Jain Gala Event - Saturday 27th February, 4pm - 5.15pm
After a 3-year campaign, we are quickly approaching Census Day on 21st March.
Our campaign has led us to petitions to Downing Street, speeches in the House of Commons, meeting with Cabinet Office Ministers and social media and press campaigns.
We believe that our goal of 50,000 Jains registered in the UK is in reach, and we are celebrating with a Gala Event on:
Saturday 27th February, 4pm - 5.15pm
During this event we will be joined by Spiritual heads of Jain organisations, including Acharyashri Chandanaji Maharaj, Pujya Bhaishree, Acharya Padmasagarji MS and and representatives of Acharya Vidhyasagarji M S and Acharya Shree MahaSramanji. We will also have the Jain All-Party Parliamentary Group, the Office of National Statistics that holds the Census, and heads from our UK Jain organisations.
Please circulate this to your community and let's get Jainism on the Census, and our community taken into consideration when health, education and other public services are being planned.
We look forward to a successful event!
With best wishes
Nemu Chandaria OBE
Chair - Board of Directors
Institute of Jainology
Choose OTHER
Select JAIN
The 2011 Census only captured 20,288 UK Jains. Today, we believe that there are an estimated 65,000 Jains in the UK.
The IOJ believes that the reason for this is twofold; firstly the lack of a Jain ‘tick box’ in the religion question of the census, requiring the selection of ‘Other’ and the word Jain to be written, and secondly the confusion that is caused as many Indians see the word ‘Hindu’ as culturally and geographically identifying them as ‘Indian’. (i.e from Hindustan).
In 2021, it is believed that 75% of the population will fill the census online, so it’s important for Jains to know how to identify themselves. Collecting inaccurate and incomplete data will mean that UK Jain communities cannot plan for community needs. This includes places of worship, birth and marriage rites. It may also mean that local policy and funding decisions are made by central and local government bodies, without taking Jains into account, even where they are a significant percentage of the population.
Examples of this include;
Inclusion of Jainism in school RE curriculum by LAs and school groups
Provision for Jains in NHS hospitals. This includes Jain diet, Jain chaplaincy and provision for those health conditions that are prominent in Jains.
Provision for crematoria, and also provision of Jain funeral rites in crematoria.
Needs for Housing Provision.
In BBC cultural programming and coverage.
Collateral
Our campaign to ensure all Jains identify themselves on the Census is called: Choose OTHER, Select JAIN. A simple description on how to answer Q16 which covers religion.
Short videos
Available in English and Gujarati
Census Engagement Managers and Community Advisors
CAMs and CA are available for your events and can speak in English, Gujarati and Hindi. they can answer questions about the Census, explain the procedures for completion and answer questions.