Justice Rajindar Sachar Committee Report has yet not been submitted, though some of its findings have appeared in a section of the media. Two of the numerous findings are especially disturbing. First, it has been found that the Muslim enrolment rate has gone down since 1965 and today it stands below that of the scheduled castes. The reason is that the scheduled castes have achieved a comparatively better educational progress.
Second, jails are the only place or area where Muslims are over-represented. That their share in jail population is more than their share in India’s population. This shows that poverty and illiteracy have compelled Muslims to enter the world of crime and land in police custody and jails.
There is a strong link between illiteracy or lack of education and crimes. Poor education, caused by whatever factors, internal or external, is instrumental in keeping Muslims backward, economically and otherwise. And it is a known fact that poverty or economic deprivation compel people to indulge in criminal activities. This explains why Muslims are over-represented in jails.
Another interesting finding is that even in states ruled by the so-called secular parties, the Muslim community has fallen way behind the others in every sphere of life. And it is their educational backwardness which accounts for their decline in every other field. Therefore, the Sachar Committee’s suggested/ recommended solution is to empower Muslims educationally which would ensure and facilitate their empowerment in all other fields.
The data collected by the Sachar Committee shows that West Bengal is the state where the Muslims are the most backward. Before people jump to the conclusion that the prolonged left parties’ rule in the state has done no good to the Muslims, they have swung into action to preempt any adverse effect that it might cause. So, the left leadership has proposed that every ministry in the Central Government reserves 15% of its allocated budget for Muslim advancement and development. May be, it is just an attempt to take credit for what the Sachar Committee is reported to have already recommended in its yet to be submitted report.
It is certain that there would be more politicking in the days to come, especially after the final report of the Sachar Committee is submitted. A section of the population would surely make a lot of hue and cry condemning it as yet another attempt of Muslim appeasement. But the data collected by the Sachar Committee prove it beyond doubt that both due to internal and external factors Muslims have fallen behind in terms of empowerment and development. It would have just an academic relevance if we try to know whether the Muslim decline and backwardness is because of their own commission or has been caused by outside inimical forces or a combination of both the factors has brought about this sorry state of affairs. What matters is the fact that they are indeed the most backward section of the population.
Let us hope that the Sachar Committee’s report, whenever it is submitted, unlike the reports of many other Committees and Commissions, would not be consigned to the Government archives to gather dust. The right-thinking citizens must ensure that the report is thoroughly discussed, within and outside the Parliament, leading to the formulation of a concrete and pragmatic programme of actions for Muslim empowerment and development.
It is universally accepted by social scientists and thinkers that the perennial backwardness of a community is not good for the society they are living in. Either the community itself or the society at large has to remove their backwardness for improving and maintaining the social health of the country. Already the country has chalked out programmes, including reservations in government services and educational institutions, for the empowerment of some social groups which are comparatively less privileged and less-developed. If backwardness of one group warrants special programmes for its development and empowerment, why the some benefit can not be extended to the equally or even more backward Muslim community. This is an argument as well as a demand which deserves to be appreciated and accepted.
[October, 2006]
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