Economics Journal: What Drives an Indian Terrorist?

[Dance]

As terror once again strikes Mumbai, the questions raised will understandably focus on the intelligence and security angles of what may have gone wrong and what could be done in the future.

But, equally, we must investigate the roots of terrorism if we’re to be better prepared to defuse and combat it in the years ahead.

While investigations into the deadly blasts continue, the government has yet to state publicly whom they suspect. Nor has any group claimed responsibility.

However, analysts in India and abroad have suggested that the attacks carry some of the hallmarks of homegrown Islamist militants, possibly the Indian Mujahideen.

Let’s therefore take a minute to focus on this movement, not forgetting that Hindu extremist groups have also perpetrated acts of violence here.

If the Indian Mujahideen or a group like it, is indeed the culprit, we need to investigate whether they are reacting to socio-economic and other deprivations of the community they represent in addition to the political and religious causes that animate them.

The widely cited Sachar Committee report, released in 2006, documents that along a range of social indicators, Muslims are faring relatively poorly even compared to other disadvantaged groups. Muslims comprise 13.5% of India’s population on average.

A recent study by the Asian Development Bank reports that Muslims have among the highest incidence of poverty in India, just below Scheduled Caste Hindus and significantly worse than other religious minorities. For instance, in 2004-2005, the average poverty rate for all groups measured was 27.5%, but for Muslims it was 35.5%.

It’s frequently suggested that poverty and socio-economic deprivation are root causes of political violence. For instance, some scholars have argued that low economic growth is a cause of Hindu-Muslim communal violence in India.

In the context of India’s Maoist insurgency, activists such as Arundhati Roy have asserted strongly that it’s the marginalization of tribals that has fuelled the turn to violence, a position also taken in the recent landmark Supreme Court verdict declaring unconstitutional a paramilitary body in the state of Chhattisgarh.

Does a similar correlation hold true for Indian jihadist groups? Is there a relationship between the relatively poor socio-economic standing of Muslims in India and terrorist activities?

Some scholars have been hard pressed to find compelling statistical evidence of the correlation between poverty and terrorism.

In a much cited study, Princeton economist Alan Krueger does not find a statistically valid relationship between poverty or lack of education and the incidence of terrorism, using a variety of data sources. Instead, he finds some evidence that the absence of civil liberties may play a role. Strikingly, in the case of Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon and Palestinian terrorist groups, he finds that suicide bombers are on average better off and better educated than their communities.

However, it would be premature from this finding to conclude that socio-economic deprivation is not necessarily a driver of terrorism.

Almost by definition, the leaders of terrorist organizations will have greater expertise, education, resources and time to act as terrorists. This does not rule out the possibility that what motivated them in the first place were the actual or perceived grievances of their respective communities.

A recent study by political scientist James Piazza suggests that a more fine-grained statistical approach shows support for the idea that there is indeed a link between deprivation and terrorism. In particular, he finds that economic discrimination of minority groups is a key variable in helping to account for the pattern of terrorism worldwide.

While there’s certainly no official discrimination against Muslim participation in India’s economic activity, their relative underperformance as a group could well be construed by those sympathetic to this view that economic discrimination may be at work.

Still, for a country which has faced domestic terrorism for some time, there’s a surprising lack of detailed information on what drives these groups in India.

In particular, what is missing is an understanding of the membership and recruiting strategies of groups such as the Indian Mujahideen, as explained to me via email by security affairs specialist Christine Fair of Georgetown University, who has studied Islamic extremist groups in Pakistan and India. She told me that the Indian Mujahideen “seem adept at exploiting local grievances of Muslims of a variety of kinds,” including the Gujarat riots, but which could well include socio-economic factors.

But importantly, she adds these grievances are not just socio-economic but include the perception of anti-Muslim sentiment and rising Hindu nationalism, as also implied by the Sachar report.

Marginalization has a different context in the jungles of Chhattisgarh than it does in the shanty dwellings of Mumbai.

While a heightened military and security response is one facet of the state’s reaction, it is equally important that a full-fledged policy response address the roots of the underlying grievances in each of these cases that are exploited by the upper echelons of these groups.


Better security might or might not prevent or apprehend a would-be terrorist. The only sure way to forestall a terrorist being recruited in the first place is to understand and address the multiple grievances that are at play.

Economics Journal: What Drives an Indian Terrorist? - India Real Time - WSJ

 

[KKNDmx]

As terror once again strikes Mumbai, the questions raised will understandably focus on the intelligence and security angles of what may have gone wrong and what could be done in the future.

But, equally, we must investigate the roots of terrorism if we’re to be better prepared to defuse and combat it in the years ahead.

While investigations into the deadly blasts continue, the government has yet to state publicly whom they suspect. Nor has any group claimed responsibility.

However, analysts in India and abroad have suggested that the attacks carry some of the hallmarks of homegrown Islamist militants, possibly the Indian Mujahideen.

Let’s therefore take a minute to focus on this movement, not forgetting that Hindu extremist groups have also perpetrated acts of violence here.

If the Indian Mujahideen or a group like it, is indeed the culprit, we need to investigate whether they are reacting to socio-economic and other deprivations of the community they represent in addition to the political and religious causes that animate them.

The widely cited Sachar Committee report, released in 2006, documents that along a range of social indicators, Muslims are faring relatively poorly even compared to other disadvantaged groups. Muslims comprise 13.5% of India’s population on average.

A recent study by the Asian Development Bank reports that Muslims have among the highest incidence of poverty in India, just below Scheduled Caste Hindus and significantly worse than other religious minorities. For instance, in 2004-2005, the average poverty rate for all groups measured was 27.5%, but for Muslims it was 35.5%.

It’s frequently suggested that poverty and socio-economic deprivation are root causes of political violence. For instance, some scholars have argued that low economic growth is a cause of Hindu-Muslim communal violence in India.

In the context of India’s Maoist insurgency, activists such as Arundhati Roy have asserted strongly that it’s the marginalization of tribals that has fuelled the turn to violence, a position also taken in the recent landmark Supreme Court verdict declaring unconstitutional a paramilitary body in the state of Chhattisgarh.

Does a similar correlation hold true for Indian jihadist groups? Is there a relationship between the relatively poor socio-economic standing of Muslims in India and terrorist activities?

Some scholars have been hard pressed to find compelling statistical evidence of the correlation between poverty and terrorism.

In a much cited study, Princeton economist Alan Krueger does not find a statistically valid relationship between poverty or lack of education and the incidence of terrorism, using a variety of data sources. Instead, he finds some evidence that the absence of civil liberties may play a role. Strikingly, in the case of Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon and Palestinian terrorist groups, he finds that suicide bombers are on average better off and better educated than their communities.

However, it would be premature from this finding to conclude that socio-economic deprivation is not necessarily a driver of terrorism.

Almost by definition, the leaders of terrorist organizations will have greater expertise, education, resources and time to act as terrorists. This does not rule out the possibility that what motivated them in the first place were the actual or perceived grievances of their respective communities.

A recent study by political scientist James Piazza suggests that a more fine-grained statistical approach shows support for the idea that there is indeed a link between deprivation and terrorism. In particular, he finds that economic discrimination of minority groups is a key variable in helping to account for the pattern of terrorism worldwide.

While there’s certainly no official discrimination against Muslim participation in India’s economic activity, their relative underperformance as a group could well be construed by those sympathetic to this view that economic discrimination may be at work.

Still, for a country which has faced domestic terrorism for some time, there’s a surprising lack of detailed information on what drives these groups in India.

In particular, what is missing is an understanding of the membership and recruiting strategies of groups such as the Indian Mujahideen, as explained to me via email by security affairs specialist Christine Fair of Georgetown University, who has studied Islamic extremist groups in Pakistan and India. She told me that the Indian Mujahideen “seem adept at exploiting local grievances of Muslims of a variety of kinds,” including the Gujarat riots, but which could well include socio-economic factors.

But importantly, she adds these grievances are not just socio-economic but include the perception of anti-Muslim sentiment and rising Hindu nationalism, as also implied by the Sachar report.

Marginalization has a different context in the jungles of Chhattisgarh than it does in the shanty dwellings of Mumbai.

While a heightened military and security response is one facet of the state’s reaction, it is equally important that a full-fledged policy response address the roots of the underlying grievances in each of these cases that are exploited by the upper echelons of these groups.


Better security might or might not prevent or apprehend a would-be terrorist. The only sure way to forestall a terrorist being recruited in the first place is to understand and address the multiple grievances that are at play.

Economics Journal: What Drives an Indian Terrorist? - India Real Time - WSJ

The poverty rate amount the non-Muslims is equally high if not higher, but that doesn't mean they are all turning to insurgence to solve their grievances. Maybe there are something else as well, the perception among the Muslims that they are being mistreated contributed or escalated this matter as well.

 

[IndoCarib]

The poverty rate amount the non-Muslims is equally high if not higher, but that doesn't mean they are all turning to insurgence to solve their grievances. Maybe there are something else as well, the perception among the Muslims that they are being mistreated contributed or escalated this matter as well.

You are right. It would be preposterous to suggest that poverty drives Muslims to be terrorists. Agreed poverty rates among Muslims are high. And they cant blame any body else for it.. Shunning modern education, family planning and not joining the national mainstream is only going to make you economically deprived. But things are changing though. More and more Muslims in India becoming more aware, getting educated and you will find them almost any field.