06/30/2019 India (International Christian Concern) – India’s Minister of Minority Affairs presented data proving that the unemployment rate among Christian men is lower compared to other religions. The information was delivered on Thursday at the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s bicameral Parliament.
Mukhtar Abas Naqvi, the Minister of Minority Affairs, was responding to a question asked by an opposition party member. The data revealed that 6.9% of Christian men in rural communities were unemployed and in urban areas, 8.8% of Christian men were unemployed. These figures compared terribly with men in other religious groups.
For example, Hindu men in rural communities have an unemployment rate of 5.7%, 6.7% among Muslim men, and 6.4% among Sikh men. The same trend was observed for women where the rate of unemployment among women in urban areas was markedly more with 10% of Hindu women unemployed.
Religious persecution in India rears its head in many forms. Since the re-election of the Hindu-nationalist party, the BJP, it is evident that violent attacks against Christians have increased. The structural, discrimination and marginalization of Christians and other religious minority groups though subtler, continues to be a problem.
