Jiyo Parsi Scheme

Why the scheme exists

• Jiyo Parsi is a Central scheme to arrest the fall in the Parsi population.
• The Ministry of Minority Affairs launched it in September 2013.
• Parsis are one of India’s six notified minority communities.

The population fall

• Parsis numbered about 1.14 lakh in 1941.
• The 2001 Census counted about 69,601.
• The 2011 Census counted just 57,264. That is a fall of roughly 18% in ten years.
• Experts link the fall to late marriage, many people staying unmarried, low birth rates and migration abroad.
• The Census method behind such figures is covered in Gender Gap in India.

Three components

• Medical Assistance: pays for infertility treatment, pregnancy, childbirth and post-natal care.
• Health of Community: pays for childcare and care of dependent elders.
• Advocacy: awareness campaigns, workshops and registration drives. It gives no direct money.

Income limits

Who runs it

• Until October 2022 the Parzor Foundation ran the scheme on the ground. Research support came from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
• The government then ended that partnership.
• Money now goes by DBT, through district collector-led committees.
• Parsis can apply, track the application and receive money through the scheme’s online portal.

Numbers so far

• Total spending since 2013 is ₹37.43 crore.
• 534 births have been reported since 2014-15.
• By 10 August 2026, Medical Assistance had 582 beneficiaries.
• Health of Community had 1,055. (Source: PIB, 10 August 2026)

Where the money goes

• In 2025-26, Health of Community received ₹2.93 crore.
• Medical Assistance got only ₹0.24 crore.
• This gap has held for at least three straight years.

How to judge it

• 534 births in about a decade is a real but modest dent.
• The community is under 60,000 people.
• The scheme aims to slow the decline, not reverse it.
• The data came from a Rajya Sabha reply by Kiren Rijiju on 10 August 2026.

Praise and criticism

• In favour: it targets a community facing real extinction risk and pays for care, not just treatment.
• Critics: eligibility is narrow and favours urban, well-off families.
• Critics: money alone does not change late marriage or migration.
• Critics: the scheme says little about the economically weaker or rural Parsis.

Related policy

• Compare it with India’s opposite national aim in population policy.
• Elder-care duties sit in the 2007 Senior Citizens Act.

Latest data

• A Rajya Sabha reply on 10 August 2026 gave the latest figures.
• It was routine oversight, not a new policy.
• Third-party evaluations rated the scheme as broadly meeting its targets, per that reply.