By the way for those who want to update about the minorities status in India, here is an article. It is long so take your time before delving on the discussion, please.
Kashif
The Status of Muslims in India
Syed Najiullah
Contrary to the popular perception that Muslims came
to India through the west as the invaders, they
appeared first in South India long before Mohammed bin
Khasim entered Sindh in 712 A.D. They came as traders,
married local women and settled in the Malabar region
where they are known as ‘Mapillas’. The first Mosque
was also built in Kerala in 629 A.D., itself at
Methala, Kodangaloor. However the advent of the
Muslims in the eleventh and twelfth century had major
impact and changed the political map of the country.
From the beginning of thirteenth century till the
advent of the British Muslims dynasties ruled over
major part of Indian sub continent.
The British considered Muslims as potential rivals
because from them they have taken over the reigns of
the India. This was evident from the writings of W.W.
Hunter who was deputed by Governor General Mayo to
conduct an enquiry into whether Indian Muslims were
bound by their religion to rebel against the Queen.
While denying that Islamic doctrine propelled Muslims
to rebel against a non- Muslim ruler, Hunter wrote
that , “
Muslims, a race ruined under British rule,
harboured intense feelings of nationality’ and were
prone to giving periodic __expression of this in war
like enterprise.” Particularly after the 1857 revolt
the British followed a policy of preferring Hindus to
Muslims in the administrative positions. However the
necessity to counter the influence of the Indian
National Congress has made the British to look towards
Muslims. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan appreciating the utility
of modern education grabbed the opportunity and
aligned with the British for the development of
education among his community.
The introduction of the element of democracy in the
local bodies in India and the concept gaining
currency as the best form of government, developed
minority consciousness among the Muslim leadership
which led to the formation of Muslim League in1906 at
Dacca. The apprehension of the Muslim leaders about
the future of minorities in independent India
ultimately led to the partition of the country. While
the Muslims majority areas became home land for Muslim
a large number of Muslims decided to stay back in the
country of their birth. Thus the Muslims who have came
to India as traders became rulers, then minorities and
in the post partition India as vulnerable minorities
because not only their numbers dwindled but also they
lost a voice as they were continuously suspected as
the people who are cause for the partition India.
Secular India
The partition of India made the Indian Muslims more
vulnerable. “It has created an extra ordinary
situation overnight. The creation of Pakistan rocked
the secular outlook of the Hindus who began to nurse a
sense of permanent injury. The Muslim community got a
sense of insecurity, frustration and uncertainty out
of independence and partition.” Nevertheless India
remained secular mainly because of Mahatma Gandhi who
became martyr for the cause of secular India.
Jawaharlal Nehru’s commitment to secular India
provided the necessary solace and security to the
Indian Muslims. However, Muslims were concerned more
about their security than rights and they did not go
beyond the demand of protection of their life,
property and cultural identity.
The Muslim leadership
The Muslims leaders always concerned with
religio-culture issues rather than socio-economic
development of the community. Moin Shakir aptly
describes the role played by Muslim leaders. He says
“the Muslim politics has been elitists… they all
confine themselves to the discussion of Muslim
Personal law, Character of Aligarh Muslim University
and the status of Urdu. These problems being religio
cultural in nature tend to make the discussion take on
a communal hue, partly because separate cultural
identity is cherished more strongly by community
living in a setting that threatens to overwhelm it and
partly because the premises, components and references
in the argument, leave all other communities more or
less out of the field.” The issues of education,
unemployment, poverty, under representation of Muslims
in elected bodies hardly figured in their agenda.
Policy of Appeasement
After the Nehru era, in the face of the challenge to
the leadership Indira Gandhi made conscious efforts to
create mass base for herself and started populist
schemes targeting SCs, STs and minorities. Under this
package while the SCs and STs got share in the poverty
alleviation schemes and rural development programmes
the Muslims got only the guarantee of secular policy
and the promise of protection of their life and
property. The successive governments also found it
prudent to address the
symbolic and emotional issues
of Muslim which can be encashed easily in terms of
political gains rather than concentrating on their
socio-economic development.
As a result the real issues of poverty, education and
employment were never addressed. The sentimental
issues like ban on a book offending the sentiments of
Muslims, holiday on Miladun Nabi and haj subsidy were
projected as the signs of their commitment towards the
Muslims. These issues instead of accruing any
substantial benefit to Muslims gave credence to the
rightist propaganda that Muslims are being appeased.
Thus even after 50 years of independence ‘the pampered
community’ remained as
the most backward community
economically and educationally which is evident from
the following data.
Education among the Muslims:
Muslims are the most backward community educationally.
The 1986 New Education Policy also recognized Muslims
along with Neo- Buddhists as ‘the educationally
backward community’. A comparative analysis of the
data on the levels of literacy among different
communities shows that Muslims are lagging behind all
the communities in literacy. The data available from
the Census 2001 is given below.
Table 1
Literacy Rate among Religious Communities
Census 2001 (in percentage)
Religious community Literacy Rate (Female) Literacy Rate (All)
Muslims 50.1 59.1
Hindus 53.2 65.1
Christians 76.2 80.3
Sikhs 63.1 69.4
Jains 90.6 94.1
Buddhists 61.7 72.7
(Source: Syed Shahabuddin in Mainstream, October 23,
2004, p.14)
Thus the literacy rate among Muslims is lower than all
the religious communities in India. The literacy rate
for female is further low. It is also less compared to
the all India literacy rate of 64.8 for all and 53.7
for female category. Considering that the Muslims are
more than 12 per cent of the population their low
literacy rate will have adverse effect on the total
literacy rate of the country.
Another important factor which can be noticed among
the Muslims is that
their percentage in higher
education is very low. The data collected by the
National Sample Survey in 1987-88 from rural and urban
India throws light on this aspect.
Table 2
Distribution of Persons by General Education
Sex and religion, Rural India, 1987-88 (In percentage)
Educational Levels Hindus Muslims Christians
M F M F M F
Not Literate 51.3 75.0 58.2 76.1 33.7 43.1
<Primary 19.0 11.8 18.6 13.1 20.5 17.8
Pri-middle 22.7 11.2 19.1 9.9 35.4 29.2
secondary 5.7 1.7 3.4 0.8 9.3 8.1
Graduate+ 1.2 0.2 0.6 --- 1.8 1.5
(NSS 43rd Round, 1987-88, analysis by Abu Saleh
Shariff in Muslim India, No140, August 1994, p.378)
Table 3
Distribution of Persons by General Education
Sex and Religion, Urban India, 1987-88
(in percentage)
Education Level Hindus Muslims Christians
M F M F M F
Not Literate 25.3 42.2 42.4 59.5 18.8 22.7
<Primary 18.8 17.2 20.9 18.5 16.0 17.5
Pri-Mid 30.5 25.3 26.3 16.8 36.7 33.4
Secondary 17.2 10.7 8.0 4.3 20.1 20.8
Graduate+ 7.9 4.2 2.3 0.8 8.1 5.5
(Source: NSS 43rd Round, 1987-88, analyzed by Abu
Saleh Shariff in Muslim India, No 140, August, 1994,
p.378)
Thus from the above tables it is clear that both in
rural and urban India the percentage of Muslims is
coming down steadily from Pri-Middle level to graduate
level and the percentage of students who reach Higher
education in rural areas is
0.6 for the male and in
urban areas the corresponding percentages are 2.3 and
0.8 for male and female respectively. Compared to
other religious groups like Hindus and Christians the
Muslim’s percentage in higher education is very low.
Employment Opportunities for Muslims:
The educational backwardness of Muslims also had a
telling effect on their representation in the
government services. They never got adequate
representation in any cadre. Their representation is
particularly poor in the higher cadre services.
Civil services are the highest services in India and
the Muslim representation in these services reflects
not only their poor representation but also their
pathetic economic conditions.
From the list of the
officers for All India Services it is clear that while
Sikhs and Christians and other minorities were doing
well at the competitive examinations, the Muslims by
and large did not.
For instance, thirty five years,
after Independence, there were only 128 Muslim in the
Indian Administrative Services out of a total of
3,785, there are 57 Muslims in Indian Police service
and 45 in Indian Forest services which gives them a
percentage of only 3.22, 2.64 and 3.14 respectively,
while according to their population they should be
about 11 per cent.
The Representation of the Minorities in the All India
Services till 1980 illustrates that the percentage of
Muslims is far behind their proportion in the
population. The following table shows a comparative
data of Muslims, Christians and Sikhs in the All India
Services.
Table 4
All India Services
(Percentage to the total in brackets)
Name of services Total No. ofOfficers No. of Muslims No. ofChris. No. of Sikhs
IAS 3975 128(3.22) 109(2.74) 165(4.15)
IPS 2159 57(2.64) 49(2.26) 117(5.41)
IFS 1433 45(3.14) 23(1.60) 44(3.07)
Total 7567 230(3.04) 181(2.39) 326(4.31)
(Source: Dr. Gopal Singh Report on Minorities, 1983,
p.33)
In the Indian Administrative Services their
representation is very poor. The following table shows
the representation of Muslims in comparison with other
minorities like Sikhs and Christians in these highest
services.
Table 5
Indian Administrative service
(Percentage to the total in brackets)
Year Total Intake Muslims Sikhs Chris-tians
1971 87 1 (1.14) 4(4.59) 5(5.74)
1972 142 1 (0.70) 6(4.85) 4(2.81)
1973 124 3 (2.41) 5(4.03) 7(5.64)
1974 141 1 (0.70) 9(6.38) 4(2.83)
1975 129 2 (1.55) 5(3.87) 7(5.42)
1976 138 5 (3.62) 9(6.52) 10(7.24)
1977 158 10(6.32) 4(2.53) 13(8.22)
1978 134 10(7.46) 6(4.47) 13(9.70)
1979 117 3 (2.56) 8(6.83) 7(5.98)
1980 124 1 (0.80) 5(4.03) 3(2.41)
Total 1294 37(2.86) 61(4.71 73(5.64
(Source: Dr. Gopal Singh Report on Minorities, 1983,
p.31).
It is evident from the above table that while the
representation of the Sikhs and Christians of 4.71 and
5.64 is more than their proportion in the population
of 1.89 and 2.6 per cent respectively, the Muslims
representation is only 2.86 whereas their population
percentage is 12.4.(Census 2001)
The representation of Muslims in the Indian Police
Services is also very low. It is only 2 per cent
whereas Sikhs and Christians representation is 5.34
and 2.27 per cent respectively for the period of 1971
to 1979 which is given in the following table.
Table 6
Indian Police Services
(Percentage to the total brackets)
Year Total Intak Muslim Sikhs Christ-ians
1971 35 -- -- --
1972 59 -- 3(5.08) --
1973 116 1(0.86) -- 1(0.86)
1974 75 5(6.66) 12(16.0 3(4.00)
1975 65 -- 12(18.5 3(4.61)
1976 92 -- 3(3.26) 2(2.17)
1977 212 6(2.83) 3(1.41) 4(1.88)
1978 45 2(2.22) 2(4.44) 3(6.66)
1979 50 2(4.00) 5(10.00 1(2.00)
Total 749 15(2.00) 40(5.34 17(2.27
(Source: Dr. Gopal Sing report on Minorities, 1983,
p.31)
Thus it is clear from the above table that while the
Muslim population in the country is more than 12
percent their representation in the country’s highest
services is only 3.15. Similarly in the Indian Police
Service out of the total recruitment of 3284 officers
only 120 are Muslims with a percentage of 3.65. This
is the general trend of Muslim representation in the
services allover India with slight variations. There
is no much improvement over the last twenty years.
Further the following table throws light on the poor
representation of the Muslims in the All India
Services from 1981 to 2000.
Table 7
Muslims in Indian Administrative Services since 1981
Year Total Muslims Percentage
1981 126 1 0.79
1982 167 5 2.99
1983 235 1 0.43
1984 233 6 2.58
1985 214 4 1.87
1986 216 6 2.78
1987 178 5 2.81
1988 249 15 6.02
1989 246 13 5.28
1990 298 9 3.02
1991 217 8 3.69
1992 157 3 1.91
1993 147 2 1.36
1994 131 2 1.53
1995 91 8 8.79
1996 81 3 3.70
1997 76 3 3.95
1998 55 1 1.82
1999 56 2 3.57
2000 93 6 6.45
Total 3266 103 3.15
(Source: Muslim India, No.238, October, 2002, p.462)
Coming to the Class III and Class IV services, the
analysis of the data of the Subordinate Services
Examinations, which accounts for most of the
recruitment for Class III in the central Government
Officers, shows that the percentage of Muslim
candidate is about 3 per cent. Analyzing further the
position of their representation in the registration
in employment exchanges which accounts for the bulk of
the recruitment to remaining Class III and Class IV
services, it was seen that the percentage of their
registration was only 5 percent. The placement was
also the same. They had better representation in Class
IV services. It worked out to be 9.7 per cent. It is
seen that the employment of Muslims in the government
offices, both central and states varied between 5 per
cent to 6 per cent of the total employees. Their
representation in Class I and Class II services was
between 3 per cent to 4.5 per cent, while in class III
and Class IV services it is 5 per cent to 6 percent.
Thus the over all representation of Muslims in
Government services is low compared to their
proportion in the population.
Subordinate Services:
The sample study conducted by the Gopal Singh
Commission, on the results of the examination for
recruitment to class III services – Clerical Cadre in
the Central Secretariat held by the Central
Subordinate Services Commission in 1979 shows that
Muslims were only 1.56 per cent of the total
successful candidates.
Table 8
Subordinate Services (Central Government)
Religion % to population No. & % Applicants No. & % of successful candidates
Muslims 11.21 5336(2.59) 83(1.56)
Christians 2.60 9502(4.61) 366(3.85)
Sikh 1.89 3643(1.77) 90(2.47)
(Source: Dr. Gopal Singh report on Minorities, 1983,
p.33)
Economic Development of Muslims:
The economic condition of the Muslims is very poor. It
is comparable only with the conditions of SC’s and
ST’s. The following data collected from Indian Human
Development Report of 1990s on various economic
indicators like house hold income, percapita income,
Work participation, source of income, land holding
reveals the abject conditions of Muslims.
Table 9
Income, Asset and Material Well-being of Households
according to Caste and Religion
ST SC Hindus Muslims All
Household Income (Rs) 19556 17465 25713 22807 25653
Per Capita Income (Rs) 3504 3237 4514 3678 4485
Work participation (Male) 51.6 52.8 52.3 48.0 51.9
(Female) 27.7 23.0 19.3 9.6 18.4
Source of Income Agriculture 55.6 37.7 56.1 44.1 55.0
Artisanship 2.7 5.7 4.3 8.3 4.5
Salaried 14.8 15.2 16.4 14.7 16.5
Land Holding in acres 4.3 2.8 4.6 3.6 4.5
% Kutcha Houses 74.0 66.6 55.2 65.9 55.4
%Electricity 29.7 30.7 43.2 30.0 42.9
%Protected Water 61.6 72.8 71.1 78.1 72.0
% Piped Water 17.2 22.6 25.3 19.4 24.8
% having Toilets 12.2 8.3 13.2 26.7 15.3
% Using PDS 37.5 32.1 34.1 21.8 33.2
Poverty Head Count 51.0 50.0 39.0 43.0 39.0
(Source: India: Human Development report of the 1990s,
cited by Abusaleh Shariff in Muslim India, No.216,
December, 2000, p. 534)
Thus the above table shows that the poverty head count
is more among the Muslim than the whole population.
The household income is less than that of the national
average and also of the Hindus. It is only better than
the SCs and STs. The per capita income of the Muslims
is Rs.3678 which is near to the per capita income of
SCs and STs. It is far less than per capita income of
the whole population and that of the Hindus. This
proves that Muslims along with the SCs and Sts are the
economic backward groups. This is because the lack of
access to productive assets, employment and wage
stability for these groups. Muslims are more deprived
in terms of land holding across India. The proportion
of income derived from agriculture and allied
activities among the Muslims is much lower than the
Hindus. Access to basic needs such as Electricity and
protected water is below the national average for the
Muslims. Muslims particularly have lower PDS
utilization compared with all other castes and
religious categories. Thus the overall situation shows
that Muslims economic conditions are comparable only
with that of the SCs and STs and far below the
national average.
The 55th Round of country wide survey conducted in
1999-2000 by the National sample Survey Organization
(NSSO), the autonomous body of he Ministry of
Statistics and Programme Implementation also
corroborate the above analysis. According to the
Survey a large number of Muslims than Hindus suffer
from low levels of consumption. Average consumption
expenditure by each member of a family is less than
Rs. 300 a month among 29 percent of rural Muslims,
while the corresponding proportion for rural Hindus is
26 per cent in the bottom 20 percent. The difference
is much wider in towns and cities where as many as 40
percent of Muslims belong to the bottom 20 percent;
nearly double the 22 percent figure for Hindus.
Table 10
Distribution of Persons according to Monthly
Consumption Expenditure
(Among the Bottom 20 percent of total in each
religion)
Hindus Muslims All Religions
Rural (less than Rs.300) 26 29 26
Urban (less than Rs. 425) 22 40 25
(Source: 55th Round of National Sample Survey, cited
by C. Rammohan Reddy, in Muslim India, No. 238,
October, 2002, p. 463)
Correspondingly, at the higher end of the economic
scale, the proportion of Muslims belonging to the top
20 percent of consumption expenditure is lower than
Hindus. It is 12 percent for the Muslims and14 percent
for Hindus in the rural areas. This difference is more
in the urban areas where the Muslims among top 20
consumption category are only 6 percent, nearly three
times less than Hindus who constitute 17 percent.
Table 11
Distribution of Persons according to Monthly
Consumption expenditure
(Among the Top 20 percent of total in each religion)
Hindus Muslims All Religions
Rural (more than Rs.615) 14 12 15
Urban (more than Rs.1120) 17 6 16
(Source: 55th Round of National Sample Survey, cited
by C.Rammohan Reddy, in Muslim India, No. 238,
October, 2002, p. 463)
Thus it is clear from the above two tables on monthly
consumption expenditure that while the percentage of
Muslims is more in the bottom 20 percent, it is very
less in the top 20 percent both at the rural and
urban areas. This proves that poverty is much higher
among the Muslims.
Thus it is clear from the above statistics that
Muslims are most backward educationally, their share
in employment far less than their proportion in the
population. Their economic condition is very poor.
Poverty, unemployment and illiteracy are rampant among
them. There is a need for immediate affirmative action
from the government for the upliftment of this
backward community and instill confidence among them
and make them equal partners in the process of
national building.
The real issues of livelihood and development of the
minorities should become the priority of the policy
makers. The following issues need immediate attention
for the amelioration of the conditions of Muslims in
India.
1. Muslims should be given reservations in proportion
to their population in government services, and
educational institutions through out the country and
necessary constitutional amendment should be made for
this purpose.
2. The government should provide scholarships and
hostel facility to the students from Muslim community
on par with SC’s and ST’s to raise their educational
levels.
3. The government should allot funds to the minorities
in the poverty alleviation schemes in proportion to
their population among the below poverty line
population.
4. There should be specific quota for the Muslims in
all the government schemes like housing etc., in
proportion to their population.
5. The government should provide loans to the
artisans and self employed youth on liberal terms
through National Minorities Finance Corporation and
state level Minorities Finance Corporations and
nationalized banks.
6. The Government should conduct survey and protect
the Wakf property by establishing a national Wakf
Development Corporation for the proper utilization of
this property for the welfare of the community.
7. The Government should make arrangement for the
teaching of Urdu as additional language from Primary
to High School level for the Muslim students in all
government, aided and unaided school by incorporating
Urdu in the syllabus of the schools. For this purpose
Urdu teachers should be appointed in all the schools
in areas where students with Urdu as mother tongue are
concentrated.
8. The government should protect the life and property
of the Muslims by curbing the communal riots and a new
legislation to specially deal with the communal riots
should be enacted.
9. The Government should give powers to the National
Commission for Minorities on par with National Human
Rights Commission and make it a real independent body
by bringing change in the pattern of selection of its
head.
10. The government should discontinue giving Haj
subsidy as performing Haj is obligatory only for the
rich Muslims and there is no need for the government
to spend public funds on this purely religious
activity.
Not a comprehensive list)
