LONDON, UK—Keeping in view the rejection by 83,000 Sikhs to tick their ethnicity among the available ones in the 2011 consensus form, the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) is deliberating to include Sikhism as a distinct ethnicity on the 2021 consensus form. It is learnt that 112 Gurdwara committees of the UK have backed the move, but the ONS is hesitant in moving ahead due to uncertainty about its public acceptability as approximately 4,30,000 Sikhs are living in the UK.
It is pertinent to note here that in the most recent census in 2011, more than 83,000 Sikhs had refused to tick any of the choices in the question on ethnicity, rejecting options such as an Indian in order to write “Sikh” in the space for “any other ethnic group”.
Preet Gill, the first female Sikh MP and chairwoman of the all-party group, said: “Overwhelmingly they have said yes. Not a single Gurdwara has opposed it.” It is understood that the ONS was likely to back the move if it received backing from more than 60 per cent of the Gurdwaras that responded.
Bhai Amrik Singh, chairman of the Sikh Federation, said: “The final ONS test was one of public acceptability and our main religious institutions have spoken with one voice with 100 per cent backing for a separate Sikh ethnic tick box. The ONS will now have to recommend a Sikh ethnic tick box in the census white paper later this year.”
The ONS is also considering an ethnic option for Jewish, Roma and Somali Britons. A spokesman said no decision would be announced until a government white paper is published later this year.
However, the move may lack universal backing. The ONS consulted a range of Sikh groups last year and some of them had noted: “Being Sikh is a choice, not something you belong to at birth”, adding that not all Sikhs are from the same, largely Punjabi background, as “there are white and African Sikhs”.
