It isn't surprising that the moment there is some judicial verdict slamming jihadi terror, pseudo-secularists and Muslim communalists get into an overdrive, erecting a wall of alibis to make it appear as if one whole community is being targeted and that the community in question has enough reasons to be angry. Therefore, when some leaders and their followers in the community resort to terrorism, such 'retaliation' is justified.

The latest alibi is that Muslims are being discriminated against in education and jobs and, therefore, they need special treatment. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh now wants that regions and areas in the country that have dense Muslim population to receive priority in education. There is an attempt to validate the myth that it is mainly because of low level of education among Muslims that they are becoming victims of extremist propaganda.

Facts show a completely different picture. The 2001 Census figures that show community-wise levels of education are indicative: The all-India average rate of literacy among Hindus is 65.1 per cent and among Muslims, it is 59.1 per cent. This means that the difference between the two communities is not substantial to merit a distinct policy that favours one over the other.

The State-wise figures are even more revealing. In the 100 per cent literate State of Kerala, the rate of literacy among Hindus is 90.2 per cent whereas among Muslims, it is 89.4 per cent. Yet, Kerala is the latest victim of extremist Muslim politics. In the 2006 Assembly election, both the LDF and UDF vied for support from radical Islamists, as they went to the extent of petitioning courts to release extremist leader and PDP chairman Abdul Nasser Madani from a Tamil Nadu prison where he was being held for conspiring to kill BJP leader LK Advani during a function in Coimbatore. Though Mr Advani survived, the bombing at the site killed many innocent people.

It is pertinent to note that there are several States where literacy rate of Muslims exceeds that of Hindus. For instance, in Chhattisgarh, 63.9 per cent Hindus are literate as against 82.5 per cent Muslims. In Maharashtra, where the 1993 serial bombings were followed by attacks on tourists at the Gateway of India and finally the serial train bombings of 2006, the literacy rates are 76.2 per cent for Hindus and 78.1 per cent for Muslims.

In Andhra Pradesh, the Muslim literacy rate of 68 per cent is significantly higher than the Hindu literacy rate of 59.4 per cent. Tamil Nadu, too, reports higher literacy rate for Muslims - 82.9 per cent, as against 72.0 per cent for Hindus. In Karnataka, it's 65.5 per cent Hindus and 70.1 per cent Muslims. The entire southern part of the country thus shows that the rates of literacy in the two communities are comparable.

We have seen that the percentage of literate Muslims is not in any way far below that of Hindus. The basic literacy rate, of course, does not reflect the educational levels at various higher cut-off points like primary, middle level and secondary schooling. But overall, at the bottom of the pyramid, education is open to all. But it is up to every community to access the available facilities with zeal.

The community-wise distribution of literacy have other significances. Jains, for instance, are the only community that consistently show over 90 per cent literacy rate. Bihar has the lowest literacy rate, 47.0 per cent. But there too, 93.3 per cent Jains are literate.

In all the States except Mizoram, Jains are the most literate. No great social insight is needed to find the reason for it. As a community, Jains are determined to respond earnestly to the need to remain abreast with the world. It is quite clear that many Jain families are sacrificing much to get education for their children. Again, the educational institutions run by them are not as many as those run by others. Despite this, their very high rate of literacy throughout the country is a tribute to their eagerness to learn.

Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have large concentrations of Muslims. Unlike their co-religionists in the south, their compatriots in these two States appear far less determined to be literate. Of course, the literacy rates in these States are low for all communities. But Muslims have it the lowest: 42 per cent in Bihar and 47.8 per cent in Uttar Pradesh. The story of education in the eastern States is also not very encouraging. But the inter-communal parity in education is revealing.

In West Bengal, where the Left Front has been ruling for three decades uninterruptedly, and where the Communists purportedly uphold 'Muslim causes', including Iraq and Iran, among several other things, Muslim literacy is a poor 57.5 per cent while it is 72.4 per cent among Hindus.

In Assam, the literacy figures tell a slightly different story. This is a rare State where the gap between the two communities in literacy levels is huge - 70 per cent among Hindus and 48.4 per cent among Muslims. But this has got to be due to the fact that there is a steady infiltration of illiterate people from neighbouring Bangladesh? Illegal immigrants take a long time to settle in their new haven. In Assam, the route of illegal immigration is invariably via the mid-river islands through to the banks, once the rivers are flooded. And as the waters swell higher, the infiltrators move further into the interiors and finally spread their roots there. This explains why the literacy rate of Muslims is so pathetically low in Assam.

Finally, the clinching evidence comes from Jammu & Kashmir. No one can accuse this State of discriminating against its majority community - Muslims. But here too, the literacy rate among Muslims is only 47.3 per cent, while among Hindus, it is 71.2. The reluctance of the Muslim orthodoxy to access education provided by the State is the only explanation for this situation. The Prime Minister's proposal to enhance the proportion of funds for education in Muslim-dominant areas is futile if the stranglehold of Muslim orthodoxy over its people is not slackened.

There is a social dimension to the problems of Muslims. The Government should not force the rest of the country pay - in the form of religion-based reservations - for the Muslim preference for theology over modern and scientific education.

Courtesy: www.dailypioneer.com, August 10, 2007