Only 33,000 of us? Atheists cannot believe the census count
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INDIANS WARY OF IDENTIFYING THEMSELVES AS ATHEISTS IN FORMS A good number of active atheists believe the low numbers may be a result of lack of awareness about what can and cannot be said in
the Census form. “Many Indians are not aware that they have an option to say ‘no caste’ or ‘no religion’,” says Vijayam, whose father founded the Atheist Centre that has fought many battles
on behalf of those who wrote ‘nil’ in caste and religion columns of various government forms. Veerapandian concurs, but adds that it is up to atheists and rationalists to power change - the
matter hardly being a priority for the government. “It should be made known to people, and organisations like ours will have to do that before the 2021 Census.” In fact, many atheists and
rationalists want the government to entirely remove the caste and religion columns from not only the Census forms, but all forms.