Economy and Employment
1. Introduction
This chapter has the following inter-linked objectives:
Ø Provide a detailed account of the conditions of
employment of Muslims in a comparative perspective;
Ø Explore the nature of vulnerabilities that the Community
faces in the context of employment; and
Ø Identify areas of employment where policy should focus
in order to improve the conditions of work for the Community.
3. Worker Population Ratios and Unemployment Rates
Worker population ratios (WPRs) for Muslims are
significantly lower than for all other SRCs in rural areas but only
marginally lower in urban areas. The low aggregate work participation
ratios for Muslims are essentially due to much lower participation in
economic activity by women in the community; while they do not differ much
for males in different communities. Interestingly, work participation
rates for Muslim women is much lower than even that for women belonging to
upper-caste Hindu households, where there may be socio-cultural
constraints to women’s work.
Overall, about 44 percent of women in the prime age group
of 15-64 years in India participate in the workforce while about 85
percent of men do so. However, on an average the workforce participation
rate among Muslim women is only about 25 percent. In rural areas, while
about 70 percent of the Hindu women participate in the workforce only
about 29 percent of the Muslim women do so. Even the upper caste Hindu
women in rural areas have a higher participation rate which stands at 43
percent. The lower participation of women in rural areas is partly
explained by the fact that Muslim households (and hence women) are less
likely to be engaged in agriculture. The WPRs for Muslim women in urban
areas are even lower (18 percent), presumably because work opportunities
for women within the household are very limited. Such opportunities may be
somewhat higher in rural areas with ownership (though limited) of land
making participation of Muslim women somewhat higher in these areas.
One of the reasons for lower participation rates of Muslim
women may be higher dependency rates due to relatively higher share of
younger population in the community, resulting in women staying at home.
The daily status unemployment rates are generally not
higher than 11 percent. Overall, unemployment rates are slightly higher
for all Muslims (taken together), than for all Hindus but there are
differences within each group. In general, within the Hindus, URs are
lower for high caste Hindus than others especially the SC/ST population.
Unemployment rates among Muslims (male, female, rural and urban) are lower
than SCs/STs but higher than Hindu-UCs. They are also higher than Hindu-OBCs
except in urban areas.
4. Distribution of Workers by Activity Status
While WPRs provide an indication of the extent of
participation of a community in economic activities, the activity status
describes the capacity in which workers participate in these activities.
For example, a worker may be self-employed or an employee. Besides, s/he
may work as an employee on salary or on a daily wage and so on. The data
permits us to distinguish between the following types of activity statuses
of workers:
Ø Self-employed in household enterprise as:
-- Own account worker/Employer/Unpaid family worker
Ø Regular salaried/wage employee in:
-- Public sector/Private sector
Ø Casual wage labour in:
-- Public works/Other types of work
While it is difficult to create a gradation of activity
status as the earnings across these categories may vary a great deal, one
can safely say that within the self-employed category, an employer is
likely to be better off than the other two categories. Similarly, within
employees, jobs providing regular salaries or wages would be preferred
over wage based casual work. It is important to assess if Muslim workers
are concentrated in specific type of activity statuses.
4.1 Concentration in Self-employment Related Activities
The most striking feature is the relatively high share of
Muslim workers engaged in self-employment activity. This is particularly
true in urban areas and for women workers. Taken together, the three
self-employed categories constituted about 61 percent of the total Muslim
workforce as compared to about 55 percent of the Hindu workers. In urban
areas this share is 57 percent for Muslims and 43 percent for Hindus.
Among women the share is as high as 73 percent for Muslims and 60 percent
for Hindus. Within the Muslim community, the reliance on self-employment
is higher for OBCs (64 percent) than for general Muslims (59 percent).
Among the Hindus, while the reliance on self-employment is relatively very
low for SCs/STs (43 percent), it is much higher for OBCs (51 percent) and
Hindu-UCs (55 percent). Given higher participation in self-employment
related activities, availability of credit presumably is more critical for
Muslims than for other SRCs.
4.2 Low Participation in Salaried Jobs
As employees, Muslims generally work as casual labourers.
As is the case of SC/ST workers, the participation of Muslim workers in
salaried jobs (both in the public and the private sectors) is quite low.
In the aggregate while 25 percent of Hindu-UC workers are engaged in
regular jobs, only about 13 percent of Muslim workers are engaged in such
jobs; the situation of SC/ST workers is no better. In fact, the dominance
of casual work in the activity status profile of the SC/ST workers is
quite stark with as many as 46 percent workers in this group engaged in
such work.
Lack of access to regular jobs, especially in the public
sector has been a general concern among the Muslim population. As
suggested above, the conditions of Muslims with respect to regular jobs do
not seem very different from those of OBC and SC/ST Hindus when one
compares the aggregate estimates and those for male and female workers
separately. However, distribution by activity status of workers in
urban areas brings out sharply that participation of Muslims in
regular jobs is quite limited as compared to even the traditionally
disadvantaged SCs/STs. Only about 27 percent of the Muslim workers in
urban areas are engaged in regular work while the share of such workers
among SCs/STs, OBCs and Hindu-UC workers is 40, 36 and 49 percent
respectively.
Regular workers can be located in smaller unorganized
enterprises as well. Regular jobs in large enterprises, however, are more
stable and lucrative. These jobs are generally coveted due to social
security and other benefits. What proportion of regular workers in
different SRCs work in government/public sector and private/public limited
companies? Less than 24 percent of Muslim regular workers are employed in
the public sector or in government jobs This proportion is much higher for
other SRCs; while about 39 percent of the regular SC/ST workers are
engaged in such jobs, the share for Hindu-UC and Hindu-OBC workers is 37
and 30 percent respectively. The shares of regular jobs in the large
private enterprises (private and public limited) shows a similar pattern
with Muslims having the lowest share, save Hindu SC/ST workers. These
differentials are sharper in urban areas with a relatively much lower
proportion of Muslim workers engaged in such jobs. The situation is
similar in rural areas but the differentials across SRCs are lower. The
shares of male and female regular workers in public and large private
sector jobs show similar patterns. Muslim workers have the lowest shares
in these coveted jobs. The large participation in government jobs by SC/ST
workers stands out. This is probably the effect of the positive
discrimination policy of job reservation for these groups.
4.3 Employment in the Government and the Public Sector
Undertakings
Low share of Muslims in the government/public sector also
gets reflected in the data shared with the Committee by various government
departments and public sector undertakings (PSUs). This is analysed in
greater detail in Chapter 9. Suffice it to mention here that in most of
the departments and PSUs, the share of Muslim workers does not exceed 5
percent. The data from State departments and state level PSUs shows a
somewhat higher representation of Muslims than at the Central level.
5. Distribution of Workers by Enterprise-Type and
Location of Work
The last section showed that Muslim workers are
concentrated in self-employed activities followed by casual labour and
their participation in regular jobs, especially in the public/government
sector, is very limited. This section provides information on the type of
enterprises in which Muslim workers are concentrated. The 61st Round
estimates permit us to define the following broad categories of
enterprises:
-- Proprietary (with male/female proprietors)
-- Partnership (with members of the same
households/or with others)
-- Government/public sector
-- Public/Private limited company
-- Others
While the government/public sector and public/private
limited companies constitute the formal sector, the remaining categories
constitute the informal sector. Therefore, these categories give us the
informal/formal distinction and also provide better estimates of
government employment. The estimates of regular jobs in the public
sector referred to above did not include the casual work that is available
in the government sector. In that sense, these estimates of government
jobs are more inclusive.
5.1 Concentration in Informal Own Account Enterprises
Consistent with the earlier conclusion that Muslims have
higher than average reliance on self-employment, the distribution of
workers by enterprise type for different SRCs categories show that a
significantly larger proportion of Muslim workers are engaged in small
proprietary enterprises and their participation in formal sector
employment is significantly less than the national average. More
specifically, the estimates bring out the following interesting facets of
Muslim employment:
Ø As compared to all other SRCs, a much larger proportion
of Muslims (both men and women) work in self-owned proprietary
enterprises. This is particularly so in urban areas.
Ø Participation of women workers in women-owned
proprietary enterprises is significantly higher for Muslims. This implies
that the prevalence of own account enterprises run by women is higher
among Muslims than in other SRCs. However, as enterprises of Muslim women
are mainly home-based, they are typically engaged in subcontracted work
with low levels of earnings.
Ø Participation of Muslim workers in PSUs or with the
government is the least among all SRCs. For example, among Muslim male
workers, less than 6 percent are engaged in such work as against more than
10 percent for all male workers and 13 percent for all-Hindu male workers.
Even the shares of OBC and SC/ST workers in such jobs are significantly
higher than that for Muslims. Similar situation prevails for women workers
and in both urban and rural areas.
Ø As compared to other SRCs, the participation of Muslim
workers in the informal sector enterprises is much higher. For example,
less than 8 percent of Muslim workers in urban areas are employed in the
formal sector as compared to the national average of 21 percent. The share
of Hindu OBC and SC/ST workers in such jobs in urban areas is as high as
18 and 22 percent respectively. The same pattern prevails for both male
and female workers and in rural areas.
5.2 Relatively Larger Focus on Home Based Work and Street
Vending
The economic vulnerability of Muslim workers engaged in
informal activities is highlighted when we look at the distribution of the
workforce by location of work. The fact that a larger proportion of Muslim
workers work in their own enterprises located in their homes is consistent
with the relatively larger reliance of Muslim workers on self-employment,
a feature that has been noted earlier. Two additional insights emerge from
these data. One, the share of Muslim workers engaged in street vending
(especially without any fixed location) is much higher than in other SRCs;
more than 12 percent of Muslim male workers are engaged in street vending
as compared to the national average of less than 8 percent. Two, the
percentage of women Muslim workers undertaking work within their own homes
is much larger (70 percent) than for all workers (51 percent). While the
larger engagement in street vending highlights the higher vulnerability of
Muslim workers, concentration of Muslim women in home based work raises
issues about spatial mobility and other work related constraints that
women face even today. Traditional barriers, in many cases, still prevent
women from going out of their homes to work. This is particularly true of
Muslim women but is also true for Hindu higher caste women. This also
limits the scope of work women can undertake and they often get into very
exploitative subcontracting relationships. Moreover, women with
responsibility for household duties (including childcare), find it
difficult to work outside their homes or areas of residence.
6. Distribution of Workers by Industry Groups
We have seen so far that Muslim workers have a
significantly higher concentration in informal self-employment based
economic activity than other SRCs. The next issue that needs to be
analysed is if Muslim workers are concentrated in specific industry
groups. A few interesting differences between Muslim and other workers
emerge:
Ø Participation of Muslim workers in agricultural
activities is much lower than the workers of all other SRCs; less than 40
percent of Muslim workers are engaged in agriculture as compared to about
58 percent for all workers taken together. These differentials are higher
among female workers (52 percent, compared to 74 percent) than male
workers (36 percent, compared to 50 percent). Within the Hindu category, a
much larger share of OBC and SC/ST workers are engaged in agriculture than
the high-caste Hindus.
Ø While the share of Muslim workers engaged in agriculture
is much lower than for other groups, their participation in manufacturing
and trade (especially for males) is much higher than for other SRCs.
Besides, their participation in construction work is also high.
A more detailed exploration of employment in various
industrial (non-agricultural) categories shows that as compared to other
SRCs, the participation of Muslim workers is relatively higher in the
following manufacturing industries:
(1) Manufacture of tobacco products, especially for Muslim
female workers; (more than 41 percent of the male workers engaged in the
manufacture of tobacco products are Muslims; the share of Muslims in women
workers in this sector is about 35 percent) and
(2) Manufacture of textiles and textile products like
wearing apparel, especially for Muslim female workers (about 30 percent of
the male workers engaged in the manufacture of garments, wearing apparel
etc. are Muslim; the corresponding percent among women workers is 17
percent. The share of Muslims in the workers engaged in textile industry
is more than 21 and 28 percent respectively for males and females.)
In addition, the participation of Muslim male workers is
somewhat higher than others in the manufacture of fabricated metal
products (except machinery and equipment). Among non-manufacturing
industries, land transport and retail trade (especially for males) are
activities where a larger proportion of Muslim workers are located than
workers of other SRCs.
From the perspective of our analysis, two types of
industry groups are important: (1) where a relatively large proportion of
Muslim workers are located; and (2) where Muslim workers constitute a
significant proportion of the total workers. Interestingly, three of the
manufacturing segments identified above where the participation of Muslim
workers is higher than in other SRCs are also the segments where Muslims
constitute a very high share of the segments’ workforce. The shares of
Muslims in the total workers engaged in the tobacco and textile/garment
related industries are quite significant. The other industries where
Muslims constitute a significant proportion of the workforce are: sale,
repair and maintenance of motor vehicles and some segments of electrical
machinery and apparatus manufacturing.
Likewise, among the non-manufacturing segments wholesale &
commission trade and retail trade has a large proportion of Muslim
workers, with about 22 percent of the male workers in this segment being
Muslim.
Obviously, given the concentration of Muslim workers in
these segments makes the growth of these segments critical to them. Are
the industries where Muslims are concentrated or where they have a
significant share, growth oriented? It is difficult to answer this
question because even within a narrowly defined industry group Muslims may
be concentrated in specific niches which may not experience growth
processes that are similar to the industry group as a whole. However, we
attempt below a preliminary exercise to ascertain the growth orientation
of the manufacturing industry groups that are important for Muslim
workers.
6.1 Participation in Growth-Oriented Industries
A key dimension of the industrial distribution of the
workforce is whether workers are concentrated in industries which are
"declining" or those which are on the "high growth" path.
However, employment at low levels of income in these
sectors may not ensure overall well-being of the workers; this requires
growth with increasing labour productivity or income per worker. In other
words, the most desirable outcome is sectoral growth that generates
quality employment. Following this broad argument, seven types of groups
have been defined reflecting different patterns of growth. These in turn
have been clubbed into three categories:
Category A: Growth industries with good quality employment
A1.Growing value added, employment and labour productivity
A2.Growing value added and labour productivity but
declining employment
Category B: Growth industries with poor quality employment
B1.Growing value added and employment but declining labour
productivity
B2.Growing value added but declining employment and labour
productivity
Category C: Non-growth industries
C1.Growing employment but declining value added and labour
productivity
C2.Growing labour productivity but declining employment
and value added
C3.Declining value added, employment and labour
productivity
Since a large part of Muslim workers are located in the
informal sector, it makes sense to focus more on the growth based
categories generated on the basis of unorganized sector data.
Overall, at the macro level, of the manufacturing sectors
which are important for Muslims, wearing apparel, auto repair and
electrical machinery seem to be segments where policy focus can bring in
employment related dividends for the Muslim workers. Interestingly, these
are also the sectors that have significant growth prospects in the economy
as a whole. However, it needs to be reiterated once again that given the
availability of information, we are not in the position to figure out the
manufacturing sectors more precisely. And it is possible that even within
these segments Muslim workers may be concentrated in areas which have not
experienced adequate growth impulses. A more elaborate exercise to
identify sectors where Muslims are concentrated is desirable.
6.2 Participation in Security and Defence Related
Activities
Participation of Muslims in security related activities is
considered to be quite important with respect to the security concerns of
the Community. While it is very difficult to assess the participation of
Muslims in security activities like the Police, the National Sample Survey
provides data for workers engaged in "Public Order and Safety Activities"
both at the state and the central government level. The available
estimates show that the share of Muslims in these activities at the
Central government level was only about 6 percent, while that of the
Hindu-Ucs was 42 percent and both Hindu-SCs/STs and Hindu-OBCs had a share
of 23 percent each. At the state level, the share of Muslims was a little
higher at 7 percent while the other categories (in the same order) had
shares of 37, 21 and 26 percent respectively.
The NSSO also provides estimates of workers engaged in
defence activities (code 75220). The share of Muslims in the defence
workers was found to be only 4 percent while that of Hindu-SCs/STs (12
percent), Hindu-OBCs (23 percent) and Hindu-UC (52 percent) was much
higher. Additional data made available to the Committee also showed that
the participation of Muslims in security related activities (e.g. Police)
is much lower than their share in population.
7. Distribution of Workers by Occupational Status
Ø The participation of Muslim workers in production
related activities and transport equipment operation is much higher than
in other SRCs. About 34 percent of Muslim (all) workers are engaged in
such occupations, as against 21 percent for all workers and about 19
percent for Hindu workers. Importantly, this pattern prevails for both
male and female workers and in rural and urban areas.
Ø Sales work is the other occupation where the
participation of Muslims is higher than other SRCs. More than 16 percent
of Muslim workers were engaged as sales workers, while the national
average was only about 10 percent and for Hindu workers it was about 9
percent.
Ø While the participation of Muslim workers was relatively
higher in production and sales related occupations, their participation
was relatively lower in professional, technical, clerical and to some
extent in managerial work. This was particularly the case in urban areas.
A more detailed analysis of the occupational profiles of
different SRCs shows higher than average participation of Muslim workers
in the following non-agricultural occupations:
(1) Merchants and shopkeepers (especially for males and in
urban areas);
(2) Sales persons and shop assistants (especially for
males and in urban areas);
(3) Tailors, dress makers and the like (especially for
women and in urban areas);
(4) Transport equipment operators (especially for males
and in urban areas);
(5) Tobacco preparers and tobacco product makers
(especially women);
(6) Spinners, weavers, knitters and dyers (especially for
males and in urban areas); and
(7) Machinery fitters, assemblers and precision instrument
makers (especially for males and in urban areas).
In addition, a relatively larger proportion of male
workers in urban areas are engaged in carpentry related occupations and in
bricklaying and construction work. Broadly, Muslims seem to be
concentrated in their traditional occupations. Their participation in the
professional and managerial cadre is low. This economic division of labour
based on SRCs has serious implications for the overall development of the
national economy. Therefore, different policies may need to be invoked for
different sectors to make workers engaged in them more productive.
8. Earnings and Aspects of Employment Security
The available data clearly show that on average, Muslim
regular workers are the most vulnerable of all. As compared to regular
workers of other SRCs, a much larger proportion of Muslim regular workers
work with:
Ø No written contract (73 percent vs 52 percent for Hindu-UC
and 63 percent each for Hindu-OBCs and SCs/STs);
Ø No social security benefit (71 percent against the
average of 55 percent).
Besides, fewer Muslim regular workers receive monthly
salaries as compared to all other SRCs. Finally, on an average a
relatively larger proportion of Muslim regular workers are on piece-rate
system. Thus, even when Muslim workers are able to get into regular jobs,
they are at the lower end of the ladder and their conditions of work on an
average are much worse than those of regular workers of all other SRCs
including SCs/STs.
The poor conditions of work are also reflected in lower
earnings. It has been shown for 1999-2000 that Muslim regular workers get
lower daily salary earnings in both public sector and private sector jobs
than workers of most other SRCs. While Muslim men and women have lower
daily earnings than Hindus in the public sector, the difference in
earnings between Hindus and Muslims is much larger in the private sector.
In general, the average daily earnings of Hindu-OBC workers were higher
than those of Hindu-SC/ST and Muslim workers. No specific pattern emerged
when the earnings of Muslim workers were compared with those of Hindu
SC/ST regular workers. Finally there is hardly any difference in the daily
earnings of casual wage workers by community. Thus, while in casual work
there is not much difference in the wage earnings, regular job holders
among Muslims draw relatively lower salaries than workers from other SRCs
specially in the private sector.
One can surmise that in general Muslim men and women are
in inferior jobs, such as clerical or Class IV employees, compared to the
Hindu men and women even in the public sector jobs. In the private sector,
the difference in earnings may only partly be due to the difference in the
nature of the jobs undertaken by the two communities. A large part of the
difference is likely to be due to the nature of the private sector
enterprises themselves, with the Muslims being engaged in smaller informal
and thereby low productivity enterprises. Such enterprises may be small
workshops, where a large number of Muslim men are engaged, for example, as
mechanics in garages. The women could be attached to small manufacturing
enterprises. The lack of variation in casual wage earnings across SRCs is
presumably because the nature of the work is very similar for all
communities.
9. Inter-state Variations in Employment Conditions
The conditions of employment among Muslims vary a great
deal across states. For example, we had seen at the aggregate (all-India)
level that WPRs for Muslims were generally the lowest. But state specific
estimates of WPRs show that participation rates are not the lowest among
Muslims as compared to other SRCs in several states. These states include
Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab,
UP and West Bengal. The more interesting differences are with regard to
the industrial distribution and the activity status of the workers:
Ø Most of the states have a significantly higher share of
Muslim workers in the manufacturing sector than other SRCs. The share of
Muslim workers in manufacturing is particularly high in states like Delhi,
Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan where
the share is more than 25 percent. States where Muslims have a lower share
in manufacturing than other SRCs are Assam, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana and
Kerala.
Ø As was the case at the all-India level, Muslim workers
in most states have a higher share in trade than other SRCs; although in
some states other minorities have a higher share. In Tamil Nadu, Orissa,
Pondicherry, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat the percentage
of Muslim workers engaged in trade is particularly high with more than 20
percent workers engaged in this activity.
Ø As was the case at the all-India level, the share of
urban Muslim workers engaged in self-employment is higher than other SRCs
in all states except Haryana.
10. Patterns of Change in Employment Conditions Since
the 1990s
The following patterns are evident:
Ø The 1990s saw a decline in the share of manufacturing
workforce but there has been an uptrend in the early years of the current
decade (2000-04) without compensating for the earlier loss. Such
fluctuations can be seen for all SRCs but have been sharper for women
workers, especially Muslims.
Ø For all-India as a whole, the share of workers engaged
in trade has increased consistently during 1993-2005. While rural areas
have shown a marginal rise, urban areas have shown a slight decline after
2000. Of all SRCs, the rise has been the sharpest (in terms of percentage
point changes) for the Muslim male workers. Thus, in recent years, while
all workers have experienced a shift in favour of trade related
activities, this shift has been somewhat sharper for Muslims (especially
male) workers than for others.
Ø Shares of workers engaged in administrative, executive
and managerial jobs have increased for all SRCs. These shifts have been
sharper in urban areas and for males but no significant differences can be
observed across SRCs except that vis-à-vis others, Hindu-SCs/STs in urban
areas have experienced an increase that is less sharp.
11. Summing Up
Overall, one finds that as compared to others, Muslim
workers are engaged more in self-employed manufacturing and trade
activities. Their participation in regular salaried jobs (especially in
the government or large public and private sector enterprises) is much
less than workers of other SRCs. They tend to be relatively more
vulnerable in terms of conditions of work as their concentration in
informal sector employment is higher and their job conditions (contract
length, social security etc.) even among regular workers are less for
Muslims than those of other SRCs.
It has been shown that the returns to higher levels of
education are relatively high for Muslim men and women as well, though
there has been a decline in the 1990s for men in rural areas and women in
urban areas. In fact, the returns are higher at higher levels of
education. Thus, those Muslims who cross the educational barrier tend to
benefit through better incomes. Despite these high returns, the
participation of Muslims in higher education is quite low. One of the
reasons could be the perception that Muslims are unlikely to find regular
jobs even when they get educated. The information on UPSC appointments
seems to suggest that at least in these appointments this perception is
incorrect; the success rates of Muslim candidates is similar, if not
better, in these selections.
To explore this issue further, the Committee undertook an
exploratory exercise to assess if the probability of participating in
regular non-agricultural work differs across SRCs once age, location
(rural/urban, state), levels of education and the economic status of the
households are controlled for. The results are quite interesting:
Ø In rural areas and for male workers, the
probability of being in regular non-agricultural employment is higher for
SC/ST and Muslim workers as compared to all the other SRCs; probability of
undertaking such jobs undertaken for SCs/STs being higher than for
Muslims.
Ø Among rural female workers, the probability of
undertaking regular non-agricultural employment is the highest for SC/ST
workers, followed by other minorities and then the rest of the SRCs.
Surprisingly, the probability of rural female workers undertaking regular
non-agricultural work among Hindu-UC, Hindu-OBC and Muslims is not very
different; the Hindu OBCs having a marginally higher chance of undertaking
such work.
Ø Among urban male workers, the probability of
Muslim workers taking up regular work is the lowest, while that of SC/ST
workers is the highest. However, the probability of taking up regular work
was not significantly different among Muslims, Hindu-OBCs and other
minorities.
Ø Among urban female workers also, the probability
of undertaking regular work is the lowest for the Muslim workers. Once
again the SCs/STs have the highest probability followed by other
minorities, Hindu-OBCs and Hindu-UCs.
Overall, after controlling for several individual,
household and regional characteristics, the chances of Muslim workers
taking up regular non-agricultural work in rural areas do not seem to be
lower than for other SRCs; in fact, for women Muslim workers it is higher.
In urban areas also the chances of doing such work for Muslim male workers
are not very different form those of Hindu-OBCs and other minorities.
However, among Muslim women workers such a possibility is significantly
lower than for all other SRCs. While more work is required to explore
these differences and understand reasons thereof, it needs to be noted
that lower probabilities for Muslims undertaking regular work in urban
areas is not necessarily a reflection of discrimination. These
probabilities have been generated on the basis of data on workers who are
employed and reflect job choices made by the workers. In other words, the
estimates are based on data after job choices have been made. If a
person chose not to apply/join a regular job, s/he has made a voluntary
choice.
The discussion on the employment conditions of Muslims in
India provides inputs for areas of intervention. While details of these
interventions are discussed in the last chapter, a few focus areas may be
flagged here. Broadly, apart from better education facilities (an issue
discussed in detail in the last chapter), improvements in employment
conditions of Muslims would involve a sharper focus on skill development
and flow of credit in sectors where Muslim workers are concentrated and
which have been more growth oriented in recent years. Since a large
section of the Muslim workers are engaged in self-employment, skill
development and credit related initiatives need to tailored for such
groups. Since there is a large concentration of Muslim workers in specific
districts, programmes that provide skill, credit, technology and market
support in these areas would be critical. Possibility of area specific
programmes should be explored, especially in the 58 districts where
Muslims constitute more than 25 percent of the population. The main task
is to enhance the productivity of the small enterprises where a large
segment of the Muslim workers are located. Innovative initiatives for
these enterprises might be useful. Some experiments that effectively
combine modern managerial, technical and design skills with artisanal
skills may require closer study to create effective intervention
strategies. While such initiatives would help workers located in growth
oriented industries, a ‘transition strategy’ for those who are located in
stagnant industries is desirable. Such strategies can be focused around
building of new skills, the demand for which is on the rise. Potential for
imparting these skills both to those who have completed school education
and those who have dropped out of school but have completed middle
education needs to be assessed. Most existing technical training
programmes require higher secondary education. Given the education levels
of the Muslim youth, they are not eligible for such training. Given the
school completion rates of Muslims and the significant need for skill
up-gradation, provision of certain types of skill training after middle
education may be useful. Reduction in minimum qualification for
polytechnic type course may also be desirable. |