The Minority Affairs Ministry has come out with a scheme named ‘Jiyo Parsi’ that encourages online dating’ and marriage counselling among Parsi men and women, reports Asianet.
Statistics show that about 30 per cent of eligible Parsi adults are unmarried. The government move is to improve the country’s Parsi population, which has been dwindling because of little interest in marriage among eligible bachelors,
“It is necessary to encourage people of the Parsi community to marry and have children because the community’s total fertility rate is about 0.8 per couple. An average of 800 people die yearly against the birth of 200 to 300 children. That is worse when compared to the situation of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians,” Shernaz Cama, director of the Parzor Foundation, is among the implementing bodies for this scheme.
Data from the new National Health and Family Welfare Survey, the total fertility rate in the Muslim community is 2.36, while it is 1.94 in the Hindu community, followed by 1.88 in the Christian community and 1.61 in the Sikh community. As per the 2011 census, the Parsi community population in India was 57,264 compared to 1,14,000 in 1941.
In November 2013, the Minority Affairs ministry launched the ‘Jiyo Parsi’ scheme to balance the Parsi community population and increase the total fertility rate, with an annual budget of Rs 4 to 5 crore.
“A total of 376 babies have been born since the launch of the scheme (till July 15), which is more than the average of 200 babies born in the Parsi community annually,” Cama said.
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