Rayomand Coins
 

Listing or listless?

Community directories are important archives. They record the demographic history of a people at a particular time and place, their areas of residence, the evolving means of communications (telegram, telexes, fax machines, landlines, emails, mobiles, etc). For an aging, shrinking community like the Parsis, these listings are of paramount importance. The census bureau and other government bodies do not always disclose vital population details. For example, the census bureau has not made public the 2011 figures for the Parsi population of Bombay. The statistics for 2001 showed 46,557. Our guess is the Bombay figure today, 19 years later, must......



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I commented on the Surat Directory article before I read your editorial and agree with your conclusions. When vital demographic information is collected there is a need to delve deeper. The headline grabbed my attention. "Surat population down five percent - The 2019 Surat directory shows an aging, declining yet vibrant community." And I asked the question: Is it the usual simple arithmetic of numbers deceased being greater than numbers born? Or is there a more complex algebraic equation behind the decline? Did some young persons migrate to pursue education or employment? Did some women marry and migrate? Did some women marry non-Parsis and were dropped from the count? The ability to analyze demographics at that level will help us to understand and address all factors impacting the declining of the Parsi population.
- Yezdyar Kaoosji
- 21-Oct-2019

 

Villoo Poonawalla