Waiting for the diversity index

Reservation as the main point of debate may impede the broad-based affirmative action needed to eliminate the deprivation of Muslims in India. That the state of Muslim deprivation that has prevailed even after six decades of Independence, and after 15 years of economic reform, suggests that there is a systemic failure on the part of policy design and political thought.

As early as 1953, Nehru wrote, “In the services, generally speaking, the representation of the minority communities is lessening. In some cases, it is very poor indeed… looking through Central Secretariat figures, as well as some others, I am distressed to find that the position is very disadvantageous to them, chiefly to the Muslims and sometimes to others also. In the vast Central Secretariat of Delhi, there are very few Muslims.” Only a year later in a communication to a chief minister, Nehru noted, “Muslims feel deep sense of frustration. They feel that the services are not really open to them in any marked degree, whether defense, police or civil.” It is also instructive to highlight the fact that Mrs Indira Gandhi in a letter dated May 23 1975 directed all the central ministries and department and the state governments to “nominate… a member of the minority community in the selection committee/board for recruitment to group ‘C’ and group ‘D’ posts within the overall sanctioned strength of the committee/board.” Again, in a notification dated August 16 1990, it was further communicated to all the above cited ministries and departments to conform to the original notification as no compliance was in evidence since 1975. This position is reiterated on January 8, 2007 by the department of personnel and training of the Government of India to all central and state departments to ensure compliance.

In India, the state is duty bound to ensure ‘diversity’ in public spaces including in educational institutions, employment both in the public and private sectors, in banks and credit institutions and in residential living spaces. The measurement of diversity must be undertaken, to begin with, at the local area such as panchayat, urban municipality, the catchment area of a college/university. The diversity index can be then appropriately aggregated at the level of administrative blocks so as to get a proportionate reflection of the population characteristic such as at the ‘taluka’, district and state levels.

School textbooks are a vital medium to inculcate an ideology cherishing India’s diversity. In recent years, there is a tendency in some states to introduce selective and often derogatory interpretations of history and culture in school text books. Such a design could polarise the future generations which can jeopardise the integrity of the Indian state.

The other recommendations that must be pursued are: To set up a National Data Bank (NDB) and an autonomous Assessment and Monitoring Authority (AMA) to evaluate the benefits from development programmes. The diversity index can be a tool for monitoring, assessment and evaluation in such a way that timely interventions can be made, if necessary, in the course of time-bound programmes that national and state governments must chart out. There is also a need to set up an Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) on the model of the UK Race Relations Act, 1976 in order to look into specific and individual grievances of deprived groups.

Abu Saleh Shariff is member secretary of the prime minister’s high level committee on Muslims. This article is co-authored with Mujibur Rehman who teaches at Jamia Millia University, New Delhi