Ever since some aspects of the Sachar Committee report on the status of Muslims have become public, a heated debate has begun about giving reservation to a community that appears to be falling backward in every socio-economic indicator. But the great irony is that the economist who is the real author of the 394-page report is strongly opposed to reservation. "It is nothing more than a political gimmick," he told
Outlook.
| | | | "Most of the exclusive TV reports on Sachar findings are old papers rehashed as breaking news," says Sharif. | | | | |
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According to him, reservation will do nothing to address the root causes of the problems that are alienating Muslims from the mainstream (see
interview).
Although the report goes under the name of retired judge Rajindar Sachar, the man who put the formidable data together, conducted interviews, workshops and finally collated and wrote the report is the NCAER's chief economist, Dr Abusaleh Sharif. He is the one who produced the first India Human Development Report in 1999 and heads the human development division of the NCAER. Besides, Dr Sharif is managing the India programme of research in Human Development 2003-2007, a four-year study involving a sample survey of 40,000 households. Perhaps that is why even parties like the BJP who are opposed to any schemes for Muslims are not disputing the data and analysis of the Sachar report because they know it would be accurate.
In a nation where commissions sit for decades before coming up with luke-warm findings, the speed with which the Sachar report has been completed speaks of professionalism. On April 9, 2005, Sharif was appointed member secretary to the PM's high-level committee to prepare a report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community in India. During the course of the year, census and
NSO data were analysed, surveys commissioned, information accessed from the states, several seminars organised where activists, educationists and bureaucrats put forth their perspectives. Such activity was not limited to Delhi. The committee held several brainstorming sessions across states too. It was an intensive and thorough exercise. Now, in little over a year, the report has been signed, sealed and delivered to the PM.
Manmohan Singh's media advisor Dr Sanjaya Baru says the "PM had felt the lack of authentic, updated data about the Muslim community. Such data is necessary to plan and target schemes". He says the report will be tabled in the ongoing session of Parliament. Defence minister A.K. Antony is likely to table it. Dr Sharif says currently only half a dozen copies of the report are in circulation though over a thousand are being printed. "Most of the so-called exclusive reports on TV channels about the Sachar findings are just rehashed old papers and old information being mis-represented as breaking news," he says.
Besides the primacy of education, Sharif says access to credit is the key to Muslim development as the community is largely self-employed. Through other sources in government, Outlook has accessed some exclusive information about the credit situation vis-a-vis Muslims. To quote from the report: "The RBI found lack of thrust for increasing the credit flow to the minority community in leading banks. No officers were designated to cater to Muslims." The report also criticises the Small Industries Development Bank of India, headquartered in Lucknow, a state where a large number of Muslims are artisans, skilled workers and run small home industries. Yet, the Sachar report notes that Muslims suffer from a "double disadvantage". First, a "significantly small percentage" of loans are sanctioned to them and then the sanctioned amounts are one-third of that sanctioned to other communities.
Other findings of the committee: Wherever there is a large Muslim population, there are far less government schools. More than a 1,000 Muslim concentration villages in West Bengal and Bihar have no educational institutions. In Uttar Pradesh, the figure is 1,943.
More than 16 per cent of villages without medical facilities are in Muslim areas. 'Non-Muslim' areas get better state-run medical facilities. Besides, Muslims get less access to electricity than the all-India average. This means the greater the number of Muslims, the more likely they live in darkness.
Yet, there is some good news. Infant and child mortality among Muslims is less than the national average. More significantly, there is hardly any instance of female foeticide in the community. But this is no thanks to the government. Rather, the community that breaks bread together with fewer taboos than caste-divided Hindu society looks out for each other in the ghettoes where they are increasingly pushed into. Dr Sharif says quite bluntly: "No government scheme has helped Muslims. Zilch." With a note of sarcasm, he adds, "But they seem to be very enthusiastic about making Muslims swallow polio drops."
Sharif offers another remarkable fact. His data shows that whatever be their level of education, Muslim labour is more productive than the national average. In short, there are positives around which a regeneration can be built.