The Congress has been batting for the caste census for quite some time now. Their leader Rahul Gandhi time and again has emphasized the party’s commitment to conducting a caste census if elected, aiming to abolish the 50% cap on reservations. In the recently released election manifesto of the Congress, the party called it necessary to understand the socio-economic conditions of the marginalized.
But this constant push for the caste census by the Congress raises serious doubts. An organisation named Joshua Project caught our attention.
What Is The Joshua Project?
It is supposedly a “research initiative” to identify how many people across the world are not followers of Christ (Christians). Is Rahul Gandhi’s proposed caste census aligned with the goals of the Joshua Project, an initiative linked to the Vatican aimed at converting non-Christian populations in India to Christianity? The Joshua Project seeks to compile data on various ethnic groups to facilitate conversion efforts. Concerns have been raised that data collected during the caste census could potentially be utilized by Christian missionaries operating under the Joshua Project to strategize conversion efforts.
Their website states “Joshua Project is a research initiative seeking to highlight the people groups of the world with the fewest followers of Christ. Accurate, updated people group information is critical for understanding and completing the Great Commission. Revelation 5:9 and 7:9-10 show that there will be some from every tribe, tongue, nation and people before the Throne. Joshua Project seeks to answer the questions that result from the Great Commission’s call to make disciples among every nation or people group. Who are the people groups of the world? Which ones still need initial church-planting in their midst? How can we pray for them? What ministry resources are available to reach the least-reached?”
This organization, headquartered in the United States, focuses on Christian missions. Their website serves as a database containing information about ethnic groups worldwide who have not yet embraced Christianity.
Here is what their global dashboard looks like – it gives an overview of the number of groups across the world, by region, continent, and religious affiliation. Looking at the population numbers on this website, it seems as if the data has been updated till 2023.
They meticulously document various details including caste, language, creed, population size, and more. Additionally, they track the progress of missionary groups, noting how many ethnic groups have been reached, how many remain unreached, and the population statistics of both reached and unreached groups. The level of information is so detailed that it can be narrowed down to a country, encompassing every sect, subsect, and ethnic group within each region, ranging from states and cities to towns and villages. The data is incredibly comprehensive, capturing even the minutest details.
The website provides prayer resources, and vision resources akin to those found on typical missionary websites. The website also provides maps highlighting unreached people groups, often referred to as Frontier People Groups. These groups, as described on their website, typically consist of Muslim populations resistant to conversion. You can read more here.
They also have a dedicated website for reaching the “unreached” at http://alliancefortheunreached.org. The website provides details such as guides and fact sheets to share with these “unreached populations” (to those interested), providing resources to facilitate engagement and outreach efforts.
Where Does India Stand In This “Project”?
Regarding the specifics of India, you can find detailed information on the Joshua Project website here. It’s unclear if these figures are from 2023 or earlier, as there’s a note at the bottom indicating that the data is sourced from the latest Indian census. But going by the data on their global dashboard which coincided with 2023 data. The areas marked in red on the map indicate “low progress”.
When we zoom in on India, the data on the Joshua Project website is categorized into various segments such as people groups, states, communities, and religions. Exploring further into a specific state like Tamil Nadu reveals a wealth of information. The sheer number of people groups listed is staggering, something a layman will not know or have access to such information.
Within this section, there are listings for various people groups, and the sheer volume is astounding. Many of these groups were previously unknown to me, comprising around three-fourths of the total. It’s conceivable that this extensive dataset was compiled from census data, offering insights into the multitude of diverse groups within the region. Here is just one part of these people groups.
If we take an example of this group called “Brahmin Christians” – as weird as it sounds, these people were Hindus, Brahmins at that who had converted to Christianity. Here are the details of this group.
Similarly, there are multiple groups within a state and details of how this specific group is spread across the country with numbers in each state, what languages this group speaks, etc. There are “resources” on this page as well.
What has been produced here is just a very small part of the details available on the website. If we dig deeper, finer details will emerge for every region.
However, the way Rahul Gandhi and the Congress are pushing for the caste census makes one wonder if they are actually trying to help this “research initiative” in some way.
If the Congress/I.N.D.I Alliance comes to power, it seems likely that they will conduct the caste census using taxpayer funds effectively supporting the goals of the Joshua Project, particularly in a country like India, where conversion efforts have faced challenges in recent years, especially in the Modi tenure.
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