Final part of the 2-part series on Gujarat’s development
By Faraz Ahmad
In the second and final part of his report, chief economist of National Council of Applied Economic Research, released by the Washington based US-India Policy Institute, Shariff exposes a myth created originally by the Sachar committee report on the state of Muslims all over the country and then perpetuated by Gujarat government led by Narendra Modi and his party, the BJP, that the socio-economic and educational condition of Muslims under his regime is far better than progressive states like West Bengal ruled for over 35 years by Left Front government.
However this was fallacious argument for two reasons. First as shown in the first part of this report Gujaratis being a mercantile community the prosperity and therefore the socio-economic and educational level of Gujaratis, Muslims or Hindus (especially caste Hindus) has all along been better than their counterparts in the rest of the country. It is worth remembering that the founder of Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah was also a Gujarati belonging to a mercantile family who acquired wealth and fame by practicing law. The second most important criterion was to judge the disparity between the Muslims and others in the same circumstances and region. And the third was the number of schemes any government launched for improving the lot of any backward community, in this case the Muslims.
Modi and BJP argued that the state of Muslims in Gujarat both economically and socio-educationally was far better than many of the ‘secular’ states and he quoted Abusaleh Shariff’s February 2011 study.
This study assesses poverty and human development amongst socio-religious groups within Gujarat with a focus on Muslims. It says that poverty among Muslims is eight times (800%) more than high caste Hindus, and about 50% more than the Hindu OBCs and the SCs/STs. According to this report, over 60% of all Gujarati Muslims live in urban areas and they are most deprived social group in Gujarat. On the other hand rural poverty among Muslims is two times (200%) more than high caste Hindus. Gujarat, unlike a few other states has not provided any specified quota in employment and higher education for the Muslims. While Muslims have bank accounts, proportionate to the size of their population, the bank loans outstanding which indicate financial inclusion, are only 2.6%. Muslims are also found to be soft targets of petty thefts and harassment of girls, compared to other communities.
Muslims in Gujarat: Struggling but lagging behind [TCN Photo]
Education: Educationally, Muslims are the most deprived community in Gujarat. Despite 75% net enrolment, about similar levels compared to other groups, Muslims are deprived at the level of matriculation and higher levels. A mere 26% reach matriculation whereas this proportion for the others except the SCs/STs is 41%. The SCs/STs, fare about the same on this count. Among Muslims a large dropout takes place at about 5th standard. A disturbing trend was noticed in case of education at the level of graduation. Muslims, who had about the same level of education in the past, are found to have been left behind compared even with the SCs/STs, who have caught up with higher education. On the other hand it is the high caste Hindus who have benefited most in the recent years from the public provisioning of higher education, the SCs/STs are catching up and the Muslims are left behind. The disparity in access to higher education is increasing over time. This clearly is an evidence of discrimination in provisioning of higher education access, infrastructure and related services.
To overcome the Muslim deficit in different levels of education, the central government has launched a nationwide scholarship scheme with effect from April 1, 2008. All states have responded favourably, with the only exception of Gujarat which has not implemented even the pre-matric scholarship for minorities. There are 55,000 scholarships allocated to Gujarat of which 53,000 are to be given to deserving Muslims, but Gujarat has not cared to implement this programme.
Employment: The work participation rate is common measure of employment; in Gujarat this is 10% lower for Muslims at 61% compared to the Hindus who have a ratio of 71%. Gujarat has higher unemployment rate for Muslims compared to say West Bengal. The Muslims traditionally being artisans and skilled workers should have a relative advantage in handling mechanical and tool work; therefore normally they secure employment as industrial labour in considerable proportion in manufacturing and organized industry in the rest of the country. In most states, Muslims form higher percentage of the workforce in manufacturing and the organised sector compared to Hindus and it is only in Gujarat, the reverse is true.
Manufacturing and organized sector and PSU employment: There was a time when Muslims dominated the state’s textile industry in power looms, textile mills and handlooms and in diamond cutting and polishing industry not to speak of chemicals, pharmaceuticals and processing industries. But now Muslims barely make it to the workforce in the manufacturing and organized sector in Gujarat. While at an all-India level, Muslims’ share in this sector is 21% in Gujarat it is merely 13, much lower than Maharashtra at 25 and West Bengal at 21. Across India Muslims have much better employment in state level public sector enterprises. It is only in Gujarat that Muslims do not have access to organized and PSUs employment when compared to other communities and other states in India. This finding was counter-checked by second set of data in multi-variate analysis.
Generally there is a reference to the Sachchar report pointing to the fact that Muslims are indeed present in substantial proportion (compared with other states such as West Bengal, UP etc. in government employment in Gujarat. It is so but such employment has taken place during the last five decades or so, these are not recent appointments. Gujarat government has failed to provide any data on how many Muslims have been provided employment in government and PSUs from category A to D in say last ten years.
Safety and Security: The human development survey of the NCAER canvassed a few questions which relate to the safety and security of citizens. All respondents were asked to assess the condition of village and neighbourhood conflict. Further, any experience and occurrence of theft/burglary and harassment of adolescent girls was also recorded for the reference year. Gujarat is one of the high neighbourhood/village conflict states, next only to Uttar Pradesh (82%) and Uttarakhand on par with West Bengal. But one notices in Gujarat considerably large inter-community variation in the household experience in theft/burglary in Muslim households in rural Gujarat registering 35% compared to only 5% for other communities in rural Gujarat. In Urban areas this share was 13 % for Muslims compared to 11$ for others households highlighting the fact that Muslims are vulnerable and easy targets of such crimes. As for harassment of girls, 17% urban households reported such occurrence and threats to their girls, considerably higher than others, with the exception of SCs in rural rears where 34% of the populace reported 39% such incidents.
First part : http://twocircles.net/2012apr30/abusaleh_report_debunks_modi%E2%80%99s_claims_growth.html
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Faraz Ahmad a senior Delhi-based journalist, with leading English daily He can be contacted at [email protected]