People's Democracy

SACHHAR COMMITTEE FINDINGS

Act Now

THE much-awaited report of the Justice Sachhar Committee, appointed in March 2005 by the prime minister, to evaluate afresh the education and socio-economic status of Muslims has been presented in the parliament. Media reports, anticipating its content, had widely reported the abysmally low status of the Muslim minority on the basis of a wide ranged criteria. The RSS/BJP who thrive on sharpening communal polarisation tom-toming the myth of ‘Muslim appeasement’ created a hue and cry against collecting data on the status of the Muslims. The Sachhar Committee report nails the lie of such ‘appeasement’. If anything it exposes how expression of concern for the welfare of the Muslim minority by successive central governments never translated in reality for betterment of the community. Needless to add, in the coming issues of People’s Democracy, through these columns, we shall surely study and analyse these findings. 

To set the record straight, this is not the first instance when the government of the day appointed commissions to ascertain the status of the minorities. The first non-Congress government at the centre set-up a Minorities Commission in 1978. Ignoring this, upon returning to power, the new Congress government in 1980 appointed a separate committee to study the status of minorities and other backward classes. Initially, Dr V A Sayid Mohammed was its head only to be replaced by Dr Gopal Singh soon after. This Gopal Singh committee submitted its report in June 1983. Mysteriously, the content of this report was officially never released and no action proposed on its recommendations. Later, in 1995, the National Commission for Minorities had collected data on the share of minorities in the police and paramilitary services and concluded that their presence, particularly of Muslims, was “deplorably disproportionate to their population”. In May 1996, a 12-member sub-group of the Planning Commission on Minorities provided detailed data and came to a similar conclusion and observed that, “as even 50 years after independence, there are serious imbalances and inequities in respect of the representation of minorities in all public employment; top priority should be given to the adoption of measures to rectify this situation”. Subsequently, the National Commission on Minorities has been submitting periodic reports of similar nature. 

The findings of the Sachhar Committee report, thus, do not come as a surprise. It, however, offers on the basis of excellent data collection and research, an updated account of education and socio-economic status of the Muslim, who undoubtedly are the worst sufferers among the various minorities constituting India. If anything, their status as compared to the earlier findings has only declined and in many cases being worse-off than the dalits and the adivasis. 

The RSS/BJP ideologues concerned as they are with their myth of ‘Muslim appeasement’ being exploded have come up with diabolic reasoning to oppose any affirmative action to improve the welfare of the Muslims. One such reasoning goes as follows: The issue concerning the Muslims was settled in 1947 with the partition of the country and the creation of Pakistan. Why should India do anything more for the Muslims now? They deliberately ignore the fact that a larger number of Muslims, larger than the population of Pakistan, (including East Pakistan, now Bangladesh) then had chosen to remain in India as this was their motherland. The strength of the modern Indian republic lies in the celebration of its diversity and not bemoaning it like the communal forces do. The welfare of the minorities is an important index of the success of India’s secular democracy. On this count, to make India more vibrant and strong, the Indian State will have to embark on an affirmative policy and action trajectory. 

The other diabolic reasoning goes as follows: Since for over four centuries, various Muslim kingdoms ruled India before the British arrived, if the conditions of the Muslims is so woeful today, then, they themselves, are to be blamed. The blame for their backwardness is thus put on Islam and the socio-cultural traditions and practices of the Muslim community. Like with all other religions and cultures, there may be a need for social reforms amongst the Muslims. That is an entirely different question. The leaders of the Muslim community must and will surely deal with this aspect. This, however, can be no excuse for the Indian State to abdicate its responsibilities to ensure that the Muslims alongwith all other minorities get their due share of our economic growth and acquire a status commensurate with their proportion of population. The RSS/BJP thus continue to use ‘appeasement’ as a weapon to prevent the granting of legitimate elementary human rights to the Muslim minorities.

Much has appeared in the Sachhar Committee report on the situation of Muslims in West Bengal. West Bengal has, compared to the all India situation, a proportionately higher percentage of Muslim population –– 25.20 per cent. Though in terms of literacy and such indicators, the status of Muslims is the same, if not higher than the all India average, in terms of employment in government jobs etc, their percentage is woefully lower than their proportion of population. The CPI(M)-led Left Front government in West Bengal has been conscious of this and has initiated over the years a number of programmes and initiatives. Far from our detractors hope that the CPI(M) would be embarrassed by these findings, these, on the contrary, had already been noted and proposals for remedial action have been initiated. However, while we shall return to this issue subsequently in these columns, it is pertinent to note some points. 

In British India, way back in 1870s, the then Viceroy Lord Meo asked Sir William Hunter (of the Hunter Commission fame which, amongst others, recommended the establishment of universities in India) to study the causes of Muslim unrest. In 1871, the study titled ‘Our Indian Musalmans’ revealed that the number of Muslims in government jobs in the Bengal province was as follows: “Assistant engineers (three grades): Hindu 14, Muslim 2; sub-engineers & supervisors: Hindu 24, Muslim 1; overseers: Hindu 63, Muslim 2; accounts department: Hindu 50, Muslim 0; registered legal counsel: Hindu 239, Muslim 1….” And so on. However, there is nothing on record to show any concrete steps were ordered to correct this imbalance. Modern day Bengal has inherited this legacy. The Partition saw the migration of the Nawabs, landlords and the wealthy to East Pakistan.

Post-independence decades also compounded the problem by various waves of immigration of Muslim populations. Kolkata continues to attract the poorest of Muslims from neighbouring states in search of livelihood and survival. 

But this, however, cannot be an excuse for allowing such a state of affairs to continue. Ever since the Left Front assumed office in 1977, some measures were undertaken, but even these now need to be bolstered with new initiatives. With effective decentralisation of democracy through the panchayati raj, the representation of the minorities in the elected posts is at par with their share in population. The success of the land reforms also shows tangible benefits going to the Muslim minorities. For instance, in a study conducted in a village in the Bankura district, one of the most economically backward district in the state, there was not a single landless Muslim while there were seven dalits and two adivasis and one in the general category. In terms of unemployment rates, compared to the all India figures of 21 Muslims for 1000 people, in Bengal, it is 15 Muslims. However, such statistics do not detract from the fact that positive affirmative action needs to be urgently undertaken. With this in mind, the CPI(M) has suggested that there should be a sub-plan for the Muslims on the lines of the sub-plan for the tribals and the North-East that exists today. According to this, 15 per cent of all governmental plan expenditures must be earmarked for improving the welfare of the Muslim minorities. The West Bengal chief minister has, in fact, raised this issue already with the Planning Commission during the discussions on the Eleventh Plan. At the state level, the West Bengal government has formally decided through a cabinet resolution to formulate and implement such a sub-plan in order to redress the situation.

This is the direction in which we shall have to move at the all India level. Doing justice to the findings of the Sachhar Committee means to translate tangible benefits to the Muslim minorities as an obligation demanded of a responsible government in modern India. The UPA government, unlike its predecessors, as we have noted above, cannot shirk from this responsibility. It would be an utter disgrace and gross irresponsibility, if the pressures from the RSS/BJP led communal forces are allowed to succeed in thwarting such an effort.