After a delay of four years, the Government of India will finally hold the all-India census in late 2024 or 2025. According to Google, "The census will be fully digital and use mobile devices,” and is "one of the largest administrative exercises in the world.” The last census was held in 2011 and put the all-India population at 1.21 billion, a surge of more than 181 million over the 2001 census figure. According to estimates, the Indian population in 2024 is 1.45 billion. The Parsi population in the 2011 census was 57,264, a decrease of 12,337 from the 2001 figure of 69,601. If we go by the same 18% decline, the new census should put the all-India figure at around 44,000 Parsis for 2024.
These numbers are, of course, pertinent only to those Parsis who believe the census findings and don’t dismiss them as hocus-pocus. There is a whole cult of demographic deniers who believe and publicly state the community will exist for a 1,000 years. They believe the shortfall in India is compensated by an (imaginary) increase in numbers of Parsis abroad. The total Indian and overseas figures guesstimated by amateur demographers is under 1,00,000, nowhere enough to offset the losses in India. In the 1941 census we were around 1,14,890 in India alone.
Census figures have to be seen in perspective. While the figure for one census may be incorrect, one has to view the overall consistency and trend. The Parsis have been showing a declining fertility since the mid-1800s. The government, both the British and Indian would have no rationale or motive to deliberately inflate or deflate the figures. It’s not that we constitute a large vote bank or seek to proselytize those of other faiths. On the contrary our speciality is turning people away, terming them infidels, parjats, juddins and so on.
But no matter how hard people attempt to deny the fall in numbers, the telltale signs are everywhere. Parsi founded schools and colleges are almost bereft of Parsi students, teachers, principals; fire temples are without priests and worshippers; there is a preponderance of deaths over births; maternity wards in Parsi hospitals are closed; many beds in Parsi-only hospitals—assuming the institution is even functioning — lie vacant; Parsi-only clubs are often deserted but still deny equality in membership to Parsi women…
But this fall in numbers is not unusual. Countries such as South Korea, Japan, Italy and others face the same dilemma. Unless there is a policy of accepting immigrants, many countries face a decreasing population crisis. In the case of China, the fall was self-inflicted by pursuing a one-child only policy for over four decades. Though the policy was discarded over eight years ago, few couples now want more children, if any. The onetime tradition of getting married and having offspring has fewer adherents internationally. Women who have an education no longer have to rely on a spouse to support them. The break up of joint families means the elders may not be living in close proximity to look after grandchildren or they may have other preferences and priorities. The 1981 census showed "that the nuclear (family) is the most prevalent prototype of the family structure (The World of Indian Parsi Youth by Dr Lata Narayan from the series The Parsis of India: Continuing at the Crossroads edited by Drs Armaity Desai and Shalini Bharat, Sage Publishers 2017).” Many elderly may still need to earn an income or want to utilize their professional skills ("How dull it is to pause, to make an end, to rust unburnished, not to shine in use,” Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson).
The stigma attached to a man or woman being single or having a partner of the same sex has lessened. Narayan cites the findings of a group discussion in Bombay where the participants stated, "There are no social pressures to marry,” while a discussion in Bordi found, "Matrimonial trends within the community was skewed in favor of late marriages.” And staying single was also favored as a popular option by the youth. With parents, siblings and friends around, loneliness can be kept at bay. The assumption that children will look after their parents as they age is no longer true. Children may live elsewhere, in another city, state or country. Or they may be too preoccupied with their own families and careers. Institutional care, homes for seniors, assisted living facilities offer alternatives. Those who continue working post retirement have the companionship of colleagues.
People can manage their lives well as single individuals. An article in the February 23, 2023, Business Insider titled "7 science-backed reasons why you may be better off being single” by Lindsay Dodgson states: being single gives you the space to think, provides more time for physical activity, helps keep friends, leaves one financially comfortable and do better at work. And while being single can be stressful so can being with the wrong person.
With a large percent of never-marrieds, the community needs to reorient their thinking. Instead of berating and egging Parsis to get married and have children, we should accept and respect their right to remain single. Singles often avoid attending community functions, especially marriages, because they are mercilessly teased or badgered to tie the knot. Sometimes people remain single because an earlier relationship soured or the intended partner did not reciprocate the same affection, or they have witnessed their parents’ relationship sour or break up. Some do not want to make the sacrifices and compromises that a marriage entails. Compatible partners may be hard to find, especially in a small community like ours. A good circle of friends and an active social life offer alternatives to being tied down to one person who may have ideas of his/her own or other interests.
At one time women or men who married non Parsis were shunned (some still are) but by and large the community accepts or tolerates or condescends to the presence of the non-Parsi spouse at social, if not religious, functions. But as the gathering at religious events shrinks, even the presence of non Parsis may be preferable to an empty hall or room. At the evening Srosh nu patru funerary prayers sometimes only two or three people are present besides the priests. At the muktad remembrance prayers for long deceased family members, ofttimes there is no one present besides the priest. The non Parsis may at least attend out of a sense of noblesse oblige.
If by accepting the right of an individual to remain single or marry outside the faith or select a partner of the same sex, we improve the quality of their life and our own, why should we deny ourselves and others that right?