Conclusion
Religion is an important component of human society. Tribes are not an exception to it, though the majority of the population may not know its name till they have a religon. Each tribal community holds its religion in high respect and admiration.
Each tribe wants to be identified in terms of its religion. In the decadal Censuses, the respondents have full liberty to record their religion as and what they wish to and the enumerators are directed to record as it is. As tribes could not name their religion in earlier Censuses, enumeration became problematic. So, their religions have been clubbed under different names and headings. In the Census Report of 1891 J. A. Baines, the then Commissioner for Census of India, classified some groups of people as ‘Forest Tribes’ under the sub-heading of ‘Agricultural and Pastoral Castes’. In the 1901 Census, Sir Herbert Hope Risley classified them as ‘Animists’. In 1911 E. Gait further classified them as ‘Tribal Animists’ or people following ‘Tribal Religion’. J.H. Hutton (1931) categorised them as ‘Hill and Forest Tribes’ and again in 1941 Census the heading ‘Tribal Religion’ has been changed to ‘Tribes’ only. In all these censuses, the word tribe has not been defined. After independence, in the Census of 1951, the population has been classified by religions, namely, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Jews, and Other Religions - Tribal and Non-Tribal. In the 1961 Census, figures of other religions which were numerically less important have been grouped in ‘Other Religions and Persuasions’ (ORP) category. The faiths in animism are clubbed under this category. In the 2011 Census the same procedure has been followed.The population by Tribal Religion in Different Census years has not been identical; there have been a lot of changes in it. If we observe the growth rate in the different censuses, it has been shown that the figures have decreased from 44 per cent in the 1891 Census by 7.5 per cent in the 1901 Census. Similarly the population under tribal religion has decreased in 1921 (-5.05 per cent) and 1931 (-15.28 per cent).
It is very interesting to look at the growth rate of the 1941 Census; there is an increase of 207 per cent in the tribal population by religion. In the first Census of independent India in 1951, again 80.4 per cent of tribal religion population decreased. The percentage of tribal religion population also deceased in the 1961 (-74.31 per cent) census. In the 1971 census annual growth rate was 59.62 per cent; in 1981 it was 24.99 per cent; in 1991 it was 15.2 per cent; in 2001 it was 117.46 per cent and in 2011 the growth rate was found 21.66 per cent.Lastly, in each and every census there is a change in the type of professing tribal beliefs and persuasions. Sometimes, even completely new tribal religions are found. As a result, the numbers of tribal religions keep increasing and decreasing in every census. As per the procedure followed during the census, the enumerators have been instructed to record the religion of each member of the household as per the answer given by the respondents to the question. In the case of other religions, the enumerators are instructed to write the full name of the religion indicated by each respondent. ‘Other Religions and Persuasion’ (ORP) is the category under which the innumerable tribal religions, beliefs, and persuasion (among a few others) reported by the respondents during the census work are classified and published in the Appendix Table of Religions. It is obvious, recording tribal religion in censuses is yet problematic. This has become a cause of asserting religious identities by communities in recent years.
10.4
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