Jiyo Parsi is a government-supported scheme that began in 2013 to minimize the decline of population among Parsis in India. It involves promoting family planning, giving financial assistance for infertility treatments, and conducting awareness campaigns. The preservation of the culture and demographic heritage of this small Zoroastrian community is the goal.
About Jiyo Parsi Scheme
- The Jiyo Parsi Scheme, started by the Ministry of Minority Affairs and The Parzor Foundation in 2013, came into being to check the dwindling population of the Parsi community in India.
- In this endeavor, the preservation of the unique cultural and demographic heritage of this Zoroastrian minority group is aimed..
- This scheme functions through two major components, namely the Advocacy Component and the Medical Assistance Component.
- The Advocacy Component creates awareness about the advantages of having a large family and tries to address social and cultural inhibitions associated with families of large size.
- The Medical Assistance Component provides financial assistance to couples for infertility treatment, including IVF, counseling, and health support to couples facing reproductive challenges in the Parsi community.
- With efforts to encourage early marriages and reduce the population of late pregnancies, alongside support to parents, the Jiyo Parsi Scheme has been able to reverse the trends of population decline and maintain a vibrant cultural legacy for the Parsis.
Features of the Jiyo Parsi Scheme
- Financial Assistance: To support infertility treatments, including IVF, in the hope that children are born.
- Advocacy and Counseling: Provides family counseling to deal with societal pressures to encourage larger families.
- Awareness Campaigns: Promotes awareness of the need for population growth within the community.
- Reimbursement: Provides reimbursement of medical and diagnostic expenses to eligible couples.
- Focus Areas: It restrains itself to the Parsi-Zoroastrian community in India, as they confront the scare of population decline.
Objectives of Jiyo Parsi Scheme
The objectives of the Jiyo Parsi Scheme are:
- Population Arrest: To enhance the population of the Parsi community to check its dwindling numbers.
- Support for Infertility Treatment: Granting financial assistance for medical interventions such as IVF.
- Early Marriage and Child-raising: Promotion of the institution of early marriage and large families within the community.
- Awareness Creation: Raising socio-cultural barriers against fertility treatment and family growth through campaign activities.
- Culture Conservation: Conservation of the unique cultural identity and heritage of the community.
Significance of Jiyo Parsi Scheme
- Since the Parsi community is possessed of a rich cultural heritage, with sociocultural-economic contribution to the nation, jiyo Parsi scheme holds much significance as it tackles the unhealthy decrease in the population of Parsis in India.
- From late marriages to low fertility rates, migration, and even a preference for small families-lots of reasons have caused an abrupt decrease in the population of Parsis, followers of Zoroastrianism.
- From well over 100,000 Parsis in 1941, to less than 60,000 at present, this demographic catastrophe is threatening the very existence of the community.
- This scheme was started in 2013 by the Ministry of Minority Affairs in cooperation with the Parzor Foundation to counter this trend.
- Monetary assistance is given to treat infertility by way of IVF and conduct counseling of couples on early marriage and larger families.
- The scheme aims to give psychological and economic reasoning to remove cultural barriers in order to promote positive thinking toward family building within the community.
- The low birth rate, migration, and preference for smaller families have traditionally contributed to the population decline of Parsis in India.
- In 1941, at the dawn of population reckoning, Parsis were well over one lakh, and in recent years, their invincible decline to less than 60,000 is threatening the very existence of the community.
- Parsi In Vitro Fertilization and Research Foundation (Parzor) has worked with the Ministry of Minority Affairs since 2013 to establish the Jiyo Parsi scheme directed at reversing this death sentence.
- The scheme offers financial aid for infertility treatments including IVF and counseling of couples for early marriages and larger family sizes.
- By confronting social taboos, psychological hesitations, and economic barriers, the scheme promotes a beneficial view of family growth within the community.
- Beyond population growth, the scheme has broader cultural and social implications. The Parsis have made significant contributions to fields like business (e.g., Tata, Godrej), arts, education, and philanthropy. Preserving their population ensures the continuation of this legacy and sustains their unique traditions, festivals, and values that enrich India’s cultural diversity.
- Since its inception, the scheme has shown encouraging results, with hundreds of births directly attributed to its interventions.
- Its success demonstrates the potential of targeted policies in addressing demographic challenges faced by minority communities.
- The Jiyo Parsi Scheme is not just about increasing numbers but preserving a community’s essence, ensuring its active participation in India’s progress while safeguarding its distinct identity for future generations.
Lacunae of Jiyo Parsi Scheme
- Though and by all intents and purposes, the Jiyo Parsi Scheme has lacunae that render it ineffective in stemming the decline of the Parsi population in India.
- One of the great challenges has to do with cultural resistance within the community. Many Parsis are traditional in their thinking about marriage, family size, and interfaith unions.
- The emphasis on late marriages and small families and on refusal to accept interfaith children as Parsis all somewhat limit the scheme.
- While financial and medical help is available for infertility treatments, the scheme does nothing to deal with the underlying social attitudes and stigmas.
- Another limitation is the eligibility criteria set out too narrowly. The scheme aims at the urban and economically well off Parsis and ignores those in rural areas or belonging to economically weaker sections.
- Such a selectiveness just ends up discriminating against and denying the possibility to those who could become active contributors to the development of the community.
- The scheme also focuses heavily on infertility treatments, such as In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF), but provides limited emphasis on broader measures like encouraging early marriages, community-wide social reforms, or education about modern family-building methods.
- Additionally, the high cost and limited success rate of treatments like IVF can discourage participation.
- A lack of comprehensive outreach and promotion further restricts its success.
- Many Parsis remain unaware of the scheme’s benefits or face difficulties in accessing these due to bureaucratic challenges.
- Lastly, the scheme does not adequately address the inclusion of interfaith marriages and their offspring, which could significantly bolster the community’s numbers. Conservative norms that exclude children of interfaith unions perpetuate the decline.
- To make Jiyo Parsi more effective, it is essential to expand eligibility criteria, focus on changing cultural mindsets, promote inclusion, and improve accessibility.
- Addressing these lacunae would ensure the scheme becomes a more holistic and impactful initiative for reviving the Parsi population.
The key pointers of the Jiyo Parsi Scheme for UPSC CSE Prelims
- Launch Year: Introduced in the year 2013 by the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
- Objective: To increase the shrinking Parsi population in India.
- Target Group: The Parsi Zoroastrian community.
- Components: Advocacy, aid for infertility treatments, and awareness programs.
- Implementation: To be implemented by the Parzor Foundation and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).
- Focus Areas: Infertility treatments, couple health, and promotion of early marriages.
- Significance: Resolves demographic challenges of the Parsi community, which have a great bearing on the preservation of their cultural heritage.
Way forward
The way forward for the Jiyo Parsi Scheme lies in creating more awareness about its benefits, increasing fertility-related treatments, and extending further financial incentives. Efforts should also be made to include community outreach, promote married life within the community, and foster social support systems in an attempt to reverse the dwindling situation and maintain Parsi heritage.
Conclusion
With financial assistance, awareness programs, and reproductive health support, the Jiyo Parsi scheme has been a strong step toward restoring the population of the Parsi community. Challenges might still remain, but the ongoing initiative underscores the intent of securing the Parsi legacy and the future growth and cultural identity of this community in India.
