Articles by Patricia Jeffery

?Saffron Demography? has been instrumental in perpetuating myths relating to claimed differences between Hindu and Muslim populations. This paper examines this by now ?common wisdom? in the light of contemporary demographic reality in India. Based on extensive research in a western Uttar Pradesh district, it argues that the scale of Hindu-Muslim demographic differences has been exaggerated, and that the explanations provided for these differences are equally pernicious. Instead, it attempts an understanding of these ?causes? leading to differences in fertility through an analysis of the kind of governmentality seen in post-independence India and argues for new policy initiatives that avoid the punitive victim-blaming approach that has thus far been the norm.

The recent contribution by Moulasha and Rama Rao (1999) to the debate on the relationships between religion, fertility and family planning, uses National Family Health Survey data in misleading ways. By failing to consider regional patterns in the distribution of Hindus and Muslims they exaggerate the role of religious group membership in understanding fertility differences. They give spurious credence to arguments that suggest that Islam in some way encourages higher fertility, they fail to consider issues of risk and uncertainty faced by religious minorities, and they come to unwarranted policy conclusions. In order to understand inter-religious fertility differences, analyses must be based on the understanding of specific social, economic and political contexts.