Assam: Expert calls 'fall' in fertility rate of Muslim women 'doubtful'

GUWAHATI: An expert has questioned the findings of a National Family Health Survey (NFHS) which showed a fall in total fertility rate of Muslim women in Assam.
A professor in the Centre for Population Studies of Gauhati University, Dr Dilip Kalita, said the NFHS-5 data was "doubtful". His comments came when the BJP-led state government is pushing forward its policy for population control in the state, particularly among the immigrant Muslims, who constitute 34% of Assam's population.
Speaking at a webinar organised by Janasankhya Samadhan Foundation Uttar Purba Khetra on "Population Explosion and Future of Assam" on the eve of World Population Day on Tuesday in association with Cotton University Students' Union, professor Kalita said, "Census data and sample survey data vary. While census data is collected from survey of every household, sample survey data is based on located or identified samples. So the data reflected for various parameters with regard to Total Fertility Rate of Muslim Women shown National Family Health Survey (NFHS) as decreasing is doubtful." To substantiate, professor Kalita said if person has four wives, each giving birth to four to five children, are not taken into consideration during the sample survey. "Under the sample survey, only one or the last woman is considered," he said.
He said teenage marriage amongst Muslims is 14.9, whereas, amongst Hindus, it is only 4.5 per cent. In Barpeta district, teenage marriage among Muslims is around 14 per cent, in Bongaigaon district it is 15 per cent while in Dhubri district it is 22 per cent, 16 per cent each in Darrang and Hojai districts, 23 per cent in South salmara district and 15 per cent in Nagaon district.
"With regard to family planning scheme, female sterilisation among Muslims is only 4 per cent while it is 12 per cent among Hindus. These data establish that the TFR of Muslim has been depicted wrongly and is a fabricated narrative."
The webinar was inaugurated by Dr Diganta Kumar Das, Registrar, Cotton University, who in his inaugural speech stated that education can play a pivotal role in population control, but one has to act in a practical way while implementing population control laws because this issue is very complicated and sensitive as well. The chairman of Janasankhya Samadhan Foundation Uttar Purba Bharat, Sailendra Pandey, urged all the participants to participate in this movement to protect the interest of the indigenous people of Assam.