According to Naqvi, so far, the scheme has cost Rs 14 crore. (Photo for representational purpose)
The Parsi population in the country went up by 233 since 2013, when the government launched the Jiyo Parsi scheme to implement measures to arrest the declining numbers of the community, Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told Lok Sabha on Thursday. According to Naqvi, so far, the scheme has cost Rs 14 crore.
In a written reply in the House to a question submitted by TMC MP Mala Roy, Naqvi also gave an year-wise break up of the money spent on the scheme since its inception.
The population of Parsis (Zoroastrians), a notified minority community under National Commission of Minorities Act 1992, had declined from 1,14,000 in 1941 to 57,264 in 2011, as per census data. It was in this backdrop that the government felt a need to intervene.
Describing the scheme, Naqvi said: “The objective of the scheme is to contain the population decline of Parsis in India. The scheme adopts a scientific protocol and structured interventions to stabilise the Parsi population…”
A report on the Jiyo Parsi scheme drawn up by the ministry lists some reasons for low population of the community. It cites Total Fertility Rate, late weddings, voluntary and involuntary childlessness among the causes.