increased to around 55 percent in 2011.

c)     The share of Christians in the main Tangsa community of Changlang was already 42.83 percent and it was much higher at above 77 percent in the relatively smaller communities of Mossang Tangsa and Nocte, above 90 percent in Rongrang Tangsa and nearly 100 percent in the Yobin. With the considerably increased presence of Christians in the population of the district in 2011, many of these communities of Changlang are likely to have been fully Christianised and, in the main Tangsa community, they are likely to have acquired an overwhelming majority.

Tawang and West Kameng in the west and Lohit in the east seem to have largely escaped Christianisation.

a)    West Tawang and West Kameng districts in the west and Lohit lying to the west of Tirap and Changlang in the east continue to have a considerable presence of Hindus and Buddhists. We shall describe the demographic spread and growth of Hindus and Buddhist in Arunachal Pradesh in a separate post.

b)    Other Religions and Persuasions are a significant part of the religious demography of this State; we shall discuss their composition, distribution and growth also in the following post. ( For full article, go here.)

NB: The article is taken from the blog of Centre for Policy Research)

On Bodo-Muslim Violence in Assam

There is an article in The Hindu that is worth reading. One can read the article here. The author argues that the conflict in Assam is not really between Bodo i.e Indian citizens and Bangladeshi migrants. The author is from Assam; and moreover, he is the Director for Centre of North East studies in Jamia Millia Islamia, a reputed university. So I trust that he knows the ground reality, and his account needs to be heard. The account that he tells here is not really the one that we hear from the politicians. I think those politicians who shout that Bangladeshi migrants should be deported and those who shout back saying that even before the Bangladeshi migrants are deported they (supposedly supporters of Bangladeshi migrants) have to be deported first are both missing the point here. This appears to be mere electoral rhetoric!

I wish that the author would suggest specific and realistic formula to solve the problem. Being in a Centre that is studying the issues of the North East, he is in the best place to provide advice and suggestion to the government. It is true that government, led by Nehru in the past, has often failed to study the matter seriously, before it addresses the matter. No wonder North East India is in a mess today! And even at present Government of India seems to be at loss than ever before on how to address the different issues confronting the region. And I think Sanjoy Hazarika and his team are in  a position to place feasible and just solution before the government of India. 

One of the comments of the article reads ' The Mymensingha from East Bengal (present Bangladesh & part of Pakistan until its liberation in 1971) ) started moving into the adjoining districts of Assam in a big way in the late 1890s. From then until 18 July 1948 the movement was legal. Between July 1948 and March 1971 about three to four million Mymensingha from East Pakistan moved into Assam. The Shaikh Mujib - Indira Gandhi agreement of 1972 decided that these East Pakistani illegals would remain in Assam. The Assam Accord between Rajeev Gandhi and Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and others, followed by the amendment to the Citizenship Act in 1985 conferred Indian citizenship on this group of Mymensingha in Assam. Legally and technically only those who came from Bangladesh without valid documents, after March 24, 1971 can be called illegals' 

The North East & India: Inter-relationships! Part 1

The North Eastern people are usually a bunch of close knit communities. The interaction between boys and girls are quite common; and there is so much of trust between them. Being a close knit community, distant relatives are not discounted. Everybody who is related in one way or the other is sought out and relationship is built. Since many people have big families, through inter-marriages, it usually turns out that an individual has so many relatives. My son has 26 cousins!  Cases of rape or other crime are not quite common. Even today many houses in the villages do not have locks. And in a locality or a village, everybody knows everybody. Moreover, when students go to other cities, parents expect that they would look after one another, whether it's between boys or girls. And a students when one is sick or runs short of money, there is so much of interaction and inter-relationship and sharing. 

Very often this sort of relationship is alien to the mainland Indian culture. In Delhi most people would not talk to their neighbours who are 100 metres. People cannot trust others easily. Given that crimes involving rape or robbery are common, it's not difficult to comprehend why this is so. But since this is the culture in which many people grow up, when they see boys and girls from the NE interact closely, they interpret this differently. They think that girls are of loose moral character. This interpretation is far from reality. But this faulty interpretation results in NE girls being mistreated often. Girls complaint that very often local boys would ask their 'rate' in the street or try to get close to them. 

NB: The North East states of India are Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura. The border Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The local people of these states have mongoloid features quite unlike the mainland Indians. The series is being blogged as part of bridging the cultural gap between the NE and mainland India.