The condition of Indian Muslims in the light of the
Chief Justice Rajindar Sachar Committee Report
Posted on 24 September 2011.
In a rare moment of integrity and honestly the Indian government actually commissioned a very senior member of the Bharati judiciary to investigate the condition of Indian Muslims in Bharat. After much ado the seven-member Sachar committee Report, was headed by former Delhi High Court Chief Justice Rajindar Sachar. The other six other members Shri Sayyid Hamid, Dr T.K. Ooman, Shri M.A. Basith, Dr Akhtar Majeed, Dr Abu Saleh Shariff and Dr Rakesh Basant.
The study commissioned by Bharati Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh in March 2005, gathers dust on the bookshelf of the Indian Lok Sabha where it was presented on 30 November 2006. Various efforts to implement the recommendations of the Sacahr report languish in the corridors of power in Delhi. The Sachar report reveals the appalling state of 150 million to 180 million Muslims in India.
It clearly dispalys that in the socio-economic and educational fields the Muslims lack behind because of blatant discrimination. It concluded that the status of Indian Muslims is worse-off than the Dalits and the Adivasis (tribals). In urban areas, the report shows that Muslims mostly live in slums characterized by poor municipal infrastructure. In the rural area they eek out a subsistence level living at par or below with Sub-Saharan Africa.
The salient features of the Sachar Committee report are:
Like Slumdog’s protagonist, 94.9 per cent of Muslims are in Below Poverty Line (BPL); families in rural areas do not receive free food grains.
While only 3.2 per cent of Muslims get subsidized loans, just 1.9 per cent of the community benefit from the Antyodaya Anna Yojana Scheme, a programme meant to prevent starvation among the poorest of poor by providing food grains at a subsidized rate.
60.2 per cent of Muslims do not have any land in rural areas.
Just 2.1 per cent of Muslim farmers have tractors. With 15,25,000 tractors, India ranks No.4 after US, Japan and Italy
A mere 1 per cent own hand pumps.
On the educational front, the picture is equally dismal: 54.6 per cent Muslims in villages and 60 per cent in urban areas have never attended schools.
Only 0.8 per cent of Muslims in rural areas are graduates.
Although in urban areas, nearly 40 per cent of the Muslims now receive modern education, only 3.1 per cent of the community in urban areas is graduates. Just 1.2 per cent is post-graduates.
Muslim population growth has slowed down as fertility has declined substantially; the growth rate for Muslims is bound to fall further and eventually reach a zero growth stage well before the end of the century.
Muslims are altogether excluded from “sensitive” posts such as jobs in the intelligence agencies, especially the external-espionage Research & Analysis Wing, the National Security Guard and other elite protection forces. Their presence in the top national police and paramilitary agencies is nominal.
However, there is one place where Muslims are over-represented: prisons. Muslims claim a grossly disproportionate share of prisoners, including convicts and those undergoing trials.
The Sachar study, revealed that there was extreme prejudice in Bharat against all minorities, but especially against Muslims. It pointed out that being dressed as a Muslim was enough to create extreme suspicion. In Delhi DWB (Driving while black) is a major offense. In Bharat Muslim men wearing a beard and a ‘topi’ [skull cap] are often picked up by police for interrogation from public places like parks, railway stations and markets. It is worse for women. Muslim women wearing an Islamic scarf or Muslim veil or full-body burqa complained of facing hostility at markets, hospitals, and schools and found it hard to get a job.
UP has the largest Muslim population in India with 22% of India’s muslims living there . The majority of the Muslims in India are living in four states UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Maharashtra which had atleast ten million Muslims each.
The report says that of the 593 districts in India only 20 had a Muslim majority. Of them 9 are predominantly Muslim, i.e., with over 75% Muslim population; these include Lakshadweep and eight districts in Jammu & Kashmir.
The other 11 districts have between 50 to 75% Muslim population.These districts are six from Assam, two from J&K, and one each from WB, Bihar and Kerala. Numerically about 13% of India’s Muslims i.e., nearly 18 Million people lived in these districts.
A further 38 districts had a significant Muslim population of between 25% to 50%. These were distributed in a number of states as follows. UP- 12, WB- 5, Kerala- 5, Assam- 4, Bihar- 3, Jharkhand- 2, Delhi- 2, and one each in AP, Haryana, J&K, Uttaranchal and Pondicherry. Numerically these districts accounted for 22% of the Muslim population i.e., around 30 Million people.
In about 182 districts the Muslim population was between 10 to 25% of the population. These districts accounted for nearly 47% of the Muslim Population ie., around 65 Million people.
So of the 593 districts in India, 240 districts with a significant Muslim population of atleast 10% and above have nearly 82% of India’s Muslim population, i.e., nearly 113 Million people.
On Literacy amongst Muslims -
25 per cent of Muslim children in the 6-14 year age group have either never attended school or have dropped out.
Drop out rates among Muslims are higher at the level of primary, middle and higher secondary.
The Committee observed that since artisanship is a dominant activity among Muslims technical training should be provided to even those who may not have completed schooling.
In premier colleges only one out of 25 under-graduate students and one out of 50 post-graduate students is a Muslim.
On Employment
Unemployment rate among Muslim graduates is the highest among all socio-religious communities.
On Madrasa – The myth broken: Only 3% of Muslim children among the school going age go to Madarsas.
There is dearth of facilities for teaching Urdu.
Education of Muslim Girls -
Access to government schools for Muslim children is limited.
There is non-availability of schools within easy reach for girls at lower levels.
Absence of girls hostels and female teachers are also impeding factors.
Observations which could help Muslims
The schedule castes and schedule tribes have definitely reaped the advantages of targeted government and private action supporting their educational progress.
The sharper focus on school education combined with more opportunities in higher education for Muslims seems desirable.
Moreover, skill development initiatives for those who have not completed school education may also be particularly relevant for some sections of Muslims given their occupational structure.
Bidi workers, tailors and mechanics need to be provided with social safety nets and social security.
The participation of Muslims in the professional and managerial cadre is low.
Muslim regular workers are the most vulnerable with no written contract and social security benefits. Muslim regular workers get lower daily earnings in both public and private jobs compared to other socio-religious communities.
.Since a large number of Muslim workers are engaged in self-employment, skill development and credit related initiatives need to be tailored for such groups.
On Banks and Muslims -
The average amount of bank loan disbursed to the Muslims is 2/3 of the amount disbursed to other minorities. In some cases it is half.
The Reserve Bank of India’s efforts to extend banking and credit facilities under the Prime Minister’s 15-point programme of 1983 has mainly benefited other minorities marginalizing Muslims. Muslim community is not averse to banking and more improvements can be brought about with specific measures.
Some banks have identified a number of Muslim concentration areas as negative geographical zones where bank credit and other facilities are not easily provided. Steps should be introduced to specifically direct credit to Muslims, create awareness of various credit schemes and bring transparency in reporting of information.
Mortality-
The report says that the Muslim child mortality in both indicators i.e., IMR(Infant mortality rate) and U5MR (Under five mortality rate) is lower than the average of the overall population.
Muslims and Basic Infrastructure Facilities -
The concentration of Muslims in states lacking infrastructural facilities implies that a large proportion of the community is without access to basic services.
In both urban and rural areas, the proportion of Muslim households living in pucca houses is lower than the total population.
Compared to the Muslim majority areas, the areas inhabiting fewer Muslims had better roads, sewage and drainage and water supply facilities.
Substantially larger proportion of the Muslim households in urban areas are in the less than Rs.500 expenditure bracket.
Muslims in Government Services
The presence of Muslims has been found to be only 3% in the IAS, 1.8% in the IFS and 4% in the IPS.
The share of Muslims in employment in various departments is abysmally low at all levels.
Muslim community has a representation of only 4.5% in Indian Railways while 98.7% of them are positioned at lower levels.
Representation of Muslims is very low in the Universities and in Banks. In no state does the representation of Muslims in the government departments match their population share.
Their share in police constables is only 6%, in health – 4.4%, in transport – 6.5%.
Army and Security Agencies:
A ‘very small’ proportion of government/public sector employees are Muslims, concentrated in lower level positions.
The number of Muslims in security agencies was 3.2 per cent — 60,517 out of the total of 18,79,134 in CRPF, CISF, BSF, SSB and ‘other agencies’
The number of Muslims in the Indian Army is minuscule and the Army wont discuss the numbers because they are so embarrassingly low.
The panel recommended that it may be desirable to have minority persons on interview panels. This can be done on the lines of SC/ST participation in panels
No Democracy for Muslims:
Muslim participation in electoral bodies is known to be small, the report said of the 543 Lok Sabha members, only 33 are Muslims.
Constitutional Rights for the Muslims -
The Presidential Order of 1950 is inconsistent with Article 14, 15, 16 and 25 of the Constitution that guarantee equality of opportunity, freedom of conscience and protect the citizens from discrimination by the State on grounds of religion, caste or creed.
The monthly Per Capita Expenditure of Muslims is much lower than the national average.
Benefits of entitlements meant for the backward classes are yet to reach Muslim OBCs. The condition of Muslims in general is also lower than the Hindu-OBCs who have the benefit of reservations.
On Wakf Properties -
There are about 5 lakh registered Wakfs with 6 lakh acre land and Rs 6,000 crore book value.
But the gross income from all these properties is only 163 crores i.e. 2.7%.
The management of Wakf Boards is unsatisfactorily due to inadequate empowerment of the State Wakf Boards and Centreal Wakf Council.
Encroachment of Wakf properties by the State is a common practice. The attitude of the State Governments and their agencies has resulted in large scale abrogation of the cherished objectives of the Wakfs.
Failure on the part of the state and statutory bodies entrusted with safeguarding Wakf properties has caused disquiet in the Muslim community.
Recommendations -
An Equal Opportunity Commission should be constituted to look into the grievances of the deprived groups.
A carefully conceived nomination procedure should be worked out to increase inclusiveness in governance.
The idea of providing certain incentives to a diversity index should be explored. Incentives can be related to this index so as to ensure equal opportunities to all socio religious communities in the fields of education, governance, private employment and housing.
Teacher training should be compulsory ensuring in its curriculum the components which introduce the importance of diversity and plurality
To facilitate admissions to the most backward amongst all the socio religious communities in the regular universities and autonomous colleges, alternate admission criteria need to be evolved.
Providing hostel facilities at reasonable costs for students from minorities must be taken up on a priority basis.
The community should be represented on interview panels and Boards.
Provide financial and other support to initiatives built around occupations where Muslims are concentrated and have growth potential.
The states should run Urdu medium schools. Work out mechanisms whereby Madarsas can be linked with a higher secondary school board so that students wanting to shift to a regular mainstream education can do so after having passed from a Madarsa.
The real need is of policy initiatives that improve the participation and share of the Minorities, particularly Muslims in the business of regular commercial banks.
We have published the entire Sachar Report on this site multiple times–
