State Strategy for Development and Welfare of Muslims in India

STATE STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPMENT AND WELFARE OF MUSLIMS IN INDIA
FOCUS ON EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT, CREDIT FLOW AND EMPOWERMENT

Abusaleh Shariff
National Council of Applied Economic Research
New Delhi – 110 002

Perspective
India is a vast country with varying levels of human development performance among its different states and social groups. India also has one of the largest Muslim populations in the world (102 million), next only to Indonesia. According to the 1991 census, 688 million Hindus, 102 million Muslims, 20 million Christians, 16 million Sikhs, 6 million Buddhists and 3 million Jains live in India. Of the total population of India, Hindus form 82 per cent, Muslims 12 per cent, Christians 2 per cent, Sikhs a little below 2 per cent, and Buddhists less than 1 per cent1. 64.5 per cent of Indian Muslims stay in rural India while 35.5 per cent live in urban areas. More Muslims stay in rural areas in the higher concentration states, while the urban Muslim population is much higher in states which have a lower percentage of Muslims.2

The concept of human development, as put forward in the Human Development Reports of the UNDP define human development as a process of increasing people’s choices by providing them with education, health and employment opportunities. A wider definition of Human Development (Shariff, 2000),3 suggests the following :

· Expanding choices for people so that they can independently decide ways and means to achieve material well-being within the context of the socio-political and economic systems prevalent in a country.

· Creating an ‘enabling environment’ so that the potential of individual human beings comes to the fore for the benefit of humanity and the country in particular.

· Generate equity and equality of opportunity and standard of living among all sections of the population.

However if one looks at literature with regard to the status of Indian Muslims, one finds that Muslims in India have a poor human development status. Widespread illiteracy, low income, irregular employment - implying thereby a high incidence of poverty are all pervasive among the Muslims.

However, this is not to suggest that the status of all Muslims is dismal or that Muslims present a single monolithic picture. Within the community there are wide socio-economic diversities. They have independent needs and these needs vary from state to state , region to region. Therefore, it would be in the interest of the nation as well as of the Muslim community if any welfare measure for the Muslims is considered in the overall framework of India and not remain confined and be seen only as a ‘Muslim’ problem. However it must be kept in mind that identity needs are important for all social groups and the programmes planned for each community must be in some sense unique to the community, keeping their needs and sensitivities in mind, especially at the micro level, even while the nation is kept in mind.

Education
Education, an important indicator of human development, merits attention in this attempt to understand the Muslim position in India, and for any welfare measures to be chalked out for them. While the census reports remain silent – revealing nothing regarding the status of Muslims vis-à-vis education, the few studies that are available are pointers to the backward position Muslims occupy in the field of education. Based on inferences drawn on the basis of data collected by some sample surveys, Massey (1998)4 concludes that the literacy level among the Muslims is on an average 10 per cent less than the National level. (5) According to the Annual Report for 1998-99 of the National Commission for Minorities (untabled)6

‘The enormous Muslim population of India is terribly under-represented in all public services both at the National and State levels. Their presence in general education institution of the country is also much below their population ratio – and is often found to be nil. Education backwardness is both the main cause and the inevitable effect of under-representation of the Muslims in public employment and resource generating bodies . . .’

The educational policies and its practice have been seen as threatening by the Indian Muslims after independence. Rejection of Urdu, the discrimination in gaining admissions, non recognition of minority institutions, the unsecular school culture, the text books which contain material repugnant to the beliefs of Muslims and their inherent bias, and a host of other such inclusions have been perceived by Muslims in India to be a threat to their identity. This perhaps could be an important reason for Indian Muslims opting out of education or else preferring to send their children to traditional centres of education. Increase in the number of Muslim managed educational institutions after 1947 also bears this out. This is also supported by the NCAER data which shows that while 70.3% of Hindu children in the age group 6-14 years of age go to government schools, the percentage of Muslim children going to government schools is only 49.5%, which, according to the NCAER report, could well be due to the medium of instruction and the content of the school curricula7. The table 1 presents the levels of literacy of 7+ population and ever enrolment rate by social groups. It is observed that the literacy rate is low (49%) among Muslims in comparison with Hindu (53%), Christians (81 %) and other minorities (54%) . However, it is higher than the literacy rate of Scheduled caste(42%) and Scheduled tribes(39 %). It is to be noted that the gender disparity is also low among Muslims in comparison with Hindu, Scheduled caste, and scheduled tribes, but higher than the gender disparity among Christians and other minorities. A similar pattern is observed in case of enrolment.

Table 1
Literacy and Enrolment Rate by Population Groups

Social Groups Literacy Rate(7 yrs and above) Gender
disparityin Literacy Ever Enrolment Rate(6-14) years
Gender disparityin Enrolment
Persons Male Female Persons Male Female
Caste
STs 39.3 51.4 26.0 0.51 60.3 67.6 51.5 0.76
SCs 41.5 53.4 28.2 0.53 62.5 69.6 54.7 0.79

Religion
Hindus 53.3 65.9 39.2 0.59 72.0 78.1 65.1 0.83
Muslims 49.4 59.5 38.0 0.64 61.6 66.2 56.6 0.85
Christians 80.8 85.0 76.5 0.90 91.3 90.7 92.1 1.02
Other Minorities 53.8 62.9 43.8 0.70 78.5 83.2 73.6
0.88
Source: India Human Development Report, 1999

Not only at the all-India level but at the state-level as well the literacy rate of Muslims is below that of the Hindus (Table 2). However, this rate is not uniform, varying according to different states. Among the five States the literacy rate for Muslims is the lowest in the state of Uttar Pradesh (35%) and highest in Kerala (86.9%). The Muslim literacy rate is lower than that of the Hindus in all the states except Karnataka where it is higher than that of the Hindus by nearly 4%, i.e. 58.6% whereas literacy rate for Hindus is 54.4%. In West Bengal and U.P. the literacy rate for Muslims falls below that of the SC’s population or is comparable to them, with the Muslim men’s literacy level being below that of SC men in both the States.

If one looks carefully at the data one finds that both UP and Bengal suggest a different picture as compared to the all-India figure. While the literacy figures for Muslims in both Bihar and Kerala are lower than that for Hindus, the percentage difference in both the states is same, i.e. 1.3% and is marginal. However, the differential in both UP and Bengal is much greater being 13.2% and 8.9% respectively. The same kind of differential can be observed when one looks at the ever enrollment rate (see Table 2). The differential between Hindus and Muslims is greater in UP and West Bengal, as compared to the other states of Kerala and Bihar.

Table 2

Literacy and Ever Enrolment Rate (6-14)

Literacy Ever Enrolment Rate
All M F All M F
BIHAR 44.0 56.6 28.8 59.0 64.7 51.2
Hindu 44.5 57.6 29.1 59.9 85.2 76.1
SC 27.1 37.5 15.3 44.1 51.0 35.9
ST 30.5 43.3 16.6 46.0 52.0 39.7
Muslim 43.2 54.6 29.2 54.5 59.5 48.0
Xian - - - - - -

UP 47.0 62.0 28.3 64.2 73.2 53.4
Hindu 48.2 64.0 29.3 66.4 75.8 55.0
SC 32.4 48.1 13.7 53.5 66.0 36.7
ST 33.6 46.5 16.0 53.6 60.6 41.3
Muslim 35.0 47.1 20.2 49.7 56.4 41.4
Xian - - - - - -

KERALA 90.0 93.0 86.5 98.6 99.2 98.0
Hindu 88.2 92.2 84.3 98.7 99.4 97.8
SC 77.4 82.6 72.2 97.2 97.3 97.2
ST - - - - - -
Muslim 86.9 90.4 84.1 97.7 99.1 96.5
Xian 94.8 96.2 93.4 99.4 98.7 100

BENGAL 59.0 66.3 49.9 66.1 67.0 65.1
Hindu 61.0 69.1 52.1 69.8 71.3 68.4
SC 54.5 62.5 46.0 65.7 66.8 64.6
ST 49.1 59.1 38.1 51.0 53.0 47.5
Muslim 52.1 59.3 44.4 57.9 57.2 58.6
Xian - - - - - -

KARA. 55.0 65.1 43.9 77.9 80.6 75.1
Hindu 54.4 64.9 43.0 77.4 79.9 74.8
SC 40.1 49.3 30.2 66.1 69.1 63.1
ST - - - - - -
Muslim 58.6 66.8 49.6 81.9 87.2 76.5
Xian - - - - - -
Source: Azra and Anil Gumber ,2000.

Coming to specific aspects, education and professional training are the basic needs of the Muslims in India. Hence universalisation of elementary education - a constitutional commitment - must be effectively and immediately introduced.

For this purpose the following steps are imperative:

· Providing schooling facilities for all sections of the population is the responsibility of the state. The state cannot shirk it’s duty by quoting the provision of article 28 and 30, whenever education for Muslims is mentioned.

· Special care should be taken while providing for establishing schools and colleges in Muslim concentration areas.

· Establishment of all girls school in areas, which are conservative and have a larger concentration of Muslims.

· Appointment of female teachers in schools serving particularly a Muslim population.

· Revision of textbooks and the school curriculum - to ensure that it is free from bias and from all controversial and objectionable material. Teaching material which is considered to be repugnant to the beliefs of any community should be done away with.

· Introduction of multicultural education as part of the curriculum of teacher training colleges, which include components, which will instill sensitivity among teachers towards members of different communities. This would help in making schools less alien for children coming from different backgrounds.

· Granting recognition to educational institutions set up by the community without any hurdles. However these institutions should be looked upon as supplementing government efforts and not as a replacement of government initiative. Wherever there are inadequate facilities some concession in terms of quality could be given to these institutions as a temporary arrangement for a fixed duration of time. While quality is of vital importance, sacrificing expansion in the name of quality may not be justified. What is being implied here is that it is better to have schools, which maybe not be so well equipped, rather than wait around for ‘quality ‘ schools wherever there are inadequate facilities.

· Making schooling and the curriculum relevant to the needs of the community.

· Removing the stipulation requiring Minority managed educational institutions to have only 50% seats reserved for their community, the other being open seats (as given in the St. Stephen’s judgement).One needs to remember why articles 28 and 30 have been provided for in the Constitution. They were essentially meant to ensure that the identity needs of different communities would be met. The introduction of a stipulation whereby 50% of the seats are denied to the specific community militates against the very spirit of what these articles stood for. Besides would it be fair to ask communities who have set up these institutions with their own resources to also now be responsible to meet the educational requirements of other communities besides their own?

· There should be flexibility regarding the school uniform for all communities, to be able to modify it according to the sensitivity of the community. Uniform should not become the reason why certain children don't go to school. Many western countries have accepted the need for different communities to dress differently and have accordingly given in, allowing for flexibility with regard to school uniform.

· Primary education to the children should be given through their Mother Tongue - if necessary, by aggregating them horizontally in some schools in some sections, if a particular linguistic group in a given area is small.

· Maktabs and madarsas continue to have an important place in Muslim societies as they meet certain religious and educational needs of the community. Over the years these institutions too have been subjecting themselves to scrutiny as a result of which a number of changes have come about, keeping in view the needs of the time. Besides, not all products of these institutions become muftis, qazis or imams. To widen the scope of employment for its products a number of madarsahs have planned their courses of study in such a manner as to facilitate the entry of its students into so called mainstream education at a number of terminal points – elementary , secondary, higher secondary and even at the degree level. The government. scheme of modernization of madarsas has been ill conceived undermining the very raison d’etre of the madarsas. Such interventions can only be counter productive. In any case any scheme of the government intervention in madarsas should not suggest that the government has fulfilled its commitment towards the Muslim community nor provide an alibi for the state not to establish regular schools in Muslim concentration areas. Rather the government should facilitate easy entry of madarsa graduates into mainstream education at a number of terminal points in a large number of institutions across the country, not remaining confined to institutions the Aligarh Muslim University or the Jamia Millia Islamia.

· Another area of importance is vocational and technical training. There is an urgent need for establishing facilities in Muslim concentration areas - as part of the general programme for promotion of technical training. Muslims should also receive equitable share in the benefits of such micro-schemes as TRYSEM at the Panchayat level.

· A more significant area is professional educational. Reservation based on the proportion of population in a given and defined area, not only for Muslims but for all identifiable backward communities (or castes or classes), without diluting the minimum admission requirements, is the need of the hour.

Employment Opportunities and Economic Participation

While the educational backwardness of Muslims in post-independence India is now an accepted fact, with the government openly declaring in 19868 that Muslim and neo-Buddhists were educationally backward – their economic situation is no better. number of studies on the occupation and work participation of Muslims are indicative of the overall socio-economic condition in which Muslims are placed.

Employment Opportunities

From table 3 given below one can see that the WPR for males in rural and urban areas is fairly high. The differential between religious groups for male is also marginal. However, the differential between religious groups for females is substantial. WPR for urban Muslim females is 11.4%, for Hindu female is 15.9% and Christian 23.6%. Amongst rural Muslim females it is 19.6%, for Hindu female it is 33.7%. More Muslims have reported self-employment in category of work as compared to Hindus. However, Hindus share in regular work is substantially higher.

Table 3

Pattern of Employment by Religion in India

Residence/Sex & Religion Self-employed Regular Workers
Casual Workers All WPR
Urban Males
Hindus 39.1 46.4 14.5 100.0 52.0
Muslims 53.3 29.9 16.7 100.0 49.1
Christians 29.7 53.4 17.0 100.0 48.1
Urban Females
Hindus 45.0 27.7 26.4 100.0 15.9
Muslims 60.0 15.7 24.3 100.0 11.4
Christians 34.3 51.5 14.2 100.0 23.6
Rural Males
Hindus 58.5 10.1 31.4 100.0 54.2
Muslims 59.0 7.5 33.5 100.0 50.5
Christians 52.1 12.0 35.9 100.0 -
Rural Females
Hindus 59.9 3.6 36.5 100.0 33.7
Muslims 67.9 3.0 29.1 100.0 19.6
Christians 57.6 9.9 32.4 100.0 37.3
Source : NSS 43rd Round, 1987-88 cited in Abusaleh
Shariff, EPW, November 18, 1995.

Table 4 shows WPRs based on usual and subsidiary status for all persons as well as of adults (15-59). Looking at the WPR (usual and usual and subsidiary) one finds a differential between the WPR of Hindus and Muslims in favour of the Hindus at the all-India level. This finding repeats itself across all the five states under study with the WPR for Muslims being below both the Hindus, as well as, below the averages for the state in all the states, the differential being relatively more in the case of females. An interesting finding is that whereas both in Kerala and Karnataka Muslims are relatively in a better position than their counterparts in the other s tates on most indicators, as far as WPR goes they lag behind as can be seen in the differential between their WPR and that of the state average as well as in comparison to the Hindus as a group.

If we look at the WPR for persons aged 15-59 which is a relatively more stable estimate we find that these differentials persist whereas there is an increase in the overall percentage of those participating for all groups. While the differential is in favour of the Hindus throughout, the WPR for Muslim male (15-59 years) is higher in the state of UP (84.8% Muslims and 80.8% Hindus) and Bengal (85.8% Muslims, 80.9% Hindus) surpassing even the average male (15-59) WPR for each state – UP (81.3%) and Bengal (81.4%) with female (15-59 years) WPR continuing to be lower for Muslims. One needs to probe further this peculiar trend of WPR for Muslim men (15-59 years) being high in UP and Bengal, as well as, the fact that WPR for both Muslim men and women (all persons) is low in the otherwise relatively better developed states of Kerala and Karnataka as far as Muslims are concerned.

Table 4

Work Participation Rate (%) Among all Persons
and Adults by Population Groups
USUAL STATUS USUAL AND SUBSIDARY STATUS
All Persons Adults (15-59) Years All Persons Adults
(15-59) Years
Male Female F/M Male Female F/M Male Female F/M Male
Female F/M
IND 51.9 18.4 0.35 82.7 29.5 0.36 52.4 26.0 0.5 83.1
40.7 0.49
Hin 52.3 19.3 0.37 82.8 30.8 0.37 52.7 26.5 0.50 83.2
41.4 0.50
Mus 48.0 9.6 0.20 82.6 16.3 0.20 48.8 19.3 0.40 83.4
32.0 0.38
Xian 52.8 25.5 0.48 78.0 37.1 0.48 53.3 27.8 0.52 78.7
40.2 0.51
SC 52.8 23.0 0.44 85.0 37.9 0.45 53.2 30.4 0.57 85.4
48.8 0.57
ST 51.6 27.7 0.54 87.2 45.3 0.52 52.4 32.1 0.61 88.0
51.4 0.58

Bih. 48.4 9.1 0.19 81.5 15.1 0.19 49.1 19.0 0.39 82.2
30.5 0.37
Hin 48.8 9.0 0.19 81.7 15.0 0.18 49.5 19.1 0.39 82.3
30.5 0.37
Mus 44.2 6.8 0.15 77.7 11.8 0.15 45.3 17.8 0.39 79.3
29.2 0.37
Xian - - - - - - - - - - - -
SC 50.0 14.5 0.29 85.6 24.1 0.28 50.8 22.7 0.45 86.3
37.3 0.43
ST 49.7 16.4 0.33 78.8 29.1 0.37 50.5 21.5 0.42 79.9
37.3 0.47

UP 48.5 7.4 0.15 81.3 13.1 0.16 48.8 20.6 0.42 81.7
35.4 0.43
Hin 48.6 7.7 0.16 80.8 13.5 0.17 48.9 20.5 0.42 81.2
35.1 0.43
Mus 47.4 5.4 0.11 84.8 10.1 0.12 47.9 20.5 0.43 85.8
37.7 0.44
Xian - - - - - - - - - - - -
SC 50.4 13.5 0.27 86.4 23.8 0.28 50.7 25.3 0.50 86.7
43.2 0.50
ST 44.7 9.7 0.22 81.7 17.3 0.21 44.7 18.9 0.42 81.7
33.7 0.41

Ker. 53.6 28.5 0.53 76.7 40.0 0.52 53.7 29.1 0.54 76.7
40.9 0.53
Hin 55.4 32.9 0.59 77.8 44.8 0.58 55.5 33.6 0.61 77.9
45.8 0.59
Mus 44.1 18.2 0.41 73.2 28.4 0.39 44.1 19.0 0.43 73.2
29.7 0.41
Xian 55.8 26.8 0.48 76.1 36.9 0.49 55.8 26.8 0.48 76.1
37.0 0.49
SC 55.2 42.8 0.78 77.6 59.2 0.76 55.2 43.3 0.78 77.6
60.0 0.77
ST - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ben. 51.8 7.4 0.14 81.4 11.9 0.15 53.4 20.4 0.38 82.4
29.8 -
Hin 52.4 8.3 0.16 80.9 12.8 0.16 54.1 21.2 0.39 81.9
30.1 0.37
Mus 51.5 4.2 0.08 85.8 7.3 0.09 52.7 17.3 0.33 86.5
27.7 0.32
Xian - - - - - - - - - - - -
SC 52.0 7.3 0.14 83.9 12.4 0.15 53.4 20.1 0.38 84.9
30.1 0.35
ST 46.7 21.6 0.50 83.1 36.8 0.44 50.3 39.6 0.79 86.5
59.0 0.68

Kar. 54.5 31.2 0.57 82.1 47.8 0.58 54.9 32.5 0.59 82.3
49.1 0.60
Hin 55.1 31.9 0.58 82.1 48.4 0.59 55.5 33.1 0.60 82.4
49.5 0.60
Mus 48.8 25.4 0.52 82.5 42.3 0.51 48.9 27.0 0.55 82.8
44.4 0.54
Xian - - - - - - - - - - - -
SC 56.7 38.2 0.67 86.9 63.0 0.72 56.7 39.2 0.69 86.9
64.1 0.74
ST - - - - - - - - - - - -
Source: Azra and Anil Gumber ,2000

Discarding the myth of Muslim appeasement, Sikand highlights the economic plight of the community and the concentration of Muslims in peripheral and fast diminishing trades in the urban economy. According to him: “They (the Muslims) are predominant in the ‘self-employed’ category that includes such low-status occupations as those of cobbler, small artisan, rikshaw-puller, pavement stall owner and petty retailer. Relatively fewer urban Muslims than Hindus work for a regular wage or salary, and their representation in the “casual labour� category is higher than that of other communities.9 Corroborating this low status of Muslim employment, Arvind Das adds that here the Muslims “suffer double discrimination, by virtue of being both Muslim and poor�10

According to the annual report of the National Commission of Minorities, the largest minority of the country ‘remains grossly under-represented in all services including the Police’. 11

Summing up the situation of Indian Muslims Tahir Beg writes (12):

· Muslims have negligible presence in the public and private corporate sector both as managers and workers and also as capital subscribers.

· Muslims have nominal presence in the small-scale and cottage organized sector, though they have been pioneers in handicrafts and artisanship.

· In agriculture proper and the allied activities Muslims have a very nominal presence.

· So far as the tertiary public sector is concerned, Muslims have nominal presence in government administrative, police and defence services, and more or less no share in financial and banking institutions. However in the private sector, such as transportation, repairing and other community services, Muslims have an unduly high percentage share.

Consistent denial of opportunities in public and private employment has led to a larger concentration of Muslims in the self employment sector which has to some extent also been beneficial to them. (13). But this is not to suggest that denial of this space is justified especially keeping in mind its importance for both economic and social reasons. Experience has shown that without reservation in public employment, Muslim representation cannot be upgraded. While participation in public employment means creation of social capital and flow of public funds into a community for its overall development; more importantly it gives the community a sense of participation, creates future openings and opportunities for the next generation and above all brings a community out of the wells of frustration and alienation. Participation of Muslims necessitates a reworking of recruitment policies on purely territorial lines, with equal opportunity for all people of all areas, and within an area, for all religious and caste groups. If employment is assured through reservation, it would serve as an incentive for the community to invest in education for the future of its children.

To promote self-employment availability of bank credit is essential, even if it is micro-credit. Banks should have general scheme for micro-credit for the self-employed to provide them the seed money to establish one-man or family ventures. A loan of Rs.10,000 to 25,000 in a mofussil town would not only provide gainful employment for an individual but support an entire family and promote its future.

Wakf properties are another source of development funds. All immovable public Wakf properties should be free of rent control, ceiling and tax laws, so that their income can be raised and the surplus available after meeting the expenditure for the prescribed purposes can be used for education and economic development.

Economic Assets and Income

The average household income for rural India is Rs. 25,653/- per annum and the per capita income is Rs. 4,485/- On an all-India level, the annual household income for Muslims as a social group is below the all-India average, as well as, below that of the Christians (household income – 28,860/- and per capita 5,920/-) and that of Hindus (household income –25,713/- and per capita – 4,514/-) (See Table 6).

The household annual income and the per capita income of both Hindus and Muslims is below the all-India average in Bihar and West Bengal, whereas in Kerala it is above the all-India average. Muslims in Kerala have an annual income of Rs. 29,991/-, higher than the annual income of Hindus in that state (26,344/-) However, the per capita of Muslims in Kerala is lower than that of the Hindus. In UP and Karnataka Muslims have a lower total annual and per capita income than the Hindus. One finds that at the all-India level, as well as, in four out of the five states i.e. UP, Bihar, Bengal and Karnataka, Muslims have a lower level of income as compared to Hindus. There also does not appear to be any relationship between income and literacy levels of the Muslims in the five states as can be seen in the Table 5 given below.

Table 5

Annual Income Per Capita Literacy
Muslim Hindu Muslim Hindu Muslim Hindu
29,991 (Ker.) 27,801 (Kar.) 4,666 (Ker.) 5,435 (Ker.)
86.9 (Ker.) 88.2 (Ker.)
24,298 (UP) 27,079 (UP) 3,826 (UP) 4,897 (Kar.) 58.6
(Kar.) 61.0 (Ben.)
23,661 (Kar.) 26,344 (Ker.) 3,681(Kar.) 4,514 (Ind.)
52.1 (Ben.) 54.4 (Kar.)
22,807 (Ind.) 25,713 (Ind.) 3,678 (Ind.) 4,235 (UP)
49.4 (Ind.) 53.3 (Ind.)
21,369 (Bih.) 22,812 (Bih.) 3,479 (Bih.) 3,726 (Bih.)
43.2 (Bih.) 44.5 (UP)
17,401(Ben.) 18,441 (Ben.) 2,802 (Ben.) 3,298 (Ben.)
35.0 (UP) 44.5 (Bih.)
The table has been arranged in a descending order for both Muslims and Hindus.

Kerala Muslims have the highest annual and per capita income, as well as, the highest literacy level for Muslims among the five states. However, this trend is not visible in UP, which has the second highest annual and per capita income, but the lowest level of literacy among the five states.

At the all-India level, the share of income from agriculture is highest for Hindus (56.1%) followed by ST (55.6%), Christian (46.3%), Muslims (44.1%) and SC’s (37.7%). Muslims share of income from agriculture is below the national average of 55% in all the five states. Muslims, however, get a large share of their income from artisanship and petty trade as compared to the other social groups both at the all-India level, as well as, in the five states under study. However, in Kerala, Hindus earn more as artisans than Muslims while Muslims continue to earn more than Hindus in trade.

Ownership of Assets and Amenities

Land, Draught and Milch animals continue to be important indicators of the level of living in an agricultural society. Table 6 presents data on land and livestock according to the social groups. At the all-India level 63.4% of households have reported ownership of land and the

Table 6

Ownership of assets by Social Groups and States

H.H. Inc. Per Cap. Land Holdings Draught Animals
Milch Animals
%RpHH Avg.R-hhAcres Avg.All hhAcres %RpHH
Avg.R-hhNo. Avg.AllHH %RpHH Avg.R-hhNo. Avg.AllHH
INDIA
Hindus 25,713 4,514 64.5 4.6 3.0 34.3 2.7 0.9 49.6 2.3
1.1
SC 17,465 3,237 46.6 2.8 1.3 22.8 2.7 0.6 38.1 2.0 0.7
ST 19,556 3,504 69.0 4.3 2.9 51.6 3.2 1.6 44.9 2.5 1.1
Muslims 22,807 3,678 56.5 3.6 2.0 28.0 3.9 1.1 38.0
2.7 1.0
Xian 28,860 5,920 58.2 2.0 1.1 12.0 4.3 0.5 30.3 2.3
0.7

BIHAR
Hin 22,812 3,726 60.6 3.7 2.3 39.4 2.6 1.0 44.3 2.4
1.1
SC 15,425 2,706 33.7 3.0 1.0 18.9 3.6 0.7 32.3 2.3 0.7
ST 21,683 3,699 76.6 4.2 3.2 56.4 2.5 1.4 30.0 2.5 0.8
Mus 21,369 3,479 45.0 3.8 1.7 21.4 3.4 0.7 31.9 2.1
0.7
Xian - - - - - - - - - - -

UP
Hin 27,079 4,235 77.7 3.3 2.6 32.5 2.1 0.7 67.4 1.9
1.3
SC 17,259 3,025 63.3 1.9 1.2 25.4 2.0 0.5 56.2 1.7 1.0
ST 21,370 3,292 72.0 3.0 2.2 44.5 1.7 0.8 65.1 1.8 1.2
Mus 24,298 3,826 60.8 3.5 2.1 20.0 1.8 0.4 46.7 1.7
0.8
Xian - - - - - - - - - - -

KER.
Hin 26,344 5,435 74.4 0.8 0.6 2.8 2.0 0.1 20.8 1.4 0.3
SC 16,477 3,415 58.9 0.2 0.1 3.0 1.7 0.1 10.1 1.4 0.1
ST - - - - - - - - - - -
Mus 29,991 4,666 85.2 0.7 0.6 2.0 2.1 0.0 18.5 1.8 0.3
Xian 34,869 7,414 84.9 1.3 1.1 2.5 5.4 0.1 34.5 1.6
0.6

BENGAL
Hin 18,441 3,298 52.3 3.0 1.6 34.7 3.2 1.1 36.5 2.4
0.9
SC 16,396 2,959 47.3 2.1 1.0 31.3 3.8 1.2 31.7 2.3 0.7
ST 11,010 1,993 28.9 2.0 0.6 13.6 1.8 0.2 21.3 2.8 0.6
Mus 17,401 2,802 57.2 2.4 1.4 38.9 3.4 1.3 29.5 2.7
0.8
Xian - - - - - - - - - - -

KARA.
Hin 27,801 4.897 66.6 5.9 3.9 41.2 2.3 0.9 46.7 2.1
1.0
SC 16,579 3,094 43.4 4.6 2.0 27.6 2.1 0.6 26.0 1.8 0.5
ST - - - - - - - - - - -
Mus 23,661 3,681 39.9 5.7 2.3 18.5 2.9 0.5 27.0 2.5
0.7
Xian - - - - - - - - - - -
Source: Azra and Anil Gumber, 2000

average size of land holding for India is 4.5 acres. A larger percentage of Hindus, as compared to Muslims have reported ownership of land, both at the all-India level (Hindus 64.5%) and Muslims (56.5%) and at the state level. However, in Kerala 85.2% Muslims have reported ownership of land as compared to 74.4% of Hindus. Out of the five states Muslims have reported the lowest ownership of land in Karnataka (39.9)and highest in Kerala Hindus have reported highest in U.P.(77.7%) and lowest in Bengal(52.3%).

33 percent of all rural households reported ownership of draught animals (see Table 6). However, here too one finds that the number of Muslim households reporting ownership of draught animals is lower as compared to Hindus, both at the all-India level and at the state level, except in Bengal, where more Muslims have reported than Hindus. The differential is highest in Karnataka where 41.2%. Hindus have reported as against 18.5% Muslims; followed by Bihar where 39.4% Hindus have reported ownership of draught animals as compared to 21.4% Muslims However, this disparity is not consistent when one compares the average number of draught animals owned per reporting household as can be seen in the table. Excepting for UP where the average for Hindus is 2.1% and that for Muslims is 1.8%, in all other states, as well as, at the all-India level, the figure for Muslims is higher than that for Hindus. This shows that while lesser number of Muslim households own draught animals, the ones who do own, have more draught animals as compared to the Hindus i.e. within the community there is greater disparity. Ownership is concentrated in fewer hands.

As far as ownership of Milch animals is concerned Muslims are relatively less well off in comparison to the Hindus. The percentage of Muslim households reporting ownership of Milch animals is lower than the all-India average of 48% in all the five states. While in Kerala the percentage is low for both Hindus (20.8%) and Muslims (18.5%) in the other states the differential between Hindus and Muslims is substantial. The highest percentage of Muslims reporting ownership is in U.P. (46.7)

Political participation and welfare

Political participation is another indicator of a community's empowerment. In a democracy, the legislature is the fountainhead of power. The fact is that the Muslim community is inadequately or simply not represented in several legislatures and even in the Lok Sabha, its representation is less than 50 per cent of what it should be, assesed as per the share in the population. Besides being an alienating experience, absence of legislators from any social group in a plural and segmented society puts that group at a clear disadvantage. The role of the MP or the MLA in promoting the development of his constituency cannot be ever emphasized. The Community’s interests can be brought centre stage with the help of the respective Members of Parliament. This is a natural and legitimate expectation. Hence for any development or welfare programme to reach out to a deprived and backward community and not get diluted or lost in the bureaucratic maze, demands due representation in the legislatures. How this can be brought about, by reservation as in the case of SCs/STs or by changing the present electoral system and adopting proportional representation or through sympathetic action by political parties needs to be given serious thought and details worked out. However it needs to be pointed out that without political empowerment, any development or welfare schemes for the Muslims will at best remain token schemes and as far as the general schemes go, what share the Muslim community will receive in the fruits of development is any body’s guess!

Table 7

Political Participation Rate

Year Total No. of Muslims in Lok Sabha % age of Muslim
Legislators
1952 489 23 4.49
1957 494 22 4.65
1962 494 22 4.45
1967 520 29 5.75
1971 518 29 5.59
1977 542 33 6.08
1980 542 49 9.04
1984 543 45 8.28
1989 543 33 6.07
1991 543 28 5.15
1996 543 27 4.97
Source: M.K.Siddiqui(ed), Muslims in Free India, pp.41.

Demographic and Health Characteristics among Social Groups

Table 8 Demographic Characteristics among Social Groups
Infant Child Total
Mortality Mortality Fertility
Rate

Religion
Hindu 77.1 32.4 2.7
Muslim 58.8 25.4 3.5
Christian 49.2 19.3 2.4

Caste/Tribe
SC 83.0 39.5 3.1
ST 84.2 46.3 3.0
OBC 76.0 29.3 2.8
Other 61.8 22.2 2.6

Source: NFHS, 1998-99

Data in Table 9 shows that only 12 percent of pregnant SC women and 6 percent of ST women have received ANC. Among the religious communities, only 8 percent of Muslims women have received ANC. The percentage of deliveries attended by untrained personnel is higher for STs than SCs (68 percent as compared to 62 percent). Data among religious groups shows that the deliveries attended by untrained personnel is the highest among Muslims. Similarly, percent of children who have received all 8 doses is the lowest among Muslims. Only one third of children belonging to Muslim community have received all the 8 doses of vaccination.

Table 9 Reproductive Health Care among Social Groups

% currently % Deliveries % children
Social Groups pregnant attended by (12-23 months)
Women untrained immunized
received personal (received all
ANC 8 doses
Caste
STs 5.7 68.1 39.5
SCs 11.6 62.4 42.6
Religion
Hindus 9.9 - 49.7
Muslims 8.0 68.5 34.5
Christians 12.3 24.5 72.8
Other Minorities 14.6 53.2 60.0

Source: India Human Development Report, 1999

Data from NFHS, 1998-99 survey shows that the percentage of women suffering from any anemia (mild, moderate or severe) is the highest among STs and SCs. Among the religious groups, percentage of women with anemia is slightly lower among muslims (50 %) compared to Hindus (52 %). Interestingly, NFHS, 1998-99 also records a lower infant mortality rate for muslims than Hindus.

Table 9

Percentage of Children under Age 3 years Classified as Undernourished on Three Anthropometric Indices of Nutritional Status, 1998-99

Social Groups India Bihar Uttar Pradesh
Wt for age% below -2SD Height for age% below -2SD Wt
for height% below -2SD Wt for age% below -2SD Height
for age% below -2SD Wt for height% below -2SD Wt for
age% below -2SD Height for age% below -2SD Wt for
height% below -2SD
Religion
Hindu 47.7 46.0 16 54.2 54 20.7 51.8 55.8 11.7
Muslim 48.3 47.1 14.1 55 53 22.1 53.1 55.3 8.8
Christian 30.8 30.6 13.4 - - - - - -

Caste/tribe
SC 53.5 51.7 16 58.5 57.6 23.1 60.3 63.1 11.5
ST 55.9 52.8 21.8 59.7 56.4 33.5 59.4 69.3 13.7
OBC 47.3 44.8 16.6 55.8 54.7 19.7 53.3 55.7 13.6
Other 41.1 40.7 12.8 43.1 45.1 18.3 45.9 50.3 9.3
Source: NFHS, 1998-99.

As can be seen from Table 9, there is not much difference in the percentage of children under 3 years of age classified as malnourished on three anthropometric indices among Hindus and Muslims. Other Measures for the welfare of the Muslims

· Insistence on making Census data easily available especially in terms of literacy/education/employment/work participation rate among Muslims. It is only when correct data is available that proper intervention can be planned. Maintaining secrecy regarding data will prove to be more counter productive, giving a place of prominence to hearsay/ myths/ stereotypes which will hardly be of any help to the community or the nation at large.

· There is an urgent need to assess the kind of problems faced by Muslim women as well as poor Muslims who are concentrated in urban slums and welfare measures need to be chalked out accordingly. However, as far as Muslim women are concerned the great desire to “reform’ the community and intervention in Muslim personal law should not become the focus for the welfare measures as these can become stumbling blocks rather than bring about any positive change.

· Organizing institutions like SEWA – to insure that the artisans get their due share in the profit of their products.

· Providing soft loans to petty traders to enable them to setup their own shops etc. Maybe some kind of a quota system could be adopted which ensures that Muslims necessarily get the required loan.

· Insistence on making Census data easily available especially in terms of literacy/education/employment/work participation rate among Muslims. It is only when correct data is available that proper intervention can be planned. Maintaining secrecy regarding data will prove to be more counter productive, giving a place of prominence to hearsay/ myths/ stereotypes which will hardly be of any help to the community or the nation at large.

· A fair representation of Muslims on Boards which grant affiliations /aid/loans etc.

· Setting up machinery /disaster management network consisting of Muslims in adequate numbers to look after victims of communal riots and work towards rehabilitation and compensation.

· Regulate funds sponsored by the Waqf board to look after the needs of Muslim women (divorcees/widows) who do not have any other means of income or support.

· Muslim representation in the Police/PAC/ Army, etc.

· Organizing programmes for teachers/police/govt.officials-sensitizing them towards the needs of the minority.

· The Bureaucracy needs to be sensitized to deal with special problems of the Muslims, both at the policy making level and at the implementation level.

· Tabling the Reports of the Minority Commission in parliament on an annual basis and making it public so that policy makers/bureaucrats etc are familiar with the kind of grievances of the Muslims and are not misled by biased media reporting.

· Right to information should be the backbone of any welfare measure. This would imply that information concerning jobs, availability of govt. schemes, educational facilities, etc. should be available to the different communities in their language. This would mean that govt. advertisements regarding the above should reach speakers of different languages and not remain confined to the English and Hindi medium readers. Its only when information is available that people would be able to access different facilities. For example, if advertisements for courses in various colleges or information regarding vacancies are released only in English and Hindi dailies those reading, for example Urdu and Punjabi newspapers would be left out and therefore basic information gets denied to them. This is then not a case for equality of educational opportunity.

· Location of schools/banks/colleges/universities contributes in a major way to who access them. Therefore there should be a concerted effort made to ensure that a sufficient number of such institutions are opened / located in areas which can be easily accessed by the Muslims.

§ Development of industries and opportunities for work should be created in areas of Muslim concentration to enable them to get employment.

--------------------------------
Notes:

1. Bose, Ashish(1997) Population profile of Religion in India. Delhi: B.R. Publishing Corporation.

2. Massey, James(1998). Studies in Educational and socio-economic problems of the Minorities in India. A Report of the National Commission for Minorities.

3. Shariff, Abusaleh (2000). ‘Relative Economic and Social Deprivation in India.’ Paper presented at an international seminar on ‘Multi-dimensional definition of poverty in India and Latin America’, held at the International Development Centre, Oxford University, Oxford, October 27-28,2000.

4. Massey, James, op.cit.

5. Shariff, Abusaleh(1995)Socio-economic and Demographic Differentials between Hindus and Muslims in India, EPW, November 18,1995 and Razzack, Azra and Gumber, Anil, Differentials in Human Development : A Case Empowerment of Muslims in India. Paper presented at a seminar organised by the NCAER, in November, 2000.

6. National Commission for Minorities (1998-1999) Annual Report (un-tabled), pg. 27.

7. Shariff, Abusaleh(1999). India Human Development Report. A Profile of Indian states in the 1990’s. New Delhi: Oxford university Press, pp.121.

8. Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development (1986). National Policy on Education. Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development (1986).

9. Sikand, Yogendra (1996). ‘The Myth of Muslim Appeasement’. The Bulletin of the Henry Martyn Institute of Islamic Studies, January-June 1996, pg. 9.

10. Das, Arvind (1992). India Invented. A Nation in the Making. Delhi : Manohar Publishers, pg. 99.

11. National Commission for Minorities (1998), op. cit., pg. 27.

12. Quoted in Zakaria, Rafiq (1995). The Widening Divide. An Insight into Hindu Muslim Relations. New Delhi: Penguin Books India.

13. Razzack, Azra and Gumber, Anil, ‘Differentials in Human Development: A Case for Empowerment of Muslims in India’. Paper presented at an international seminar in New Delhi, November, 2000.