Ranchi: The Jharkhand Legislative Assembly on Wednesday approved the proposal to introduce a separate religion code in the 2021 Census form for the state’s Sarna tribal population. The decision was taken during the special session of the state assembly. Chief Minister Hemant Soren said that a large population of Jharkhand believes in and follows Sarna religion. To protect the religious existence of these people, the decision has been taken. There had been a long-standing demand to include Sarna religious people in the census as a separate religious group.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Hemant Soren has said that there is a continuous decrease in the population of tribal people in the State. The tribal population has decreased from 38.03 percent in 1931 to 26.03 percent in 2011. The census conducted from 1871 to 1951 had a separate religion code for the tribals but it was removed from the census in 1962. In the 2011 Census, about 50 lakh tribals living in 21 States of the country mentioned Sarna as their religion in other columns of the census form. In order to protect the religious existence of these people, there has been a demand for the inclusion of Sarna religious people in the census code for a long time. Therefore, in the census form of 2021, a separate religion code for Sarna religion has been passed by the State government and sent to the Central government.
BJP not impressed, raises questions
Senior BJP leader Neelkanth Singh Munda expressed happiness over the proposal of Chief Minister Soren, saying that his party has always been talking about the interest of tribal people but what has been inserted in the tribal/Sarna dharma code in the proposal is causing many doubts. If this mark is removed, then BJP will support this proposal. He also questioned the intention of the erstwhile Congress government on the abolition of Adivasi’s religion code from the population form in 1961 and said that in 2013 BJP MP Sudarshan Bhagat had also raised the matter in the Lok Sabha. In response to his question, it was said from the Congress government that this is not possible. At that point of time, Rameshwar Uraon was the chairman of the National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes Commission. Neelkanth Munda said even Uraon did not do anything then.
What happens next?
The Jharkhand government will send the proposal for a separate religion code in the census form to the Central government, although it has been rejected by the Central government in the past. On the demand of tribal organisations, the Union Home Ministry and the Registrar General of India had termed the creation of a category for separate religion codes impractical. The tribal leader Bandhan Tigga and tribal affairs expert Prof Karma Oraon told ETV Bharat that there are a total of seven columns in the census form. The sixth column is for Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist and Jainism, while the seventh column is for marking other religions. Experts on tribal affairs argue that 42.35 lakh tribes mentioned their religion in the 7th column in the 2011 census. Among them, 41.31 lakh people declared themselves as the followers of Sarna religion, which means that 97 per cent people were in favour of Sarna religion, while only three percent people wrote their religion in the seventh column as tribal or other.
How is Sarna different from Hinduism?
Sarna is called the place of worship of tribal people. The tribesmen and women start their auspicious work with the worship at the Sarna site. Nature is worshiped in the tribal community. Although most of their rites and traditions are like Sanatan Hinduism, they do not believe in idol worship. They worship the sun, trees and mountains. The white and red coloured flag is their sacred symbol. It is called the Sarna flag.
There are 32 tribal communities in Jharkhand. The development of tribals is the basis of the formation of this state. Apart from this, a large population of tribals is from Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Arunachal Pradesh and Andaman as well. The tribal population believes that the existence of 700 tribes in the country is in danger as Sarna is not being defined as a separate religion. According to experts, there is no religious code in the name of place of worship in any country. The Sarna Dharma Code is being demanded only to trick the tribals. There have been allegations that in Jharkhand, the conversion of tribal people has been done on a large scale. It is also said here that even after the implementation of the Sarna Dharma Code, if a tribal adopts Christianity, then he will be considered as a Christian. The question is -- what benefits will the tribal people of Jharkhand get from the introduction of the Sarna dharma code in the Census form?
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