"The census report is as expected,” noted Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) chairman Minoo Shroff matter-of-factly. With the all India population count at 69,601, down from the 1991 figure of 76,382, the community accounts for barely 0.001 percent of the Indian population.
Shroff recounted the elders’ attempts to stem the demographic decline at a symposium held at the Cusrow Baug’s Sir Cusrow Wadia Pavilion on September 18, 2004 to publicize their latest contribution: the establishment of a fertility clinic to address what is perceived as increasing infertility in the community and to introduce the two doctors who have agreed to contribute their expertise to it — gynecologist Anahita Pundole and psychiatrist Pervin Dadachanji. Others sharing the podium with them were Prof Armaity Desai, former director of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences who retired as chairperson of the University Grants Commission, and Khojeste Mistree, founder of Zoroastrian Studies.
Concern about the declining number of Parsis in India and their highly skewed demographic profile has led the BPP to initiate a number of schemes over the past 15 years. There was a time when lack of housing ("what is lacking is not spouses but houses”) was considered to be the major hurdle to the stability of the community’s numbers. The BPP responded by building 600 flats; an additional 600 were contributed by other trusts in the last 10-12 years, noted Shroff. But the community has only spread itself out. Cusrow Baug’s large flats house an average three persons each, he added.
The demographic trend has persisted downward despite this increase in community housing, with 55 percent weightage in allotment to those getting married as well as families where the wife is still within the reproductive age group; the establishment of the third child scheme in 1993 under which the BPP subsidizes a family’s third child to the tune of Rs 1,000 per month, effective until the child reaches the age of 18 years (127 children are so subsidized at a cost of 15 lakhs a year requiring a corpus of two crore rupees, stated Shroff); creche facilities for working parents at Rs 300 per month per child; and some matrimonial alliances formed by the mingling of the youths at the BPP’s month-long Holiday Programme for Youth for those who had just finished their secondary schooling... The fact remains that "the number of people in the reproductive age is shrinking. Those over the age of 60 now account for 31 percent of the community...40 percent of the community don’t marry; one-third marry out of the community; those who do marry produce an average 1.5 children,” Shroff presented the stark figures, observing, "the preponderance of older people in the audience.”
"Zoroastrians all over the world will not go down, but Parsi Zoroastrians are going down fast... The BPP is considered a laid back institution living in the past. This is what we have done. What are the others doing? The parents? Other trusts?” Shroff challenged.
Top: Dr Dinyar Gamadia Above: Godrej Dotivala, Tamboly, Pundole, Shroff, Dadachanji, Desai and Mistree
Of the initial 55 couples who have sought to avail of the facilities offered by the fertility clinic (see "Let’s do something positive...” Parsiana, June 2004) 48 are following up, noted Pundole. Only 10 percent of them are below the age of 30; 30 percent are between the ages of 30 and 35; 40 percent are between the ages of 35 to 40 and 20 percent are over 40, she added. Defining infertility as the "inability to conceive for more than two years,” Pundole stated that 90 percent of infertility is treatable. "The essence of the new initiative is to inculcate awareness and help those who cannot afford the cost of treatment. Most conceive with just diagnoses and counseling. Very few need in vitro fertilization.” The main problem is that Parsis not only marry late, but most people prefer to wait before getting a baby and the fact remains that "female fertility drops substantially after the age of 35,” Pundole reminded the audience.
Dadachanji emphasized the "link between stress and infertility.” Apart from the physiological reasons, she likened the uncertainty about the success of the treatment to a "roller-coaster ride.” Career women feel they are losing self-control when they are unable to conceive, and hence begin to lose their self-esteem. Infertility treatment can be expensive and lead to financial stress. To that is added sexual stress because of the "need to perform on demand.” People are also inhibited by confidentiality issues, she noted. But lack of proper counseling can increase anxiety and stress, she noted, explaining her role as the psychiatrist on the program. "We can involve the extended family, provide guidelines, function as sounding board and facilitator.”
One reason why young people were not getting married, not procreating was due to "the psychologically detrimental effect of being told that the community is disappearing,” maintained Mistree. According to him "there are two or three things that don’t match” in the census figures. Quoting the census figures for 1981 (71,630), 1991 (76,382) and 2001 (69,601) Mistree said, "If the 1991 figure was wrong, then the 2001 figure shouldn’t bother us because it matches the 1981 figure.” If the 1991 figure is correct, the fall can be explained by migration. (The census commissioner J. K. Banthia had indicated the 1981 figure was probably incorrect — Editor. Mistree noted that over 1,000 Parsis had migrated to New Zealand, more than 1,000 to Australia and an equal number now reside in Dubai. Between 2,500 to 3,000 had gone to North America and a few to UK over the past decade. On the basis of personal travel he described the fall in population in India as an international redistribution of the community. "The down side is that in India Parsis will have a very high death rate and low birth rate because the young are going away, leaving the aged behind.” (There is no proven way to know the number of Parsis who have emigrated from India as many of the embassies do not keep data on religious leanings and even those that do, do not disclose the statistics — Editor.
Dismissing the acceptance of the children of non-Parsi fathers ("We know statistically that only one percent of the children of mixed marriages marry within the fold”) and of intermarriage generally as a means of increasing ethnic Parsis, Mistree advocated that two bedroom houses not one-room-kitchen units, were what Parsis need to produce more children. Describing the current subsidy of Rs 1,000 for the third child as "Mickey Mouse money,” in comparison to the "astronomical costs of school, college and food,” he urged the BPP to consider absorbing the cost of delivery of the third child which he assessed at between Rs 35,000 and 1,00,000. He also advocated the establishment of creches in each of the baugs to be managed by professionals, not some old Parsis who have a way with children. Though the "HPY is the best thing that the Punchayet does,” Mistree wanted it to increase interaction among the young by organizing "fun trips” with a bit of religion thrown in, "encourage the youngsters to go to clubs, discos, meet in the 21st century sense. If they don’t meet, how will they meet a Parsi spouse? Intermarriage will kill the community, not infertility!” He also advised the BPP to divert funds from housing to the education and socializing of the young and in statistical studies on migration.
Desai quoted some of the figures from the 2001census, terming it "unique” because of Banthia’s interest in and familiarity with Parsi issues. Special care had been taken by the commission to familiarize the enumerators with the different terminologies that Parsis use, she said. Also, the UNESCO Parzor team had made special efforts to ensure that the community cooperated with the census enumerators, she added. The census had established that children in the 0-6 age group constituted only four percent of the community as against the all India percentage of 14-15. The 31 percent of Parsis over the age of 60 years (24 per- cent are over the age of 65) is probably the highest in the world as the so-called aging US/UK populations have only 23 percent in that bracket. The Parsis’ sex ratio is skewed in favor of women, with the imbalance increasing over the past decade because Parsi women outlive men even though there are more boys in the 0-6 age group. "It means that there are a lot of old women living alone...Though our literacy rate is the highest in the country at 98 percent, the working population comprises only 35.2 percent because of the non-working older people.”
According to Desai, "migration is a constant factor over the decades. We can’t depend on Parsis who have migrated abroad because the rate of intermarriage increases after the second generation.” Desai also spoke of the research on the community undertaken by UNESCO Parzor (for details see "Protecting Parst trusts,” page 42).
In the discussion that followed, the absence of youths in the audience and the organizing of the event was emphasized. "These meets will have to be organized and chaired by youths,” suggested Bomi Hansotia. Jimmy Anklesaria urged the BPP to draw upon the creativity of professional Parsi communicators to create a 20-30 minute audiovisual to drive the problem home to the youths. Instead of the subsidies, "a deleterious concept,” he suggested "the promotion of 1,000 Parsi entrepreneurs in 20-25 new fields of endeavor.” Endorsing that "intermarriage is not good,” Mahazaver Dalal urged Mistree to help the children of interfaith marriage understand the teachings of the faith. Dr Pervin Meherji, deputy director of the National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health briefly referred to its involvement in advanced research in infertility and offered help to Pundole in the BPP venture.
An irate Shroff responded to the suggestions for new undertakings for the BPP which is already financially and administratively stretched out: "Where’s the money? Demographic studies cost lakhs. It takes more money to build bigger flats. Parsis are not willing to go to the Nirlon colony where we can build bigger flats.” He castigated the "selfishness of the elderly (who) hold on to large flats,” as much as the people who migrate but hold on to their flats ("There are hundreds of flats locked up”). "Other trusts have sold properties to non-Parsis and got hundreds of crores of rupees. Why don’t you pressurize them?” On a more positive note he informed the audience that someone has donated Rs 50 lakhs to the BPP’s venture capital scheme to help raise the number of entrepreneurs. "We must interact, participate with the young, dance with them, play with them. It was because of the sharing, caring, security in the past that we had large families. (Let the community) take over our problems. The BPP is not the only salvation of the Parsi community!” Shroff added.
In his summing up and vote of thanks BPP trustee Dinshaw Tamboly spoke of the Punchayet as "probably the largest, oldest trust in the world.” Noting that the "profile of the community keeps changing — the census is a candid revelation of ground realities,” he described the fertility clinic program as the first step in a long journey.