Malappuram in northern Kerala is the world’s fastest-growing city, in terms of the population growth, according to a study by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). All of the three Indian cities featured in top ten are in Kerala.
Malappuram saw its population rise by 44% between 2015 and 2020. Kozhikode ranks fourth on the global chart, while Kollam is tenth, with respective population growth figures of 35% and 31%.
As per official census 2011, the total population of Malappuram district is 4,112,920. Muslims constitute the majority of the population. Muslims constitutes 70.24% of Malappuram population. Hindus are the minority in Malappuram state forming 27.60% of the total population.
According to the report, the ranking, based on data collected by the United Nations Population Division, surprised many as Kerala’s population rate is the lowest in the country. While Kerala’s population growth average stood at 4.6 per cent, Malappuram’s population reportedly grew at 13.4 per cent.
The New Indian Express quoted Mark Doyle, editor (The World This Week and Letters) of The Economist,as saying that ranking is based on the data collected by United Nations Population Division “The percentage rate for fastest-growing cities in our Pocket World in Figures Book is taken by calculating the difference between the populations for 2015 and 2020 (for cities with at least 750,000 people).”
Meanwhile, Islamist-Communist media in the state spread fake news about the study on population growth, falsely projecting it as a study on economic growth. Misquoting the Economist study, they claimed that the ranking is all about the quality of life and development.
According to the census 2011, Kozhikode district has a Muslim population of 39.24% while Hindus form 57.7% of the total population.
According to the census, of the total of 88.7 lakh Muslims in the State in 2011, 63.8 lakh are in North Kerala and only about 25 lakh in South Kerala.
The alarming imbalance in the birthrate also signals the rapid shift in the state’s demography. When Hindus who constitute 51.73% of total population contribute 41.71% of the total childbirths, Muslims (29.56%) contribute to 43.00% of total childbirths. Based on statistical data, persons like former Kerala DGP TP Senkumar have already warned that Hindus would become a minority in the state within a few decades as the Muslim population would cross the 50% mark shortly.
With Malappuram turning out to be a Muslim-majority district of the state, Muslim League had called for another partition, demanding the formation of a new district partitioning Malappuram district. Muslim League raised the same issue for the second time in the Kerala assembly last year.
‘Inspired’ from the formation of Telangana, Malappuram district committee of the Muslim Youth League, the youth organisation of the Muslim League in 2013, had demanded for a separate ‘Malabar state’ with the capital in Kozhikode. The Youth League demanded the formation of a new state which will include 7 districts, right from Thrissur, along with the inclusion of Mahi and the Nilagiri district of Tamil Nadu. They claimed that the region has got ‘a separate cultural identity’, comparing to the other parts of the state.
