Context, Approach and Methodology
1. Minorities and Development
The Indian Constitution is committed to the equality of
citizens and the responsibility of the State to preserve, protect and
assure the rights of minorities in matters of language, religion and
culture. That is why our national leaders while framing the Constitution,
emphasized the doctrine of unity in diversity.
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons
Belonging to National, Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities says
that the promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging to
such minorities contribute to the political and social stability of the
countries in which they live. Meeting their aspirations and ensuring their
rights acknowledges the dignity and equality of all individuals and
furthers participatory development. This in turn contributes to the
lessening of tensions among groups and individuals. These factors are
major determinants for stability and peace. All developed countries and
most developing ones give appropriate emphasis to looking after the
interests of minorities. Thus, in any country, the faith and confidence of
the minorities in the functioning of the State in an impartial manner is
an acid test of its being a just State.
As the processes of economic development unfold, pressures
are likely to build up and intensify when there is unequal development and
some groups or minorities lag behind in the development process. Ideally,
development processes should remove or reduce economic and social
obstacles to cooperation and mutual respect among all groups in the
country. If development processes are misdirected, they may have the
opposite effect. It is this aspect which is important and needs to be
addressed so as to give confidence to minorities.
Since Independence, India has achieved significant growth
and development. It has also been successful in reducing poverty and
improving crucial human development indicators such as levels of literacy,
education and health. There are indications, however, that not all
religious communities and social groups (henceforth socio-religious
communities – SRCs) have shared equally the benefits of the growth
process. Among these, the Muslims, the largest minority community in the
country, constituting 13.4 percent of the population, are seriously
lagging behind in terms of most of the human development indicators. While
the perception of deprivation is widespread among Muslims, there has been
no systematic effort since Independence to analyse the condition of
religious minorities in the country. Despite the need to analyse the
socio-economic and educational conditions of different SRCs, until
recently appropriate data for such an analysis was not generated by
Government agencies. There have been welcome changes in the scope of data
collection with respect to SRCs in the 1990s, which, in turn, has made
this report possible. The current effort is the first of its kind to
undertake a data-based research on the Muslims in India.
2. Mandate of the Committee
In recent years there has been a significant public debate
on the conditions of minorities, especially Muslims. In the absence of any
systematic analysis of available data, this debate has largely revolved
around perceptions and rhetoric. It is hoped that with the publication of
this report, one can pursue a more informed debate on these issues for
influencing public policy.
A wide variety of policy initiatives and programmes have
been launched by successive governments to promote the economic, social
and educational development of the minority communities in India. However,
while the Muslims have no doubt made some visible progress, the perception
remains that the economic and educational gap between the Community and
the rest of the SRCs has been widening. Once the ‘development deficit’
among Muslims is assessed policy interventions will need to be reviewed in
the context of available evidence, and new initiatives launched to grapple
with the marginalization of Muslims in the social, economic and political
space.
Given this background, the Prime Minister constituted a
‘High Level Committee’ for preparation of a report on Social, Economic
and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India vide
notification No. 850/3/C/3/05-Pol. Government of India, Prime Minister’s
Office. The terms of reference of the Committee are reproduced below.
(a) Obtain relevant information from
departments/agencies of the Central and State Governments and also conduct
an intensive literature survey to identify published data, articles
and research on the relative social, economic and educational status of
Muslims in India at the state, regional and district levels, to address,
inter alia, the following questions:
Ø In which States, Regions,Districts and Blocks do
the Muslims of India mostly live?
Ø
What is the geographical pattern of their economic activity, i.e.
what do they mostly do for a living in various States, Regions and
Districts?
Ø What are their asset bases and income levels
relative to other groups across various States and Regions?
Ø What is the level of their socio-economic development
in terms of relevant indicators such as literacy rate, dropout rate,
maternal mortality rate (MMR), infant mortality rate (IMR) etc.? How does
this compare with other communities in various States?
Ø What is their relative share in public & private
sector employment? Does it vary across States and what is the pattern
of the variation? Is the share in employment in proportion to their
population in various States? If not, what are the hurdles?
Ø What is the proportion of Other Backward Classes
(OBCs) from the Muslim community in the total OBC population in
various States? Are the Muslim OBCs listed in the comprehensive list of
OBCs prepared by the National and State Backward Classes Commissions and
adopted by the Central and State Governments for reservation for various
purposes? What is the share of Muslim OBCs in the total public sector
employment for OBCs in the Centre and in various States in various years?
Ø Does the Muslim community have adequate access to
education and health services, municipal infrastructure and bank credit
provided by Government/public sector entities? How does this compare
to access enjoyed by other communities in various States? What is the
level of social infrastructure (schools, health centres, ICDS centres
etc.) located in areas of Muslim concentration in comparison to the
general level of such infrastructure in various States?
( b) Consolidate,
collate and analyse the above information/literature to identify areas of
intervention by Government to address relevant issues relating to the
social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community.
3. Approach and Methodology
Worldwide, minorities tend to grapple with three types of
inter-related issues:
Ø Issues Relating to Identity: Often differences in
socio-cultural practices and backgrounds of minorities make them different
from the rest of the population. Given the multiplicities of identities in
India communities often face problems of mutual adjustment.
Ø Issues Relating to Security: Given certain
conditions, a distinct set of people, small in numbers relative to the
rest of the society, may feel insecure about their life, assets and
well-being. This sense of insecurity may get accentuated if the relations
between the minority and the majority communities are not cordial.
Ø Issues Relating to Equity: The minority community
in a society may remain deprived of the benefits of opportunities that
become available through economic development. The sense of inequity may
be perceptual or a result of discrimination that the minority may face due
to difference in "identity".
It is also evident that identity, security and equity
related concerns are not identical across all minorities. In the same
vein, in a differentiated society, many of these issues are not specific
to the minority communities and segments of the majority community may
also have to grapple with them. Given this broad perspective, it is useful
to distinguish between three types of overlapping issues, that cut across
the categories described above, faced by the Muslim community in India:
Ø Issues that are common to all poor people (Muslims are
largely poor)
Ø Issues that are common to all minorities
Ø Issues that are specific to Muslims
For example, as we would argue several concerns relating
to employment and education specific to Muslims may fall in the first
category. Similarly, some aspects of identity and security may be common
across minorities while some others may be specific to Muslims.
It needs to be recognized at the outset that issues
related to identity, security and equity are intricately linked in complex
ways. However, many of these linkages may be empirically intractable. The
mandate given to the Committee essentially focuses on "equity" related
concerns. Thus, while recognizing the linkages across issues, the report
focuses on equity related problems.
3.1 Need for a Comparative Perspective — Defining
Socio-Religious Categories (SRCs)
In view of the above position, and the fact that
differentiation in Indian society takes several forms, the Committee has
analysed the conditions of Muslims in a comparative perspective.
Unfortunately, it is not always possible to work with a uniform set of
SRCs to undertake comparative analysis as different sources of data
provide different types of information. Caste, religion and
regional/linguistic differentials in economic, social and political
spheres in India have a historical basis and are deeply influenced by the
extant socio-economic relationships, some of which have persisted for
centuries. The Indian socio-economic fabric is more complex than
ordinarily believed because of various unique layers and segments, into
which Indian society is divided and sub-divided.
Given its mandate and autonomy, the Committee was free to
decide the data needs to address the issues listed above. And the
Committee has been fairly eclectic and innovative in its use of data. It
has collected data from various government departments and institutions at
the Centre and the State levels for information on employment, development
programmes and democratic participation in governance. Besides, Banks,
Financial Institutions, Educational Institutions and Public Sector
Undertakings (PSUs) also shared their data. However, the report is based
mainly on the analysis of large-scale surveys and the Indian Census data.
The most prominent among them is the data collected in various surveys by
the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO). In addition, we have also
used the estimates from the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) and the
surveys undertaken by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER),
National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the
National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA). The
availability of relevant data and information is a critical basis for
effective policy making.
Given the diverse sources of data and the fact that often
information exclusively on Muslims was not readily available the
analytical categories created reflect the dictates of the Committee’s
mandate while ensuring optimal utilization of available data. As a result,
different SRC-sets have been used for different data sets.
A. Census of India
The Census 2001 data has been used to understand the
demographic profile, infrastructure availability and educational
achievements at various levels. The SRC-set defined for this data set are:
Ø All or Total population
Ø Muslims
Ø SCs and STs
Ø Other Minorities (non-Muslim minorities along with some
others who have not reported religion or are agnostics)
Ø All Hindus (in selected analyses)
B. Data from the National Sample Surveys
NSSO 55th and 61st Round data have been used to analyse
issues relating to employment, education, consumption patterns and levels
of poverty. Unlike the Census, NSSO data allows identification of Other
Backward Classes (OBCs). The SRC-set defined based on the NSS data are as
follows:
Ø All or Total population
Ø All Muslims
n Muslims — General Category
n Muslims — OBCs (about 1.5 percent of Muslim households
reporting themselves as SCs/STs have been included in this category)
Ø All Hindus
n Hindu — General Category/Hindu-Upper Castes (these two
terms are used interchangeably)
n Hindu — OBCs
n
Hindu — SCs/STs
Ø Other Minorities (minorities
other than Muslims along with some others who have not reported religion
or are agnostics)
C. Data on Banking and Financial Institutions
Banking data was received from different sources and each source was
amenable to the creation of different SRC categories. The main source of
data used is from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relating to the Prime
Minister’s 15 Point Programme, where the following categories could be
distinguished:
Ø All Persons
Ø Muslims
Ø Other Minorities
Ø All Others
Apart from the RBI data, the Committee got access to some data from the
National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD), Small
Industry Development Bank of India (SIDBI), National Minority Development
and Finance Corporations (NMDFC) and National Backward Classes and Finance
Development Corporation (NBCFDC). While in the case of NABARD and SIDBI,
Muslims could be distinguished from the rest of the population, in NMDFC
data, Muslims are distinguished from other minorities. In case of NBCFDC
data, Muslim OBCs were distinguished from other OBCs.
D. Data from government commissions and other government
organizations.
Ø National Backward Classes Commission
Ø State Backward Classes Commission
Ø National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)
E. Other Data Sources such as from the
Ministries/Departments/PSU/Universities and Colleges
As far as possible the categories defined have been used
subject to the availability of information. In most cases, we have been
able to get data only for all Muslims without the break up between Muslim
OBCs and Muslims of the General category.
3.2 Desirability of Further Disaggregation
Detailed population estimates of SRCs can be defined by
the available data from the NSSO 55th (1999-2000) and 61st Rounds
(2004-05). Both the surveys provide information on caste affiliation in
terms of SCs/STs and self-reported identification of OBCs from all
religious communities. Such data is not available from the Indian Censuses
and other surveys. According to these estimates about 41% of Muslims
identified themselves as OBCs in 2004-05; this proportion was 32% in
1999-2000. Among the Hindus, about 43% reported OBC status in 2004-05
whereas it was 38% in 1999-2000, while about 31% people belonged to the
SCs/STs categories in 2004-05.
Analytically it may be useful to disaggregate Muslims of
SC/ST origin from others. Therefore, one can argue for a separate category
of Muslims who report themselves as SC and ST in the NSSO surveys, as has
been done in the case of OBCs. However, such a categorization does not
seem desirable as the sample size in these sub-categories is likely to be
too small to generate meaningful estimates. The share of OBC and general
Muslims is adequate to generate reliable estimates with respect to
different socio-economic variables from the NSSO survey data. However, the
numbers concerned are too small when one looks at the "SC/ST" Muslims.
Only 0.8% Muslims reported themselves as SCs; the share of Muslims
reporting themselves as STs was even lower.
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