A Lot More is Needed to be Done

A full-fledged Ministry of Minority Affairs was created in 2007. Veteran Congress leader Mr A.R. Antulay was the first choice to head this ministry. The functions assigned to the ministry overlapped with those of others and Mr. Antulay had to work hard to give his ministry an independent shape. Mr. Antulay is very old and his vast experiences might have helped him as well as the ministry in its early days. The fact, however, is that the ministry failed miserably during his stewardship in fulfilling people’s expectations. The fund allocated to the ministry for carrying out welfare measures for minorities remained largely unspent.

The new minister, Mr. Salman Khurshid seems to be gradually overcoming the problems which are numerous and complex. Until September 2009 the ministry had spent less than five per cent of the funds allocated to it. Some reports suggest that things have improved since then and by December 2009 some 17% of the allocated fund was spent on various schemes launched to benefit the minorities.

Mr. Khurshid, in a sense, had to start afresh and now seems to have overcome some of the problems facing the ministry since Mr Antulay’s time. The advantage with Mr Khurshid is that he is relatively young, dynamic, energetic and focused. He is also free of seniority syndrome or complex which probably has helped him in solving some of the problems his ministry faced. Let us hope he would overcome the remaining obstacles as well. We specially hope that he would soon develop a viable mechanism to implement his ministry’s programmes effectively.

It would be appropriate to critically appreciate the ministry’s programmes and offer constructive suggestions. Let us all become stakeholders in the affairs of the ministry.

A flagship scheme of the ministry is distributing scholarships to increase minorities’ participation in the higher education sector. It is good that the scheme is being implemented through the UGC which has enormous experience in the field. One just hopes that the UGC acts a bit faster than it normally does. The problem, however, is that the total number of scholarships is just over 700. The number must increase to many thousands indeed. We have our reason.

The 11^th plan (which would end in less than two years) allocation for multisectoral development of minorities in 90 earmarked districts is Rs. 2750 crores. However, the approved fund for implementing minority-specific schemes was Rs 1562 crores out of which only 77 crores was spent upto September 2009 which is a mere 4.93% of the approved funds for 2009-10 and 2.8% of the 11^th plan allocation. It means huge amount remains unspent. And surely one easy and fruitful way to use the money should be increasing the number of fellowships.

The Ministry of Minority Affairs has announced over 700 scholarships for pursuing higher education. One scholarship is worth Rs. 12000/- per month and thus the seven hundred scholarships would cost a total of Rs. 122500000/- per annum which is less than one per cent of the approved fund (Rs 1562 crores) for the fiscal year 2009-10. One wonders why it has not been 10% of the approved fund as it would have created many thousand scholarships. We must keep in mind that multi-sectoral development of the minority-dominated 90 districts has to primarily focus on education, healthcare and housing. Therefore the demand for increase in the number of scholarship is not without reason.

We all accept that education is the key to empowerment. Education, therefore, must receive the focused attention of the Ministry of Minority Affairs. The ministry may be well-advised to focus not only on higher education but also on primary and secondary education. One wonders if it would be possible for the MMA to set up schools on the pattern of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in the minority-dominated districts? If it ever happens, it would surely go a long way to educationally empower Muslims and other minorities.

A cursory look at the district level religious data reveals that a majority of districts have Muslim population between 8 to 15 percent. However, the 90 minority-dominated districts are the ones which have over 20% minority population. The need, therefore, is to also identify and earmark the districts with eight and above percentile of minority population for multi-sectoral development as it would help more and more members of the minority communities.

Just by opening schools we can not empower Muslims educationally. A big problem is how to reduce high dropout rate of Muslims in schools? Another problem is how to improve the quality of education at primary and secondary levels? These require far-sighted policies and long-term strategies. Above all, we need to create an effective and honest mechanism to implement the schemes we make.

[March, 2010]

GET THE BALANCE RIGHT

Growing up in a middleclass rural family in Azamgarh, offers an important, early lesson for life: the need to maintain a balance between spirituality and materialism. It is fortunate if one of the first lessons in a young life is about the all-important principle of balance — something that is missing in so many lives.

Add to that time spent in a madrasa, which was rare in refusing to give its students an over-dose of spirituality. Madrasas get a bad press but some merely underline the need to get the balance right, between materialism and a spiritual-religious life. The message was simple, but clear. The spiritual path runs through the material world and therefore the world we live in cannot be ignored. It could be made better, more livable, spiritually and materially. But the balance always needs to be right: live spiritually, lead a principled life in the market, not in the caves.

Some might believe that revelation and reason are poles apart. Others use reason, rationality and science as synonyms, without making any distinction between them. But rationalism means to find reason, right or wrong, for what you believe in. In this sense the Quran is full of rationalism.

Islam requires the faithful to believe in God unseen. But this is not what one would call blind faith. The Quran’s argument is simple. You cannot see God but you can find Him if you ponder over and try to uncover the mysteries of the universe. The delicate and complex system that keeps the human body alive is a sign that God exists with the argument going that the universe and human bodies cannot operate without an Operator. This kind of rationalism is scattered through the Quran.

Simplicity, rationalism and straightforward reasoning are the core of the Quran and arguably, the core of Quranic teachings is balance. Neither too much religiosity nor absolute materialism is required. In Urdu one of the most commonly used words is Falah-e-darayn which means success in both worlds. But maintaining the desirable balance between the two is a lifelong struggle for most of us. It is a difficult struggle. One needs to be always alert to the possibility of excess on either front. The vigil must endure all the time.

Often, things that appear the easiest are the most difficult. Poet Ghalib, a leading champion of rationalism, once wrote:

Baske dushwar hay har kam ka aasan hona Aadmi ko bhi muyassar nahin insan hona

(The task that appears easy is difficult indeed Man finds difficult even to be {agood} man) Sometimes, one comes across people who are good at prayer and worship but fare poorly when it comes to charity even though they are rich enough to do it. It should technically be easy enough for a Muslim worshipper to donate Rs 2.50 of every hundred he earns to charity. But, it doesn’t always happen.

Why is this the case? Could it be the lack of balance between spiritual endeavour and its monetary reflection in the form of zakat?

Prayer and poor have been mentioned together some 70 times in the Quran. Through prayer, a man fulfils the rights of God and by paying the poor he tries to fulfill the rights of fellow human beings. It also means that a true believer always helps the needy and those in distress irrespective of colour and creed. That is the essence of balance.

This is true spirituality — worshiping God and helping the needy. A sincere Muslim must practice both if he is to be true to his faith. The most spiritually well-off spend to relish all of life’s pleasures and also spend to help the needy. No faith prohibits us from acquiring — and using — wealth, so long as we get the balance right and help the needy. The recent Bollywood hit, My Name Is Khan, reflects the need for balance, with the main protagonist winning back his wife and the respect of society through his selfless social work. Religion should be understood and practised both as worship and social service. An Urdu poet has aptly captured the essence of religion in the following verse:

Darde dil ke waste paida kiya insan ko Warna taat ke li-e- kuch kaam na tha karrubian

He created man (and endowed him) (With a heart to ache From God’s {chosen} angels Were quite sufficient for worshiping Him.) Another Urdu couplet expresses the same theme beautifully:

Meri hawas ko aish-e-do aalam bhi ha qubul Tera karam ki tu ne diya dil dukha hua.

(Acceptable to my lust Was the pleasure of the two worlds. It is your blessing That you gave me an aching heart.)

[ Published in TIMES OF INDIA on 28th March, 2010]