The per-household religious contribution of Christians is the highest among all communities, as per data from the 72nd round of National Sample Survey (NSS) on Household Expenditure on Services and Durable Goods.
After Christians, it is the Sikhs followed by Muslims who contribute more to charity. But in absolute terms, Hindus contributed maximum in 2014-15, thanks to larger population, according to National Sample Survey data.
The data were recently extracted from the NSS’ raw findings by a team of researchers led by Sabir Ahamed of the Pratichi Institute and Zakaria Siddiqui, research assistant at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Austra-lian National University. The 72nd round was conducted in 2014-15, but could be accessed only in late 2016.
Religious contributions are divided under two heads: the contribution to institutions is ‘charity’ and the non-charitable part is under ‘priests and rituals.’ Hindus contribute 82 per house-hold per month to charities and 92 to the priests, while Muslims give 126 and 54 to charities and Maulanas respectively.
Contributions multiplied by each surveyed household of Hindus in the country indicates that the community contributes 15,600 crore to priests and charities. The actual contribution of Muslims is 2,580 crore.
