| As of 2005 Bangalore had a population
of over six million, making it the 3rd most populous city
in India and the 27th largest city in the world by population.
With a decadal growth rate of 38%, Bangalore was the fastest-growing
Indian metropolis after New Delhi for the decade 1991–2001.
Residents of Bangalore are referred to as Bangaloreans.
While Kannadigas accounted for 38% of the population,
sizable minorities from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh
and Maharashtra exist. Scheduled Castes and Tribes account
for 14.3% of the city's population. Kannada, the official
language of the state of Karnataka, is widely spoken in
Bangalore, as are Tamil, Telugu, Tulu, Malayalam and Hindi.
English is the lingua franca of the city's white-collar
workforce. According to the 2001 census of India, 79.37%
of Bangalore's population is Hindu — roughly the
same as the national average. Muslims comprise 13.37%
of the population, which again is roughly the same as
the national average, while Christians and Jains account
for 5.79% and 1.05% of the population, respectively,
double that of their national averages. Women make up
47.5% of Bangalore's population. Bangalore has the second
highest literacy rate (83%) for an Indian metropolis,
after Mumbai. The city's workforce structure is predominantly
non-agrarian, with only 6% of Bangalore's workforce
being engaged in agriculture-related activities. Roughly
10% of Bangalore's population lives in slums—
a relatively low proportion when compared to other cities
in the developing world such as Mumbai (43%) and Nairobi
(60%). The 2004 National Crime Records Bureau statistics
indicate that Bangalore accounts for 9.2% of the total
crimes reported from 35 major cities in India. Delhi
and Mumbai accounted for 15.7% and 9.5% respectively.
Communal tensions between the city's two largest ethnic
groups, the Kannadigas and the Tamils, have led to numerous
altercations. In early 1991, tensions between the two
groups flared up with the proposed installation of a
statue honouring the Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar in the
city. Widespread agitation and protests organised by
groups sympathetic to Kannadigas led the Commissioner
of the Bangalore City Corporation to withdraw permission
to unveil the statue, which remains wrapped under cloth.Later
the same year, the Karnataka Government, acting upon
the directives of the Government of India, agreed to
release 205 tmc of water from the river Kaveri to the
Government of Tamil Nadu, which resulted in anti-Tamil
riots that left 20 people dead.After the demolition
of the Babri Masjid in the North Indian city of Ayodhya
in 1992, communal violence between Hindus and Muslims
spread to Bangalore during which Muslim houses and huts
as well as an Arabic school for Muslim girls were raided
and torched. In 1997 the demolition of a stone structure
in a mosque in Jayanagar led to violence in sensitive
areas in the city that left four dead. In January 2007,
a minor communal tension broke out in the area of Shivaji
Nagar in Eastern Bangalore, leading in to Police firing
which resulted in the death of a 11 year old boy.
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