Open Forum

New Delhi, March 14, 2008

Muslim Community

NEED TO ADRESS BACKWARDNESS

By Dhurjati Mukherjee

Discrimination against the disadvantaged and weaker sections in society has been a serious problem in our country. Though the Constitution provides enough space and good reason to provide social equality, very little has been done. As a result there is growing disparity in society. Thus, it is imperative to evolve a plan of action for improving conditions for the poorer sections, specially those belonging to the minorities. 

It is in this context that the Rajinder Sachar committee report, released last year, has evoked much debate over the social, economic and educational status of Muslims for sometime now. While confirming the backwardness of the community, it has clearly pointed out that Muslims lag behind other religious groups on most development indicators. They were poorer,   illiterate, have access to fewer educational facilities and relatively under- represented in public and private sector jobs. Poverty has thus forced them to live in slums and similar type settlements in urban areas.

With the focus on providing equal opportunity, the report recommends measures such as the setting up of an Equal Opportunity Commission, increase of UGC grants to the community-run schools and colleges, reform of madrasas, their affiliation to higher education boards in States and enhanced participation in governance. The proposed Commission is to be patterned on UK’s Racial Opportunity Commission and is supposed to provide relief to individuals who suffer discrimination. Interestingly, the panel felt that both the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Minorities were not equipped to address the issue.

In effect, the report stressed the need for formulation of appropriate programmes to address the educational and economic backwardness of the community, a statement confirmed by the Prime Minister’s office. It is understood that the Government wanted to have a discussion on the report to evolve a national consensus to improve the conditions of the Muslims. This is necessary at this juncture as the problem is related to backwardness and, as such, incentives need to be given to the community.

The exclusion and marginalization of the Muslim community may be attributed to three compelling reasons. First, it is in the interest of every society to improve economic status of all disadvantaged groups. Second, it’s well-known that high economic growth and inclusion must go hand in hand and that the two cannot be sustained without all sections of society participating. Thirdly, it cannot be denied that this community has been kept out of the process of economic development.

Given the above scenario, the Union Budget has provided a whopping allocation of Rs 1,000 crores for a multi-pronged plan for improving education and entrepreneurship. A development plan for 90 minority concentration districts is in the pipeline worth Rs 3,700 crores of which Rs 540 crores would be for 2008-09. The Centre is also planning to introduce a pre-matric scholarship with Rs 80 crores and a scheme for modernizing madrassa education with Rs 45.45 crores. The corpus for Maulana Azad Education Foundation has been hiked to Rs 60 crores.

In the sphere of education, it is seen that even in urban areas the Muslim boys and girls prefer to go to madrassas, where the quality of education is poor and emphasis is on religious teaching. In comparison, missionary schools set up by the Christians have imparted high quality education despite religious teachings. Moreover, social taboos have prevented Muslim girls from going to schools and colleges, specially in rural areas. In sum, this has increased the backwardness of the community as well as halted its inability to keep pace in this competitive world.

What are the reasons for fewer Muslims going to school?  The reasons could be: schooling is more difficult for them. Over half of the Muslim children in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh speak Urdu. While all these States have number of Urdu-medium schools, results in school leaving examinations are dismal. In U.P. and Bihar, they do go to non-Urdu schools but here too standards are dismal. Besides, Muslim families follow occupations that don’t require education and find child labour valuable to fritter away in schools. And, finally there is a sense of discrimination in getting attractive jobs and the Sachar committee received much verbal evidence to this effect.

What is the government’s role to uplift the conditions of minorities? In the past, the government was firm --- backwardness has to be tackled in its totality and cannot be community specific. This is correct and should not be diluted unless really necessary. However, in recent times, the creation of a Ministry of Minority Affairs, the Prime Minister’s 15-pount programme for the welfare of the minorities and the reported decision to allocate 15 per cent in development schemes for minorities as also the present enhanced allocation in the Budget are important signals by the government of its  concern for the minorities.

The 15-point programme can be the basis for spreading education among the Muslims. But the involvement of the community would be vital in upgrading the quality of education in the madrassas. However, the Government has to provide scholarships, textbooks etc. to deserving boys and girls and/or those from the poorer sections within the Muslim community. A Sub-Plan for the socially and educationally backward minorities, better access to modern education and a drive to encourage recruitment in public institutions will help improve the conditions of Muslims in the long run.

Though the Sachar report has stopped short of recommending quota as the prescription for upgrading the conditions of the community, the question of reservation for dalit Muslims has been a long-standing demand that needs to be considered. However, occupation-based caste groups across religious spectrums presently fall in the OBC category. As Arif Mohammed Khan observed that since 1991, OBCs covered under the Mandal Commission “constitutes about 70 per cent of the Muslim population”. The figures produced by the Sachar committee prove that despite reservation available in this (OBC) category, things have not improved for the community. The remedy lies in compulsory universal education for every Indian child, including Muslims. “Modern education will help in not only correcting the present imbalances but will liberate Muslims from obscurantist clergy and communal politics”, Arif has rightly pointed out.     

Regarding employment opportunities, the Sachar report found that Muslims presence in the Government as also the private sector was found to be dismal. It has suggested the need “to sensitize the private sector to go ahead with positive discrimination or positive action” to recruit Muslims more widely and the Finance Minister has assured that “more candidates from minorities will be recruited in CRPF”.

But apart from all these, there is need to generate more social awareness among the Muslim community and this can only become possible through involvement of the educated sections within the community. There is need to restraint Muslim religious leaders who should instead concentrate more on spreading education than on inculcating religious ideas, some of which have lost their significance and value in this age of globalization.

An important suggestion has been that the government should put the money it spends on Haj into modernization and diversification of industries the Muslims are specializing in i.e. fabric, leather, tobacco, auto repair etc. However, it is also important that Muslims must not be looked upon with suspicion by certain sections of society and public institutions but integrated into the mainstream of life and activity.

In implementing the Sachar proposals, the ‘Kerala model’, including the community-based quota in state government jobs is a case worth considering. The progressive political social role played by some Muslim groups, specially the Indian Muslim League (IUML) in Kerala, deserves attention.  The IUML, part of most coalition governments in the state till 1980 when Left, unrealistically branded it a communal party, has shown administrative and political vision to ensure all-round benefits for the community while ensuring that the community remained within the moderate democratic mainstream. Perhaps others could learn from the above--- INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)