House for all

The Sachar Committee report on 8216;Social Economic and Educational Status of Muslim Community in India8217; presents Parliament with a profound challenge. The report lays on the table systematic data to illustrate how more than five decades after Independence, the Muslim community lags behind the national average, and even other disadvantaged social groups, on almost every measure of well-being. Parliament is being called upon to confront this breakdown at a particularly piquant moment. These are turbulent times for democracy, and societies across the world are straining for a closer look at the unique 8216;Indian model8217; of a liberal constitutional democratic order that also nurtures diversity. India owes it both to itself and the world to address the chronic backwardness of its largest minority in the most spacious and enlightened ways.

Members of Parliament across the political spectrum must resist the tug of older habits and routines. The dismal ranking of the Muslim community in terms of income, education, work participation rates, representation in public institutions, access to credit, healthcare and housing has been shored up by a mainstream politics that either turns its back on the problem, by citing Muslim 8220;appeasement8221; for instance, or responds to it in only the symbolic ways. The search for solutions must also take on board lessons from the Indian state8217;s affirmative action programme for backward caste groups. While Muslim exclusion from key public spaces must be urgently reversed, the crafting of the appropriate policy design for a community that is internally differentiated requires patient thought. What is the proper balance to be struck between redistribution and growth? Most of all: how can the special and specific needs of Muslims be addressed without losing sight of the imperative to draw them seamlessly into the broader whole? Experience has shown that the politics of empowerment can also be a ghettoising one.

The Sachar report makes several recommendations 8211; including the setting up of an Equal Opportunities Commission and a Monitoring Mechanism that ensures 8216;fair representation8217; across communities in public bodies. These must be discussed. But let no one forget that the most fundamental solution has always stared us in the face. We need to begin at the beginning. For a genuinely level playing field, all Muslims must have access to good quality education.