A recent report, “Rethinking Affirmative Action for Muslims in Contemporary India,” provides insights into the continued social, educational, and economic backwardness of India’s Muslims. Coming almost two decades after the Rajinder Sachar Committee Report of 2006, the “Rethinking Affirmative Action” report reaffirms the continued marginalized situation of Muslims in the country. However, it takes a different, more nuanced approach to improving their situation.
Muslims are India’s largest religious minority. They comprise over 14 percent of the country’s population.
The study on which the report is based, which was conducted by academics Hilal Ahmed, Mohd Sanjeer Alam, and Nazima Parveen, researched the current educational and economic status of Muslims. It found that school-age children from Muslim households are the least likely to continue in higher education. Therefore, among all of India’s socio-religious groups, the participation of Muslim children is the lowest in post-secondary level schooling. The proportion of Muslims among graduates is small as well.
A large section of Muslims face economic deprivation. While other socio-religious groups have advanced in the job market “through a measure of upward mobility in the employment structure over time, the gains have been the least for Muslims,” the study found. As for access to white-collar occupations, “Muslims lag behind” Hindu forward castes.
Taking stock of the current scenario of Muslim backwardness in the context of changed political realities, the study noted that Muslims — like other socio-religious groups — belong to different economic backgrounds; some are prosperous, while the majority are backward.
The study shifts away from conventional approaches to affirmative action to improve the situation of Muslims. Instead of providing Muslims with quotas, i.e., reservations of seats in jobs and educational institutions, the study suggests a more nuanced approach of targeted interventions in Muslim-concentrated spaces, “ghettos,” or sectors and occupations dominated by Muslims.
It underscores the need for affirmative action for the upliftment of backward Muslims but within the existing framework of empowerment of other backward communities — not as a separate Muslim quota.
It was during the rule of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (2004-2014) that the Rajinder Sachar Committee Report, a seminal study on the backwardness of Indian Muslims, was published in 2006. Most of the recommendations made by that report to alleviate Muslim social, economic, and educational backwardness were implemented during the UPA era.
Since 2014, India’s ruling Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party has implemented its Hindutva ideology assiduously. In pursuit of the creation of a Hindu state, it has, in the words of Professor Ram Punyani, relegated Muslims to the status of “second-class citizens.” Consequently, concessions exclusively for Muslims, which were prevalent during the UPA regime, have been rejected by the BJP government as “Muslim appeasement.” Indeed, post-2014, targeted Muslim empowerment is not on the agenda of the BJP government.
The new study proposes working within the existing template of reservations or affirmative action for Scheduled Castes (SC) or Dalits, and Other Backward Classes (OBC). The Indian Constitution provides for reservations in jobs and education for socially and economically backward groups. Quotas have been established for SC, ST (Scheduled Tribes) and OBCs, which cannot extend beyond 50 percent, and quotas on the sole criterion of religion are not permitted.
Arguing that caste-based exploitation is not exclusive to Hindus, the study recommended that the existing 15 percent reservation for Dalits in higher education institutions and government jobs should be extended to Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians too. It calls for a “secularization” of the SC category. The Pasmanda Muslims (low caste), the most deprived among Muslims, fall in the category of Dalits and need state support for a decent livelihood, the report argued. The existing 27 percent reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBC) must be further categorized into Backwards and Most Backwards, and several Muslim groups that are extremely backward should be identified and assisted through OBC reservations, it said.
The study also recommended an expansion of the 50 percent cap on quotas to truly benefit all sections that are disadvantaged. It proposed a shift from a group-centric to a “space-centric” approach to interventions. Thus, it emphasizes the need for developing much-needed public infrastructure in Muslim-dominated areas or localities.
It also prioritized engagement with those backward Muslims facing unemployment and ghettoization rather than with Muslim upper-class intellectuals. To alleviate Muslim backwardness, it called for intervention in caste-based occupations and sectoral intervention i.e., boosting Muslim-dominated occupations such as textile weaving, tailoring, lock and brass making, carpet and perfume making, carpentry, and leather work. As these are generally small-scale enterprises and home-based units, the study proposes upskilling and training artisans with technical know-how and help to improve their existing livelihoods.
The study suggested leveraging existing governmental development schemes at the district level and expanding them to address Muslim marginalization. However, it also recommended moving beyond government or public sector jobs for Muslims to involve the private sector in job creation for disadvantaged groups.
The recommendations made by the report have been commended. Hailing the report for its pragmatic approach in dealing with such a complex policy issue, academic-turned-political activist Yogendra Yadav wrote that “the approach adopted by this report looks like the smartest feasible option we have for the foreseeable future.”
However, the “current regime that draws its sustenance from anti-Muslim politics” is unlikely to implement the recommendations,” he warned, adding that this vital blueprint should for now be kept “in a drawer for future use.”
Nonetheless, last week, the Congress government of the southern state of Karnataka amended its public procurement law, the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Bill, to provide a 4 percent reservation in government contracts to Muslims. While the BJP has slammed the proposed legislation as “unconstitutional,” the Congress refuted it, claiming that the reservation was based on socio-economic backwardness of Muslims (as ascertained in a 1994 survey) and not religion.
It is early days and this contentious issue could land up in court.
As always, with path-breaking moves, it is one step forward and two steps back.
