Most God-fearing people in India?

Recent news based on some survey reveals that Telugu speaking people are most God-fearing people in India! I do not know when and how this census/survey was conducted. It is not an easy conclusion to arrive at because I find that many people I know across the country are very religious and God-fearing. I have an apprehension that this report is based mostly on the fact that thousands of Telugu pilgrims visit the Temple of Lord Sri Venkateshwara Swamy at Tirumala every day throughout the year and year after year. And this does not happen at any other Temple in India. However, this news is entirely correct from our family’s point of you as we are Telugu-people and God-fearing.

Other facts of the news seem very authentic and interesting as they are based on 2011 census and reported with statistics. Only 0.002 percent of Indians have declared themselves as atheists, that is only 33,304 people among a population of 1.21 billion. Interestingly, rural India has more atheists than urban areas; the figures being 22,828 and 10,476 respectively. Of the total atheists in the country, 17,597 are men and 15,707 are women. Among South Indian States, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have the lowest number of atheists. Out of 8.45 crore Telugu people, just 256 persons consider themselves atheists, 143 men and 113 women.

I do not know about atheists and their beliefs but I know that in general God-fearing people are civilized and loving people. The good news is that 97.6 percent of the world population is God-fearing.