According to the 2001 Census, Indias Muslim population was over 138 million, next only to that of Pakistan and Indonesia. As the final figures from the Census 2011 havent been disclosed yet, the current Muslim population is estimated at 180 million, which is roughly 15% of Indias population of 1.2 billion.
On a positive light, the Indian Muslims can boast of three of the Nations former Presidents and three Vice Presidents, including the incumbent, from the community. The list of Muslim high achievers in the field of Music, Literature and Art including the cinema is not unimpressive either. Another field of considerable Muslim prominence is the sports. Some of the nations best players have been engendered from the religious minority community. Looking at these stars, one would bubble WOW! How prominent Muslims in India are!
Besides the ceremonial or celebrity status, Muslims occupy a prominent space in the electoral landscape, not as influential leaders, but as a vote bank, in reserve, for the secularist political parties. However, the feel good situation from these occasional prominences does not last long. Because, majority of Indias Muslims have long been suffering quite severely so - economically, politically as well as socially.
[HI]Since Indias independence in 1947, the community has been under-represented in politics and government jobs. The situation, far from improving, is deteriorating further with each passing decade.[/HI] More recently the Sachar Committee Report finds that, as of 2001, Muslims were lagging behind not only the Indian mainstream in nearly all spheres of progress but also the Scheduled Castes/Tribes (SC/STs), considered the most backward sections, in many aspects.
The Committee found that the literacy rate among Muslims (59%) was well below the national average (65%), owing mainly to the limited access to government schools. An inverse association between the proportion of the Muslim population and the availability of educational and other physical infrastructure in small villages supports this view.
[HI]In public employment, the picture seems even bleaker. Only 5% of the central government employees were Muslims. In the Police Services, their share was 3.3%. In Administrative services, it was 2.2%. Muslims made up only 4.5% in Indian Railways and even then 98.7% were placed at lower levels. Although their share in the Judiciary was 8% but Muslim Judges comprised only 2.7% of the total.[/HI]
This indicates that in the administrative and decision making positions, Muslims have an abysmal representation which further marginalizes them. In the private sector, the situation is even worse.
In terms of income and expenditure, Muslims shared the lowest strata. The Indian average Per-Capita-Expenditure (MPCE) for the year 2004-05 was roughly $16 with a high of $23 for General category followed by $14 for Muslims, which was slightly above the MPCE for the SCs/STs roughly $11.50. The land-ownership among the Muslims was the lowest of all population categories.
Incidence of poverty among Muslims in urban areas was the highest with 38.4 % living below the national poverty line, while their rural counterparts fared better with just 28% below the line. Overall, Muslims recorded the second highest deprivation with 31 % people below the poverty line.
Representation of Muslims in Indian politics, also, is disproportionally low. Abject poverty, low representation in politics, coupled with abysmal representation in the administrative, police, and legal system, as aforesaid, has rendered the Muslim community extremely vulnerable.
The rise of anti-Muslim communalism in India adds another woe to the increased Muslims vulnerability. The height of communalism is marked by the demolition of Babri-Masjid in 1992 and its aftermath in which over 2000 Muslims were killed in communal clashes. A decade later, the Gujarat massacre in 2002 - costing over a thousand Muslim lives and rendering tens of thousands houseless remains one of the worst communal incidences in the country.
[HI]These apart, there have been numerous incidences of communal violence in which the Muslim community has suffered. However, this does not end here. The glaring face of bigotry is that in many cases of communal violence, the Muslims have been targeted as perpetrators without any evidence.[/HI] Consequently, there has been widespread communal profiling of Muslim youths by the police.
A recent report What it means to be a Muslim in India Today finds that there is an intense sense of fear, growing insecurity, and universal feeling of helplessness amongst Muslims due to baseless allegation by the police - propagated by the media, and perpetuated by the inability of the legal system to provide a timely justice and inadequacy of the government measures to safeguard the interests of the Muslims.
[HI]Several Testimonies from victims of the communal profiling reveal that after any incidence of terror in the country, Muslim youths have been baselessly targeted to be involved with the act. [/HI]Many of them today live under the constant dread of being profiled as a terrorist, with the attendant fears of illegal and prolonged detention, denial of bail, torture, unfair and biased investigation and trial, and extra-judicial killings.
[HI]Recently, a WikiLeaks cable has revealed that Indian Muslims are largely unattracted to extremism. Despite strongest denunciations of Terrorism, Muslims have been repeatedly blamed for terrorist activities, which have later been proved as works of Hindu-extremists.[/HI]
Such a degenerate trend of profiling without substantial evidence is not just detrimental to one community; rather it poses a threat to the communal harmony of the whole country. Marginalization of Muslims is a grave challenge to the basic values of the Indian Constitution, including democracy, secularism, and the rule of law.
If this trend is not effectively checked, many apprehend, Muslims the largest religious minority in India, will descend to a second class citizenship in a democratic, secular, and pluralistic India which seemingly envisions equality for all. As tales of woes of Muslims surpass those of their wows, Indians must introspect as to whether we are moving in the right direction.
http://twocircles.net/2011jun05/indian_muslims_tale_wows_and_woes.html
On a positive light, the Indian Muslims can boast of three of the Nations former Presidents and three Vice Presidents, including the incumbent, from the community. The list of Muslim high achievers in the field of Music, Literature and Art including the cinema is not unimpressive either. Another field of considerable Muslim prominence is the sports. Some of the nations best players have been engendered from the religious minority community. Looking at these stars, one would bubble WOW! How prominent Muslims in India are!
Besides the ceremonial or celebrity status, Muslims occupy a prominent space in the electoral landscape, not as influential leaders, but as a vote bank, in reserve, for the secularist political parties. However, the feel good situation from these occasional prominences does not last long. Because, majority of Indias Muslims have long been suffering quite severely so - economically, politically as well as socially.
[HI]Since Indias independence in 1947, the community has been under-represented in politics and government jobs. The situation, far from improving, is deteriorating further with each passing decade.[/HI] More recently the Sachar Committee Report finds that, as of 2001, Muslims were lagging behind not only the Indian mainstream in nearly all spheres of progress but also the Scheduled Castes/Tribes (SC/STs), considered the most backward sections, in many aspects.
The Committee found that the literacy rate among Muslims (59%) was well below the national average (65%), owing mainly to the limited access to government schools. An inverse association between the proportion of the Muslim population and the availability of educational and other physical infrastructure in small villages supports this view.
[HI]In public employment, the picture seems even bleaker. Only 5% of the central government employees were Muslims. In the Police Services, their share was 3.3%. In Administrative services, it was 2.2%. Muslims made up only 4.5% in Indian Railways and even then 98.7% were placed at lower levels. Although their share in the Judiciary was 8% but Muslim Judges comprised only 2.7% of the total.[/HI]
This indicates that in the administrative and decision making positions, Muslims have an abysmal representation which further marginalizes them. In the private sector, the situation is even worse.
In terms of income and expenditure, Muslims shared the lowest strata. The Indian average Per-Capita-Expenditure (MPCE) for the year 2004-05 was roughly $16 with a high of $23 for General category followed by $14 for Muslims, which was slightly above the MPCE for the SCs/STs roughly $11.50. The land-ownership among the Muslims was the lowest of all population categories.
Incidence of poverty among Muslims in urban areas was the highest with 38.4 % living below the national poverty line, while their rural counterparts fared better with just 28% below the line. Overall, Muslims recorded the second highest deprivation with 31 % people below the poverty line.
Representation of Muslims in Indian politics, also, is disproportionally low. Abject poverty, low representation in politics, coupled with abysmal representation in the administrative, police, and legal system, as aforesaid, has rendered the Muslim community extremely vulnerable.
The rise of anti-Muslim communalism in India adds another woe to the increased Muslims vulnerability. The height of communalism is marked by the demolition of Babri-Masjid in 1992 and its aftermath in which over 2000 Muslims were killed in communal clashes. A decade later, the Gujarat massacre in 2002 - costing over a thousand Muslim lives and rendering tens of thousands houseless remains one of the worst communal incidences in the country.
[HI]These apart, there have been numerous incidences of communal violence in which the Muslim community has suffered. However, this does not end here. The glaring face of bigotry is that in many cases of communal violence, the Muslims have been targeted as perpetrators without any evidence.[/HI] Consequently, there has been widespread communal profiling of Muslim youths by the police.
A recent report What it means to be a Muslim in India Today finds that there is an intense sense of fear, growing insecurity, and universal feeling of helplessness amongst Muslims due to baseless allegation by the police - propagated by the media, and perpetuated by the inability of the legal system to provide a timely justice and inadequacy of the government measures to safeguard the interests of the Muslims.
[HI]Several Testimonies from victims of the communal profiling reveal that after any incidence of terror in the country, Muslim youths have been baselessly targeted to be involved with the act. [/HI]Many of them today live under the constant dread of being profiled as a terrorist, with the attendant fears of illegal and prolonged detention, denial of bail, torture, unfair and biased investigation and trial, and extra-judicial killings.
[HI]Recently, a WikiLeaks cable has revealed that Indian Muslims are largely unattracted to extremism. Despite strongest denunciations of Terrorism, Muslims have been repeatedly blamed for terrorist activities, which have later been proved as works of Hindu-extremists.[/HI]
Such a degenerate trend of profiling without substantial evidence is not just detrimental to one community; rather it poses a threat to the communal harmony of the whole country. Marginalization of Muslims is a grave challenge to the basic values of the Indian Constitution, including democracy, secularism, and the rule of law.
If this trend is not effectively checked, many apprehend, Muslims the largest religious minority in India, will descend to a second class citizenship in a democratic, secular, and pluralistic India which seemingly envisions equality for all. As tales of woes of Muslims surpass those of their wows, Indians must introspect as to whether we are moving in the right direction.
http://twocircles.net/2011jun05/indian_muslims_tale_wows_and_woes.html
