Home Open space The Future of Sachar Committee Recommendations In Times of Modi Regime

The Future of Sachar Committee Recommendations In Times of Modi Regime

2015
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The first UPA government appointed a committee headed by Justice Rajinder Sachar in March 2005 solely to study social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community in India.  The committee submitted its report on November 7, 2006 before the then prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and tabled it in the parliament on 30th November. The committee found the Muslim population numbering 15 million with Jammu and Kashmir at the top of the list with 67%; then comes Assam with 30.9%,  Bengal with 25.2%, and Kerala with 24.7%.

The committee considered the following points in its discussion:

  • Obtain relative zonal – district wise social, economic and cultural status of Muslims
  • Define the socio–economic developmental index/measure of the community
  • Find the involvement of the community in private and government employment
  • Find the proportion of Muslims in Other Backward Communities (OBC) in all states
  • Find the availability of loans offered by public sector  government banks and accessibility/availability to health and educational infrastructure facilities of Local Self Government

The committee collected the statistical details from different sources regarding the issues related to the community’s existential safety and development contribution and submitted 76 recommendations.  The pivotal recommendation was that the future policies should involve Muslims and bring them to national mainstream according to the concept of diversity. The average national literacy is 64.8% while among Muslims it is 59.1%. Social and material facilities available to Muslims and their population rate are in opposite proportions in villages, where they are in majority. When compared with Muslim minority villages, Muslim majority villages have very few bus stops, less roads and housing facilities. No educational institutions can be found in one third of Muslim majority villages. There are no medical facilities in 40% of Muslim majority villages.

According to the report, Muslims have least of all representations in government departments as well as agencies. It wonders that there is no single state in India where Muslim representation in government sector is commensurate with their population. Muslim representation in universities, banks and public undertakings is meager. The loan facilities offered by the banks in Muslim majority villages are again very less.  Some of the banks even marked Muslim majority areas as ‘red zones’ where the banks do not offer loans and other necessary facilities. The report added that this financial exclusion of Muslims has made far reaching and negative consequences on Muslim educational and economic development.

The number of salaried professionals of Muslims in public/private sectors is far lesser than SC and ST.  The high presence of Muslims in unorganized labor sector and self employment sector is attributed to their absence in salaried group. Since Muslims are employed in low-income generating jobs, their average salary is below SC and ST. One of the findings, that broke the myth that Muslims became backward because they relegate mainstream education to Madrassa education, showed that a meager 3% attend Madrassas while the remaining majority attend both Maktabs and schools.

Important recommendations:

  • Constitute equal-opportunity committee to ensure opportunities to the deprived classes like minorities.
  • Initiate the process of nomination to enhance the representation of Muslims in public sector undertakings.
  • Reconstitute Muslim majority constituencies, which must not to be reserved for SC.
  • Increase Muslim representation in employment especially in public undertakings. Take necessary steps to connect Madrassa education with Higher Secondary school boards. Recognize Madrassa degrees equal to degree qualification for defense, civil and banking exams.

The government  approved many of the recommendations for implementation on 17th May, 2007 (this year, it is going to be tenth year of  its official approval). They have accepted 72 recommendations out of 76 recommendations, deferred 3 important recommendations and rejected 1. The 3 important recommendations that government deferred were:

  • Include caste and tribe in the national census.
  • Create an all-India cadre for state and national Waqf boards in accordance with civil services model.
  • Create alternate yardsticks for the admission to universities and autonomous colleges for the most backward members of the society.
  • Either create a Most Backward Community (MBC) within OBC for “Arzals” in Muslim Community or give them Scheduled Caste status.

The second UPA government presented a note in parliament just days before completing their tenure. The note explained 42 decisions made to implement the accepted 72 recommendations. As there were so many similarities in those 72 recommendations, they had took 42 decisions based on those recommendations, explained the government in the note.  That of the decisions made, 15 are in educational sector, 6 in loan availability, 2 in special development programs, 4 in long term development programs, 4 for Waqf maintenance, and 10 miscellaneous.

If we analyze the above table of discussions, we understand that the spirit of the recommendation is completely lost. Constitution of equal-opportunity committee, keeping Muslim dominant constituencies from reserving it to SC and MBC status were denied by the government to rob the committee of its spirit. The attempt of UPA was to treat skin deep and not the root cause of the disease. While they approved the schools in minority dominated districts under the scheme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan by the Human Resource Ministry, they termed it as a part of sachar implementation, which obviously testifies that they make just eyewash.

Christian beneficiaries of Muslim empowerment

Neither the Congress Party nor the Sachar committee had even an iota of doubt regarding the appointment of the Committee and its subsequent report to be exclusively for the downtrodden Muslims in India. The ministers like Abdur-Rahman Anduley, or Rahman Khan who served in UPA government too had not any doubt regarding that. But meanwhile the ministry of minority affairs started implementing the proposal, external influences on the ministry mounted gradually. The all powerful Christian lobby in the Congress Party pulled the strings in order to destabilize Muslim empowerment. The result was the programs intended for Muslim minority had been re-branded as minority development; even for the minority who are socially forward. The Moulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) for higher education stands testimony to this move. As mentioned earlier, this was meant for the Muslim minority as a post Sachar scheme especially in the field of research studies. The fellowship solely proposed for Muslim community was divided among other minority communities when implimented. When asked about this injustice, both Salman Khurshid and Rahman Khan pleaded their helplessness to give it solely for Muslim community. Both the ministers could not cite a reason why the Christian community which is far advanced, empowered and forward in Kerala has been made beneficiaries of an educational empowerment program designed for Muslims.

This is not a case with the fellowship only. The powerful Christian lobby interfered when government decided to form Minority Concentrated Districts (MCDs) and excluded Muslim dominated areas, where Muslims lag even behind SC, ST communities in terms of infrastructure development.

Now Muslim dominated Malappuram district, which lags behind most in term of infrastructure development in Kerala, is not a minority district for the Centre. It is because of the Christian influence; instead Wayanad got the position. Even the influence of UPA-allied Muslim League (IUML) could not overcome this challenge.

But no one questioned the same logic in the Madrasa Modernisation programme where it is solely designed for Muslim community. This scheme made Madrassa certificate as a qualification for the higher education by equalizing it with the public education. Because the Christian priest aspirants in the seminaries study secular education simultaneously, they didnt ask their share in that scheme.

Future of Sachar Committee recommendations

In December 2014, a question on the future of the recommendations was raised in parliament before the Modi government, which has been so inactive about the recommendations since its inception. It was even before the Modi government fully stepped into the implementation of Sangh Parivar agenda. Like in many other cases, the government just copied the decisions of UPA government as such. Technically this is true. Normally all governments continue to implement the welfare and populist measures of the previous governments. Food security program, employment guarantee programs, smart city and cleanliness program all are continuations of the previous government. While the BJP made scathing criticism on employment generation program (PMEGP) by terming it as wastage of money during UPA regime, we see Arun Jaitley enhancing the fund allocation for it after coming into power.

But when the beneficiaries are Muslims, then the government with its anti-Muslim hate campaign jeopardize the programs. This is going to be the future of Sachar committee recommendations-based steps taken by the UPA government. The Haj which was earlier supervised by the ministry of foreign affairs, as a means of diplomatic mission now comes under the ministry of minority affairs.  It is going to make Haj solely as a Muslim affair by alienating from public concerns.  The Haj subsidy – which is ultimately for the  benefit of airlines companies – will now be billed under the minority ministry and it will just go on a propaganda that  the allocation for the minority is enhanced while the Modi sponsored Moulanas will trumpet  it as a favor.

This article was previously published in Prabodhanam Weekly. This is translated by Sibahathulla Sakib.

 

1 COMMENT

  1. Sachachaar Committee recommendation are not at all acceptable to an ordinary citizen of India.Though not favouring BJP but simultaneously oppose congress and UPA for such idiot actions.IS this country merely for benefit of minority and those who do not wants to educate their own chodren.Thos who only believe in increasing population?Hell to such idiot committee and their recommendation.Any one who will dare to implement it the country once again face sever internal problems.

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