Even as the Census Commission withdrew its 2001 report to readjust the Muslim growth rate from 36.02 pc to 29.3 pc, the National Commission for Minorities today appointed four noted population experts to analyse the data threadbare. NCM chairperson Tarlochan Singh said the ‘‘committee would analyse the Census report minutely to enable the NCM to prepare roadmaps for different minority groups’’. Prof Ashish Bose, Director of the Society for Applied Research on Humanities, would head the panel. The other members include Prof P.M. Kulkarni of the Centre for Studies on Regional Development (JNU), Prof Mari Bhat of the Population Research Centre (JNU) and T.K. Roy of the Kolkata-based International Institute of Population Study. They would meet tomorrow to prepare a brief. Bose, who had released the Census 2001 report, was the first to question the high Muslim growth rate indicated in the introductory chapter. ‘‘Among the six major religious communities, the decadal growth of the Muslims is the highest (36.0 pc) in the 2001 Census,’’ the report said, which he found to be ‘‘abnormally high’’. Kulkarni, who has conducted extensive research on Hindu-Muslim differentials in South Asia, said: ‘‘The mistake made in computing percentage gave the exaggerated differential between the two communities. By straightaway using 1991 as the denominator and 2001 as the nominator, they arrived at an erroneous figure.’’ Besides, Hindu growth rate has also been wrongly shown as 20.4 pc, whereas it is 19.9 pc. ‘‘Since the margin of error in case of the Muslim community is greater, it is catching everyone’s eye,’’ Kulkarni said. Home Ministry slams Bainthia’s ‘error’
