Rural Muslims in Bihar more inclined to civil services

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,

New Delhi: Most of 37 Muslim candidates who qualified this year for top government jobs in Bihar by clearing Bihar Public Service Commission exam are from rural areas in the state. A heavy majority of aspiring as well as working civil servants are also from rural areas or small towns/qasbas. Urban Muslims, however, are more interested in easy and early earning – so prefer private jobs or business.

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Why do rural Muslims want government jobs more than private ones or businesses when many private jobs pay many times more than a government job?

“The rural people still have craze for government jobs particularly civil services,” says Khursheed Ahmed who teaches at NIIT Patna. “The rural people want to see their sons as DM, SP, DSP, SDM etc. while urban people want early income, they don’t have patience for long struggle for a government job,” he adds.

“Moreover, preparation for civil services wants time, devotion and patience which rural people are ready to give and which urban people lack,” says Khursheed who also runs a coaching institute at Ramna Road, the Mecca of coaching centres in Bihar’s capital city of Patna.

The Sarvodaya Civil Services coaching centre took its 46 students all through Preliminary and Mains to the interview for Bihar administrative services conducted by BPSC this year. Most of them were from rural Bihar. Of 46, 42 were Muslims, and of them 16 got success. All of these 16 Muslim youths except a few are from rural areas or small towns.

Perween Jahan, the only lady among 37 successful Muslim candidates, belongs to Patna and Md Irfan Alam to Muzaffarpur. Among others, three are from Saran, two each from Siwan and Banka and one each from Nalanda, Gopalganj, Bhagalpur, Aurangabad, Madhubani, Ara and Sitamadhi.

Making true the dream of their parents, some of these boys will assume office as SDM, DSP, District Election Officer or District Education Officer.

List of successful candidates of Sarvodaya Civil Services coaching centre

On why more rural people are taking civil services, M Rafi, Director of Sarvodaya Civil Services coaching centre says: “As commercialization is increasing, urban people tend to earn as soon as they get some ability or skill. They want to earn early and for this they do some professional courses like computer, MBA etc. But in rural areas there is still craze for civil services.”

He further says: Rural parents have dream to make their sons IAS, IPS. In urban areas they want to make their kids engineer, doctor and other professional to earn money early. In rural areas, parents do not want money from their kids early. But in town, even before graduation, people start earning. Jobs of civil services want devotion, and urban people lack this.

By April 1, 2008, there were 1492 Bihar Administrative Service officers in civil category in Bihar. Of them 166 were Muslims. Of these 166, only 13 were from Patna, 9 from Muzaffarpur and 5 from Gaya. The rest were from small towns/qasbas. Contrast this Muslim urban-rural divide with the Hindu community.

Of 1326 working Bihar Administrative Service officers in civil category by April 1, 2008, 174 were from Patna, 41 from Muzaffarpur and 48 from Gaya.