By Mahtab Alam,
There is no denying the fact that Muslims in India are one of the most marginalised and deprived communities despite a lot of progress across many socio-economic sectors having been made through various macro-economic and political processes in the 63 years of Independence of India. It is not hard to see that most of promises made in the Constitution and by political parties are yet to be fulfilled.
Muslims, the largest minority of India, officially constituting 13.4% of the total population or 138 million people as per the 2001 census, are lagging behind in terms of most of the Human Development Indicators (HDIs). There are so many evidences to prove the same such as the Gopal Singh Commission, Sachar Committee and National Family Health Survey–III reports, to name a few. In a nutshell, what can be said is that today, the problems that Indian Muslims are facing include the scarcity of not only economic resources but also trained human resources. The socio-economic and educational backwardness is forming a vicious circle in their lives as these are reflective of each other.
The main reasons of backwardness of Muslim community in India are also two fold: first and foremost is government’s apathy towards the empowerment of the community and second, the lack of proper community initiatives itself. Much can be said about the government’s apathy towards the upliftment of the Muslim community. However, it would not be unfair to say that even the community has failed to not only claim and avail its rights but also tap the resources available for its development. The reason can be attributed to lack of information about their own rights and entitlements as citizens, special schemes for the community, organisational setup and trained human resource, etc.
Given this situation, in the following lines, I am not going to celebrate the victimhood of Indian Muslims. Rather, I would prefer to suggest some possible measures to overcome the situation for the attainment of a dignified life, such as an initiative for the empowerment at the small or local level, which can be termed as a Community Empowerment Initiative. Here, I would like to also make it very clear that I am not very much in favour of the charity based approach of Community Empowerment because of two prime reasons; first, it’s the fundamental duty of the State to provide basic infrastructure and needs to its citizens and secondly, it’s impossible for any community to empower itself in real sense through its own limited resources.
Hence, the idea is to empower the local group/community/locality/village/ward through a three dimensional process viz. Awareness, Organisation and Struggle or a rights’ based approach. It will also help us to develop a real and indigenous leadership at local level. It is not necessary to launch such an Initiative at every place at a time. In fact, it would be advisable to begin with one or two. After a period of at least three months, it can be started at some more places.
The objectives of the initiative are to ensure the following at local level:
• Proper functioning of Schools, P.H.C’s, Anagawadi’s,
• Proper implementation of government schemes like MNREGA, ICDS, SSA, NRHM, RTI, Indira Awas Yojana, etc.
• Proper functioning of Panchayat/Ward and utilization of its Budget.
• Process of Democratization and Communal Amity
• People are able to speak for themselves and their rights, etc
Necessary steps and requirements
Before we start the Initiative, the following steps are required:
1. Identification of the village or area
2. Identification of facilitator(s). (At least one. However, it would be ideal if we can provide two, one male and female) and local workers or sympathizers (at least five)
3. Meeting and Consultation of local workers or sympathizers to plan the awareness campaign.
Modus Oprendi of the Initiative will be a three dimensional approach. The Initiative will start with an awareness campaign that can be launched aiming at formulation of a local level committee to further the objectives of the initiative. Once the village level committee is formed, the initiative should start taking practical action.
Awareness: the first lesson of Citizenship– To begin with, an awareness campaign can be launched to educate the citizens at local level. The campaign will focus to make them aware of their basic rights as citizens of this country, discuss problems and issues of local level and, acquaint them with socio-political, economic, educational and other debates of regional as well as national importance. It should always be kept in mind that awareness is not an end in itself and its basic purpose is to persuade and organize people to claim and avail their own rights. The idea is to bring about a change in the perspective and the mind set — to bring about a change in the belief that nothing is going to change or, a change in the consideration of the self as a useless person, and bringing about the realization of being an agent of change. The duration of the campaign should not be more than one month and less than one week. Individual and group meetings should be done during the campaign and representative survey(s) can be done to access the local needs if a survey of the entire village is not possible. An effort should be made to reach the maximum number of families and individuals. Women and Old age citizens should also be contacted. In fact, special efforts should be made to reach out to women and all communities of the area.
Organisation: Formation of Group / Committee– It would be advisable to fix a date well in advance while the campaign is in progress, with the consultation of locals, to call upon a general meeting(of locals) to brief and discuss the issues, problems and the possible way out. In this meeting, people should be told about the future plan of action and asked to join the initiative. Whosoever agrees to join the initiative should be called for the next meeting, in which an ad hoc committee of locals can be formed to start the actual work. This meeting should be called within a week from the day the locals have agreed to join. While forming the committee, the following things should be ensured:
1. Nobody should propose his/her name for any post
2. Election or nomination must be done by consensus
3. 40% representation of Women
4. The tenure of the ad hoc committee will not be of more than three months and less than one month.
The basic function of the committee will be to execute the plan of action formulated in consultation with locals and ensure that the initiative is working for the attainment of its objectives. Once the ad hoc period is over, another general meeting should be called to review the progress, chalk out further plan of action and elect a body for the next year. However such a general meeting must be called once in three months to review the progress and discuss other necessary matters. Different sub-committees can also be formed if necessary. A convener with two assistants (one must be Women even if the convener is female) should be elected. Here I would like to make it very clear that both awareness and organization work will be futile and a mere wastage of time and energy unless we struggle in practical to claim and avail of what are the basic rights.
Struggle: Ensuring the Rights– With the situation in mind and committee in place and having mass base, the initiative should start making interventions at different levels. The First and fore most intervention of the Initiative is to check whether Schools, PHCs and other basic infrastructures and schemes are available or not, and if available, what is their status, and if not, then why not? If Infrastructure and schemes are not functioning properly, it should also be taken into notice and an enquiry should be made into why this is so and, since how long? The real work of the Initiative is to launch a sustained struggle for Proper functioning of Schools, P.H.Cs, Anganwadis, Proper implementation of government schemes like MNREGA, ICDS, SSA, NRHM, RTI, Indira Awas Yojana, etc. and both proper Planning and Functioning of the Panchayat and utilization of the Budget of that area. In the case that the basic infrastructure is not available despite fulfillment of the criteria laid down by the government, then an Initiative should be launched for a struggle to avail the same. It should be very clear in our mind that justice and equity can only be ensured through struggle and not by charity.
Resource Centre– To further facilitate and cater to the immediate needs of locals, a resource centre can be established. The basic function of this centre would be to facilitate discussion on various issues, to provide guidance on various matters and also work as a centre of learning. This does not need to be a separate building. It can be run from the community centre of the village or from the house of any local facilitator(s). The In-charge of the centre will be a facilitator assisted by two local youth, one male and one female.
Last word: At the end of my presentation, once again I would emphasise that mere agendas are not going to help unless we start working on ground because we should always remember Vision without Action is absurd.
(Mahtab Alam is a Civil Rights Activist and a freelance journalist. He can be reached at [email protected]. This paper was first presented in a Seminar on Economic Advancement of Indian Muslims held at Hamdard University, New Delhi)
[TCN Photo: By Mudassir Rizwan]