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Status of Muslims in India : Sachar report placed in Parliament

	December 04, 2006

The report of the Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee on the status of the Muslim community, tabled in Parliament on Nov. 30, paints a grim picture of the conditions in which India’s second largest community is living. The report reveals that the government, the biggest employer in the organised sector, is not hiring more than a minuscule of Muslims.



From the select group of IAS officers to Indian Railways that employs several lakhs, Muslim representation falls well below their proportion in the country’s population.



The 2006 civil lists of key central services - the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Foreign Service and the Indian Police Service - threw up grim numbers. Only 3 per cent of IAS, 1.8 per cent of IFS and 4 per cent of IPS officials are Muslim.



The report doesn’t mention the Muslim presence in the defence services - they were reluctant to send the data - but the community’s share in the national security agencies falls well below their proportion in the country’s population.



At the higher levels of the paramilitary forces, Muslims make up a mere 3.6 per cent of the total, and 4.6 per cent in the lower categories. As many as 96 per cent of Muslims in these agencies fall in the lower categories.



The picture in government departments in the states is just as dismal. “In no state does the representation of Muslims match their population share,” the report said.



Andhra Pradesh is the only state where the representation of Muslims is fairly close to, but still less than, the population percentage.



The committee found the proportion of Muslims in the judiciary “a major point of concern”. Analysing data from 15 states, it found Muslims made up 7.8 per cent of the judiciary, OBCs constituted 23 per cent and scheduled castes and tribes 20 per cent.





———————Box——————



Sachar panel recommendations



National Data bank for socio-religious categories.



Legal redress mechanisms to fight opportunity-denial, bias and discrimination.



Enhance participation in governance.



Fight ghettoisation



Reflect social and religious diversity in school texts.



Exclusive schools for girls.



Cash incentive to schools and colleges to admit more Muslim students.



Introduce Urdu as an optional subject in government schools in states with big Urdu-speaking population.



Link madarasas with higher secondary school board.



Recognise madarasa degrees for competing in public services.



Better access to micro-credit.



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BJP calls it divisive



The BJP has slammed the Sachar Committee report, going as far as calling it the UPA’s “instrument to communally divide the country”.



Party spokesperson Sushma Swaraj said the real motive behind processing the report was not improving the lot of Muslims but creating more rifts in society for electoral gains.



“The report only proves what we have been saying. The Congress and the so-called advocates of Muslims are not really bothered about Muslims. If they were, the Muslims wouldn’t have been as worse off as the report shows.”