More on Sachar, OBCs, reservations etc…

While surfing the blogosphere looking for some data and information on the Sachar report, I came across Reality Check India’s blog.

I must say he/she has the most comprehensive coverage on the reservations issues/ Sachar etc that I have seen in a long time. I have written an email to Reality Check and hope to hear from him/her…and possibly also get a contributory article for this blog.

After looking at the breadth of coverage on Reality Check, I think I should just shut up and put up a link to the blog and some of the posts instead.

One of the best thing I liked about the blog is the rigour that Reality Check brings to the analysis…see e.g. the Data Sheet and this post… The India social cartogram project maps

From all of us, Keep up the good work…and I am looking forward to reading more of your work.

P.S. by the way, this has to be one of the best posts: Look who opposed OBC data in the millenium census !

Also Sachar report and the Muslim OBC

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18 Responses

  1. Phani says:

    The main problem is, nobody looks at elevating the standard of living of the lower classes or economically weaker sections. They should have targets, like 10 years from now we will have 100% educated nation, from then, in the next 10 years they should decrease the reservation percentage gradually.

  2. Sebastian Joseph says:

    on 27 Feb 2007 at 4:10 pm

    Need for Introspection instead of blame game.

    I read with interest the views of Mr. Abusaleh Shariff on Sanchar Committee report (06.12.07) in the Hindu.

    Though I do not subscribe to the views of Sangh Parivar, I feel many of their points need to be addressed by the Muslim community like family planning, health care, education outside Madrassas and above all synchronizing their culture with that of India. (controversy on Vande Mataram & Common Civil code not with standing). Further, looking into the population trend, the fear of the majority community, that Mulims are slowly gaining majority is not unfounded.

    The Sanchar report may also give opportunity to the Muslims for collective bargaining, especially when the order of the day is “you remain back ward, so that you get all the sympathy and benefits, through various means”, instead of attempting for sweeping social reforms. I won’t be surprised if a Constitutional Amendment is brought in, to effect reservation on religious lines (vote bank politics), in a country, which is a shining example of communal harmony, diversity & equal opportunity with a Muslim President, a Sikh P.M, a Hindu-Christian heading the ruling party and a dalit Supreme Court Chief Justice!

    It is high time that Muslim leaders and the learned, like Shri Shariff introspect the reasons for the backwardness of Muslims, learning from the examples of Christians who (with their population of just over 3% ) contributed much for the development of the country as a whole, by their various social developmental activities in areas of education, health care, community care etc; and act with determination for community reformation. What you sow, so you reap.

    Sebastian Joseph

    Email:seb_joseph&yahoo.com

  3. Indian says:

    I totally agree with Sebastian Joseph

    Sometime I think we are just a puppet in the hands of ruling party-congress, and muslims(see kashmir). No strong organisation other than political party is out their to question ruling party about their attitudes towards apeasing only just one minority community. I dont think reservation or any upliftment will help them to grow as Indian. yes it will help them in harvesting their religion belief fanatically rather than becoming citizen of India.

    Readers who don’t like this comment, please dont be offended. Truth cannot be sweet it always comes in bitter pill. By seeing so many tragedy by terrorists organisation we have all and full right to condemn wrong. To speakout our mind is the first step towards honesty. If we are wrong explain us with right evidences. Again, not all Muslims are disloyal. But few is enough to put Nation in danger.

  4. Bharat says:

    1. The Sachar Committee’s Muslim Appeasing Report’s Motive Exposed.
    Sachar said, “I have done what I was asked to do. I just prepared the report and submitted to the Government.” [TOI, see below]

    2. Justice Rajinder Sachar did what he was asked by the Congress-UPA-Left govt, and they asked to prepare a muslim appeasing report and he did. If they would have asked him to press the nuclear button to blow-up the country, he would have done so. Is he a Judge? How could such a person was holding Chief Justice position in a High Court, like Delhi? Such self-seeking treacherous Hindus were the people, who enslaved the nation for over a thousand years.

    3. The entire Sachar Report is available for download at: http://godgraces.org/files/Muslim%20Report.pdf

    Who is Justice Sachar?
    Rajindar Sachar was the Chief Justice of High Court of Delhi, New Delhi. He was also a member of U.N. Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and UN Special Rappoertuer on Housing Member.
    —–

    4. Sachar: HC asks Govt aren’t you appeasing, what about majority?
    http://www.indianexpress.com/story/308756.html
    NEW DELHI, MAY 12: The Centre today came in for some searching questions from the Delhi High Court on implementation of the Sachar Committee recommendations for welfare of Muslims when a Bench asked the government “is this meant to appease some community?… a lot of money is spent in a welfare state, is it that you (Centre) spend it only for one minority community?” …

    5. Court raps government on Sachar Committee report
    http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=59258
    New Delhi, May 12 : Terming it an “unconstitutional move”, the Delhi High Court Monday asked the central government why only the Muslim community has been chosen for implementation of the Sachar Committee report while other minority communities were left out….

    6. Sachar defends report on status of Muslims on moral grounds
    13 May 2008, 1630 hrs IST,PTI
    NEW DELHI: As the Delhi High Court put the government on a soul search on the report on the status of Muslims in the country, Justice Rajendra Sachar who headed the committee that conducted the study defended it on moral grounds.

    “The report was prepared only after the committee members agreed to prepare it. As a moral person, if I think what I am doing is improper, I won’t do it,” Sachar said.

    On Monday, during the proceedings of a case on the implementation of the Sachar Committee recommendations for welfare of Muslims, a two-member division bench of the Delhi High Court put searching questions to the Government.

    “You (Government) are trying to please one community and this is where the rot lies,” the bench said.

    Sachar said, “I have done what I was asked to do. I just prepared the report and submitted to the Government.”

    The former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court refused to be dragged into the debate, saying, “I won’t comment on my report. I am not a lawyer in the court. You should ask the Prime Minister.”

    The court was hearing a PIL, filed by Rashtriya Mukti Morcha, an NGO, alleging that the committee’s report and Government’s follow-up action was unconstitutional.

    The Centre had appointed the Committee to look into the socio-economic and educational status of the Muslim community in the country.

    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Sachar_defends_report_on_status_of_Muslims_on_moral_grounds/articleshow/3036176.cms

    7. Report shows Sachar findings manipulated: BJP
    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/Report_shows_Sachar_findings_manipulated_BJP/articleshow/1837930.cms
    …”We have been saying it all along that the Sachar committee was created for vote-bank reasons. It was designed to serve a political purpose especially ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) report vindicates our assertion,” BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.

  5. B Shantanu says:

    Bharat: Thanks for sharing the links. This is being exposed for what it always was: a sham pretending to be a welfare measure.

    If the government is really concerned about socio-economic development of Muslims in India in general, they would a] emphasise the need for reform within the community b] focus on improving the lot of women c] implement uniform civil code and d] closely examine the funding of madrasas and their curriculum.

    I would welcome other thoughts…

    By the way, the Sachar Report assumes that the socio-economic status of Muslims is lower than that of Hindus – which may not be true. See e.g. this post: https://satyameva-jayate.org/2007/01/22/literacy-rates-and-first-claims/

  6. I.Siddique says:

    Please look into the job situation for muslims in India:
    1-2% in government jobs like IAS,IPS,IFS etc.
    Like wise, representation of Muslims in Armed services, and in Police and Paramilitary–
    Literacy rate etc.
    Is this fair when muslim populations in India is around 16-18% . No correct censure figures are available–some claim to be over 25%
    Muslims are good citizens and patriots. Exception are everywhere. They want to contribute to the development and progress of India but how? Sachar Report is one that the implementation might help us in this direction
    Think about this and send your comments. Thanks
    IHS

  7. B Shantanu says:

    Dear IHS:

    First of all, thank you for your comment. I do not recall seeing you here before, so welcome.

    You rightly mention that the proportion of Muslims in All-India services and certain other sectors such as the Armed Forces may not be proportional to their representation in the total population.

    I have several issues with this line of argument.

    First of all, to expect “quotas” in jobs/professions on the basis of religion (or indeed any other basis except perhaps economic) is fundamentally a mistake..We made that mistake in the past and I hope we do not repeat it in the future.

    Therefore I do not have much sympathy for arguments along the lines of (as an example) “Although Sikhs constitute X% of the population of India, their representation in the IFS, IAS or in Private Banking is low….and this is therefore unfair.”

    But the reason(s) for under-representation of Muslims in IAS,IFS or the Armed Forces have less to do with discrimination and more to do with complex scoio-cultural factors.

    If anything, one can argue that at least in government services, there may have been reverse discrimination against the non-Muslims in certain cases.

    I would point you in the direction of a recent article by Dr Nitish Sengupta titled, “Forget Babri, check out monks’ wooden slippers

    In the article, Dr Sengupta mentions:

    India’s democracy has, in fact, taken extraordinary care to be careful of the sentiments of Muslims, and minorities in general, in sharp contrast to the situation in Pakistan.

    Whenever there has been a choice between a Muslim and a non-Muslim officer for a position in the secretariat of the Union government, it is generally the Muslim officer who is selected, other things being equal. Similarly, in politics, Muslims joining mainstream political parties have always had a fair deal. One can name at least three Muslims who have become Presidents of India since 1947. There are always several Muslims serving as governors of states. In the Union Cabinet as well as in state governments Muslims have always occupied important ministerial posts. There have been cases of Muslims becoming chief ministers of states where the population is overwhelmingly Hindu. Muslims have occupied very important posts in the bureaucracy at both the Centre and at the state government level.

    …It is true that the percentage of Muslims in government services has not been very high. But this is on account of the fact that, at the time of Partition, most Muslims in government service migrated to Pakistan, and a considerable vacuum was created which took an entire generation to fill up. This is not the fault of Indian democracy. And the vacuum is gradually being filled up.

    Another aspect which Shabana Azmi has overlooked is the fact that there is a much larger proportion of Muslims than Hindus who are self-employed, or have definite vocations in which they excel and which come to them by heredity, such as in the fields of glassware, carpentry, carpet-making, leather goods, meat production and distribution. It is not widely known that the wooden slippers used by Hindu monks are usually made by Muslims. So also are the fans which are used reverentially before images of Hindu deities in temples across the country. We need not talk about Bollywood, which is overwhelmingly dominated by Muslim actors, actresses and technicians, a fact which even the redoubtable Bal Thackeray has never been critical of.

    The Sachar Committee report, which Shabana Azmi has cited, ignored all these facts and cited only the percentage of jobs in government services occupied by Muslims. It was, to that extent, a prejudiced report, not an objective one, and more resembling a lawyer’s statement in which the lawyer has referred to only those arguments which are in favour of the brief given to him rather than an objective and impartial statement of the situation.

    ***

    I would like to recall a comment I made in this context a while ago: “…Polygamy, fatwas against contraception, large families and the severely oppressive situation of girls and women rarely go together with economic betterment and social emancipation.”

    Therein lie (I believe) the roots of poor socio-economic condition of Muslims.

    Pl. also have a look at Literacy rates and “first claims”… and

    Shabana Azmi is right about one thing…

    and finally, do have a look at RealityCheck’s post on this issue which questions the data on Muslim backwardness.

  8. B Shantanu says:

    From “Seek equity, not concessions, VP Ansari asks Muslims

    …Addressing a gathering of over 500 Aligarh Muslim University alumni from as many as 20 countries, (Vice President) Ansari said the Muslim community should adapt to changing requirements of time and pointed out the need to draw every segment including women into the sphere of education.

    This, he said, was the only way out if the Muslim community is to partake in India’s historic growth story.

    “We as a community have failed to appreciate the need for education for all sections. Our illiteracy levels continue to remain above the national level and we continue to lag behind in ensuring education at the primary level and for women,” the Vice-President said.

    Rejecting the growing clamour for ‘quotas’ in educational institutions and jobs, Ansari said the community should ‘seek equity not concessions’ as ‘seeking specific dispensation will not take us too far’.

  9. Patriot says:

    I do hope that we get more people like VP Ansari speaking out from the muslim community about what they need to do to get out of their vicious cycle.

    And, we need to reinforce and help these commentators.

  10. B Shantanu says:

    From Muslim women in MP score high on literacy dt 25 September 2009

    Madhya Pradesh has topped the figure with 60.1 per cent literacy among the Muslim women which was much better than other states including Assam, West Bengal, U P, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Rajasthan as per the census of population 2001.

    The Muslim population in Madhya Pradesh is only 6.4 per cent of the total population and the literacy percent for Muslims in the State was 70.3 and this was achieved only by the active participation of women in the state, he said.

    Jammu and Kashmir has a maximum Muslim population of 67.0 per cent but the women literacy rate was only 34.9 per cent

  11. B Shantanu says:

    Shocking: Religion count of staff
    – Centre to seek data from private firms too
    :

    New Delhi, Oct. 9: The Centre will ask public and private sector companies to do a religion-based headcount of their employees as part of an effort to end discrimination.

    The companies will be requested to prepare a database that will have all details of their staff, including religion and caste, minority affairs ministry sources said.

    …The current move is part of the build-up towards the constitution of an Equal Opportunity Commission to stop discrimination. “Although this is being done with really good intentions, this can be easily misunderstood. So we are being very cautious,’’ a ministry official said.

    …“We are going to make it mandatory for all corporate houses to maintain a database of their staff. This would give the government, and particularly the Equal Opportunity Commission, which is going to be set up, a clear idea about the social and religious diversity among the workforce.”

    The ministry is now lending the final touches to the Equal Opportunity Commission Bill, to be tabled in the next session of Parliament. The commission will check discrimination based on sex, religion, caste, race, birthplace, descent and language, and will have court-like powers.

    Hat Tip: Varnam

  12. B Shantanu says:

    Brief excerpt from The Two-Regiment Theory by Balbir Punj (Mar 13, 2006):

    The communal composition of the Royal Indian Army (Raj days) was heavily tilted towards Muslims. B.R. Ambedkar, in his book Pakistan or The Partition of India (1940), observes, “Whatever be the explanation, two glaring facts stand out…. One is that the Indian army today is predominantly Muslim in its composition. The other is that the Musalmans who predominate are the Musalmans from the Punjab and the NWFP.” (B.R. Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches, Vol-8, Pg 95). However, the high recruitment of Hindu youths during World War II, after Veer Savarkar’s whirlwind propaganda, saw the Muslim proportion whittled down to 25 per cent of the whole by 1945.

    The Muslims in the British Indian Army mostly migrated to Pakistan after Partition. The recruiting fields of Muslim soldiers viz. the NWFP and Punjab (West) are now in Pakistan. The Muslims who remained in India, say in UP, Bihar, West Bengal or Kerala, have a history of reluctance to serve in the army. This is despite any bias against Muslims or any other community in the forces. It is only a matter of their willingness to join and qualifying in the physical tests. That said, one-tenth of soldiers who laid down their lives in Operation Vijay in Kargil were Muslims.

    Although British-era names like the Sikh Regiment and Gorkha Regiment persist, the government stopped raising ethnically named regiments back in the 1950s. The result: almost all regiments are of mixed ethnicity and religion today. The Indian army has its priests, granthis and maulvis to administer the religious schedule. There is no ‘religious indoctrination’ unlike in Pakistan and other Islamic states. All places of worship, be it temple, gurudwara, chaplain or mosque, are known by their generic name ‘dharamsthan’ (religious site). Recruits are groomed in such a rigorous manner that nationalism becomes their only religion. Every soldier participates in all religious functions.

    Patriotism and nationalism are better kept outside the periphery of religion-based quotas. Suffice to say, we are proud of our Abdul Hamids, Albert Ekkas and J.F.R. Jacobs as much our Somnath Sharmas, Subroto Mukherjees and Padmanabhans.

  13. Moderator says:

    *** Comment from badal mahato ***

    why muslim get obc categary status. in india 80% muslim under OBC categary. when there is no caste system in muslims then why they get obc reservation.

  14. B Shantanu says:

    From Sachar report may lead to Muslims’ ghettoization, says Salman Khursheed:
    New Delhi: In an important development, marking a radical shift in the UPA government’s approach, from pre-Sachar to post-Sachar period, the Union Minister of Minorities Affairs Salman Khursheed has questioned, both the credibility of the Sachar report and blind acceptance of its recommendations.
    …Cautioning the community from uncritical following of the Sachar report, Khursheed said that it might benefit the community in the short term but it could also lead to its further ghettoization which will be disastrous for the community in the long term as it will prevent the community’s mainstreaming.

  15. B Shantanu says:

    From a tweet by CenterofRight:
    Muslims may be under-represented in government jobs, but they are over-represented in several other booming areas: Bollywood, employment in the Gulf, the media and entertainment sectors, BPO, automobile servicing and repairs, and several traditional industries like glass-making, leather, powerlooms, carpet-making and zari work – to name just a few examples

  16. B Shantanu says:

    More on Sachar…
    From Sachar member flays UPA for report’s ‘misuse’ for pol gains by Abantika Ghosh, TNN Jul 3, 2011, 01.53am IST (emphasis added):
    ..In his article, published on the website of the Centre for Advanced Study of India (CASI) University of Pennsylvania, Rakesh Basant, professor of economics at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad and a former member of the Sachar Committee, argues that main recommendations in the report, which were not community-specific..has been re-cast to make it sound Muslim-centric. He cites this as an apt example of the government’s outlook on the matter

    “The UPA has not only picked up recommendations in isolation but has also highlighted the community-specific programs and its implementation in its election manifesto and other communications…Apparently the mainstreaming measures recommended by the Sachar Committee had much less political utility than promises of community specific benefits and programs. …It is important to recognize that mainstreaming would require a significant change in the nature of politics,” Basant writes.

  17. B Shantanu says:

    From A fairer share by A.K. Verma, Wed Sep 12 2012:
    Sixty nine Muslims from various parties were elected to the UP assembly. Yet, questions have often been raised about the inadequacy of Muslim representation in UP politics.

    However, recent municipal elections for 630 nagar nigams, nagar palika parishads and nagar panchayats in UP, held over June and July, demolish this perception. Not only have Muslims been well represented in all municipal bodies, their presence is proportionately greater than their share in the state’s population, which is 18.5 per cent.

    In fact, the proportion of Muslim MLAs and MPs in UP has always exceeded their share in the population. Some suggest that they have been used as votebanks by parties that espouse the “Muslim cause”. However, the political empowerment of Muslims in urban and semi-urban areas, evident in the 2012 municipal elections, punctures this votebank theory.

    The State Election Commission does not provide any data on the basis of religion, but it has put the names of all the 12,000-odd elected representatives of 630 civic bodies on its website. Scanning the lists, one finds that out of 11,816 seats, Muslims have won 3,681, that is, 31.15 per cent of the seats. This is a striking jump, compared to the 17.12 per cent share of Muslims in the UP assembly elections in 2012 and the 8.75 per cent share in the parliamentary elections of 2009.

    This increased representation of Muslims is not confined to any one region of UP. Rohilkhand, with a 34 per cent Muslim population, tops the list with 53.5 per cent Muslim representation in various municipal bodies. This is followed by Awadh, west UP, east UP and east UP (north). Even in Bundelkhand with 6.69 per cent, and the Doab with 11.2 per cent Muslim populations, the Muslim share in civic bodies is higher, at 8.87 per cent and 15.62 per cent respectively. If we look at specific civic bodies, the trend is mirrored — there there are 88 per cent Muslim members in Mubarakpur (Azamgarh) and Kakrala (Badayun) nagar palika parishads, and 93 per cent Muslim members in Kheri (Lakhimpur) and Kithor (Meerut) nagar panchayats. These four places represent different regions — east UP, Rohilkhand, Awadh and west UP, respectively. This holds true of other sub-regions too.