What a major new report on the status of Muslims in India has found

How did the backwardness of India’s Muslims emerge as a policy issue, and how has the approach of the state evolved over time?

In June 2006, the UPA government approved the Prime Minister’s 15-point Program for Minorities to initiate a series of minority-centric policies and schemes. That January, a new Ministry of Minority Affairs had been carved out of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.

Earlier, in October 2004 and March 2005, the government had appointed the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (Justice Ranganath Misra Commission) and a High Level Committee on Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India (Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee) respectively.

Both the Sachar Committee, which submitted its report in 2006, and the Ranganath Misra Commission, which submitted its report in 2007, strongly recommended that Muslims should be treated as a marginalized community.

Over time, the government introduced several policy initiatives for the socio-economic uplift of Muslim communities. In 2013, the Post Sachar Evaluation Committee was instituted under Prof Amitabh Kundu of Jawaharlal Nehru University to evaluate the implementation of the Sachar Committee Report and the Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Program. This committee submitted its report in 2014.

The BJP led-NDA government that came to power that year adopted the ideal of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas for the social inclusion of all groups and communities. It initiated significant changes in the policy framework, and restructured existing programmes and schemes led by the Ministry of Minority Affairs.

In the post-2014 policy framework, Muslim empowerment is not treated as an exclusive concern. The changed official position on the affirmative action framework, especially with regard to India’s Muslim communities, cannot be understood without analysing the government’s policy priorities, and its vision of welfarism.

How does the new report approach its task of assessing affirmative action for Muslims in contemporary India?

The report has four broad themes.

First, it examines the changing nature of the state and its official perspective on social welfare, using the term ‘charitable state’ to describe these changes.

Second, it maps out the contemporary policy framework and its implications for Muslims by critically engaging with official documents, mainly those published by NITI Aayog.

Third, it surveys the educational and economic status of Muslim communities by analysing official data collected from different sources.

Fourth, it explores the perceptions, expectations, aspirations, and anxieties of Muslims about their socio-economic backwardness and marginalisation, using data from the CSDS-Lokniti archive.

What is the present educational status of Muslims?

School-age children from Muslim households are the least likely to participate in upper levels of schooling, although their participation has increased in recent years.

The participation of Muslim youths in the post-secondary level remains the lowest among all socio-religious groups (SRGs). The share of graduates among Muslims remains small.

In terms of access to private schooling, Muslim students are slightly better off than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. However, they are far behind Hindu forward castes (HFCs) and Hindu Other Backward Classes (HOBCs). The gap persists even after controlling for differences in household characteristics and location of residence.

In the higher levels of education, Muslim students are less likely to choose technical/ professional/ management courses than SCs, HOBCs and HFCs. The gap does not close even after accounting for differences in household characteristics and location of residence.

What is the position of Muslims in the job market?

In terms of the levels of consumption and asset ownership, a large section of Muslims continue to face material deprivation.

While all other disadvantaged SRGs have improved their position in the labour market through a measure of upward mobility in the employment structure over time, the gains have been the least for Muslims. Relative to HFCs, the position of Muslims in the job market has not changed significantly.

As for access to regular salaried jobs, higher levels of education help Muslims to catch up with others. But in terms of access to white-collar occupations, Muslims lag behind HFCs.

What can be done to address this situation?

The new report proposes two broad principles for a revised interpretation of affirmative action for Muslims: strong secularization of social policy, and a positive, non-discriminatory official portrayal of Muslim cultural identity. Based on these principles, the report makes seven specific recommendations.

First, there is no need for a religion-based quota under the OBC category. A rational, secular sub-categorization of OBC is needed.

Second, the SC category must include Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians as well.

Third, the existing 50% cap on reservation must be re-evaluated on a rational basis to accommodate new backward communities in the affirmative action framework.

Four, the convergence of Transformation of Aspirational District Programme (TADP) and the Minority Concentration District (MCD) is one of the main findings of this study. This space-centric approach to affirmative action should be the basis for engaging with a diversified set of local-level programs.

Five, a conscious and proactive policy may be designed to address the problems of those occupations in which Muslims are disproportionately, if not exclusively, represented.

Six, the private sector must be involved in the discussions on community empowerment.

Seven, the capacity-building of Muslim community organisations, charities, and self-help groups must be prioritised. It might help them to establish links with ongoing welfare programs and policies.

Ahmed and Alam are Associate Professors at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi; Parveen is Associate Fellow, Policy Perspectives Foundation (PPF), New Delhi. They are the authors of Rethinking Affirmative Action for Muslims in Contemporary India, which was released on February 5. The study was commissioned by the US-India Policy Institute (USIPI), Washington DC, and published by the Centre for Development Policy and Practice (CDPP), Hyderabad.