UK Sikhs for separate ethnicity |
A campaign group has said that the Sikh community in the United Kingdom is on the verge of having a separate ethnic identification in the country`s 2021 census after thousands rejected `Indian` and chose `other` as an identifier in UK`s last population count in 2011. A series of representations and initiatives have been made by local Sikh groups in recent years to have a separate `Sikh` identity box in the census forms. But the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which is responsible for the census, told Hindustan Times that no decision has been taken yet. Population counts by ethnicity are crucial for various political, social, cultural and economic purposes, including distribution of government funds. Over 80,000 British Sikhs reportedly used `other` in the 2011 census to identify their ethnicity, and mentioned `Sikh` on the forms, instead of ticking the box that said `Indian`. Sikh Federation (UK) said 112 gurdwaras, with a membership of over 1 lakh people from across the UK, have told the ONS that they are in favour of the separate Sikh box which, it claimed, means “the ONS will certainly recommend to the cabinet office that a Sikh ethnic tick box must be included in the Census White Paper-2018”.
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