October 23, 2006.

To
Justice Rajindar Sachar
Chairperson, P.M.’s High Level Committee for Reporting on Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India, Sardar Patel Bhawan, I Floor, New Delhi-110001

Sub: Reminder about our long pending request for a personal hearing by your honour in connection with our one year old Memorandum submitted on 26th October, 2005 highlighting certain aspects of Social, Economic and Educational status of the Muslim Community of India.

Dear Sir

This is in continuation of our Memorandum dated Oct. 26, 2005, sent to you by Speed Post Acknowledgment Due, highlighting certain important aspects of the socio-economic and educational status of Indian Muslims which was somehow lost or misplaced in your office. Consequently, on your kind advice, we had submitted a revised Memorandum on May 18, 2006, making detailed submissions once more, but that document, too, has remained unacknowledged till date.

We are constrained to point out that despite our repeated requests, till date no representative of our Forum (which is an apolitical voluntary study group) has been given an opportunity to meet you personally for making certain important oral submissions to supplement our contention that it is not the Muslims, but the Indian Hindus, who are more disadvantaged in respect of 4 important globally recognized Human Development Indices, namely Infant Mortality, Child Mortality, Degree of Urbanization and Life Expectancy at Birth. Prima facie the Muslims of India appear to be far better placed than their minority compatriots in most other countries worldwide, e.g., France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and other western countries where their Human Development Indices on the above cited four counts are perhaps far below those of the majority community. We feel, Sir, that before finalizing their report, the High Powered Committee should make an assessment of the global scenario of the socio-economic and educational status of Muslim community. How is it that socially the Muslims continue to be backward worldwide – and not only in India. We feel that it is due to widespread gender inequality, abnormally high birth rate and abysmally low work participation of women that the Muslim community continues to be backward worldwide. Their social backwardness is not a phenomenon peculiar to India.

In our humble opinion, social status of a community is a direct function of its socio-religious mores, especially the treatment meted out to women in the realm of gender equality and emancipation. This fact stands demonstrably established from the recent tragic case of a hapless woman, Imrana (28 years old, with 5 children), who despite getting a court verdict in her favour, is being driven from pillar to post because of societal repression imposed by the fundamentalist Mullahs and All India Muslim Personal Law Board.

In this connection, the basic fault lies with the successive central governments for their monumental failure to enact a common Civil Code, as laid down in Article 44 of the Constitution – a fact repetitively highlighted by the Supreme Court of India. In a landmark judgement on July 25, 2003, a three-judge bench headed by former Chief Justice Khare, had chided the government for their failure to fulfil this important Constitutional obligation. That was for the third time when this constitutional failure was brought up by the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, this important Constitutional provision had been earlier turned upside down in 1985 after Supreme Court’s judgement in Shah Bano case, by enacting the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act. This single factor of gender discrimination has been responsible for prevalence of high degree of social inequality practised in the community. The politically contrived and oft-repeated argument that enactment of a common Civil Code must wait till the Muslim community is prepared to accept the change is tantamount to reductio ad absurdum. To dispense justice in an equitable manner to womenfolk of a community, does the State to have seek the consent of the perpetrator of injustice? Will not such an excuse look like a fraud on the Indian Constitution ? Sir, please answer that simple question, as a High Court Judge.

We have a lot more to say on the subject for which we humbly solicit a personal audience with you. May we, with your permission, remind you, Sir, again about the cardinal principle of jurisprudence that justice should not only be done, it must be seen to have been done”.

Once again we beseech you to give us a personal hearing at an early date before finalizing your important report.

With regards

Yours faithfully
(R.K. Ohri)

Annexure: 3

Nov. 7, 2006.

To
Justice Rajindar Sachar
Chairperson, P.M.’s High Level Committee for Reporting on Social, Economic and Educational Status of Muslim Community of India, Sardar Patel Bhawan, First Floor, New Delhi-1.

Sub: Another Reminder about our long pending request for a personal hearing by your honour in connection with our one year old Memorandum highlighting certain aspects of Socio-economic and Educational status of Indian Muslims.

Dear Sir,

This is in continuation of our Memorandum dated Oct. 26, 2005, sent to you by SPEED-POST Ack. Due and a revised Memorandum submitted on 18th May 2006, as advised by you (after the original was lost in your office), and subsequent reminders dated 18-07-2006 and 23-10-2006 on the subject.

It is a matter of regret that there has been no response to our repeated requests seeking a personal hearing before the High Level Committee. It is inferred from your studied silence that the august Committee has no intention of hearing our viewpoint. We have, therefore, no option but to make a supplementary written submission, as encapsulated in the enclosed note on global dimensions of social backwardness of Muslims. It is based on an article by a Pakistan-based journalist, Dr. Farrukh Saleem.

As requested in our last Reminder dated 23rd Oct., 2006, the social backwardness of the Muslim community is not, repeat not, an India specific problem. It is a global phenomenon caused by certain regressive social practices like widely prevalent gender discrimination and the custom of veil which prevent womenfolk from having access to education, become empowered and increase their work participation.

One major step which will emancipate the Muslim women could be the enactment of a common civil code. Once again we submit that your honour may give us a personal hearing and then consider this matter dispassionately.

With best regards

Yours faithfully
(R.K. Ohri)

Encl.: A Note on global backwardness of Muslims.

Annexure: 4

[To be read and considered as part of the Memorandum submitted on 18th May, 2006,
by Patriots’ Forum and 2 Reminders dated 18-07-2006 and 23-10-2006]

An attempt is often made by inadequately informed politicians and self-styled columnists to make it appear that the backwardness of Muslim community is an India specific problem. Some of them try to blame it on the majority community and allegations of discrimination are bandied about thoughtlessly. They refuse to listen to the voice of reason and face the truth. Frankly, Muslim backwardness is a problem common to all countries across the world. As analysed by Dr. Farrukh Saleem, an Islamabad-based freelance journalist, social and economic backwardness of Muslims is a common phenomenon worldwide. The following facts listed by him indicate global dimensions of the problem 1:

1. Though Muslims constitute 22 percent of the world population, they produce less than 5 percent of the global GDP. The combined annual GDP of 57 Muslim countries remains under $ 2 trillion.
2. America alone produces goods and services worth $ 10.4 trillion, China $ 5.7 trillion, Japan $ 3.5 trillion and Germany $ 2.1 trillion. Even India’s GDP is estimated at over $ 3 trillion (purchasing power parity). Oil-rich Saudi Arabia U.A.E., Kuwait and Qatar collectively produce goods and services (mostly oil) worth $430 billion. Netherlands alone has a higher GDP than that. Buddhist Thailand produces goods and services worth $429 billion.
3. More worrying is the fact that GDP of Muslim countries is going down as a percentage of global GDP.
4. Prima facie the Arabs are much worse off. According to the U.N. Arab Human Development Report, half of Arab women cannot read. Only one percent of the Arab population has a personal computer and only half percent use the Internet. Presently 15 percent of the Arab workforce is unemployed and this number could double by 2010. The average growth of per capita income during the preceding 20 years in Arab countries was only half percent per annum which is worse than anywhere else, but sub-Saharan Africa.
5. The planet’s poorest countries include Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Somalia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Mozambique. Globally six of the poorest of the poor countries have a Muslim majority.

The Pakistan-based scholar analyst further highlights the following revealing facts 2:

a) Fifty-seven Muslim majority countries have an average of approximately 10 universities per country. They have 600 universities for 1.4 billion people.In sharp contrast, India has 8,407 universities while the U.S.A. has 5,758.
b) During the past 105 years, Muslims have produced only 8 Nobel Laureates, while a small population of 14 million Jews have produced 167 Nobel Laureates.
c) Out of 1.4 billion Muslims, less than 300,000 are qualified scientists which gives a ratio of 230 scientists per one million Muslims, while America has 1.1 million scientists (i.e., 4099 scientists per one million population). Japan alone has 700,000 scientists, i.e., 5,095 scientists per one million people.
d) Out of 1.4 billion Muslims, 800 millions are illiterates, while in the Christendom adult literacy is cent percent.

It is submitted that for arriving at a rational and correct diagnosis of the malaise of social backwardness of Indian Muslims the above mentioned global facts need to be understood in their totality. The problem ought to be studied in depth in the light of massive gender discrimination prevalent in the community globally. Additional factors like the India-specific evil of triple talaq and the regressive custom of compulsory veil which inhibits women from going out to work which is reflected in their pathetically poor work participation, also need to be taken into consideration by the High Power Committee.

References:
1. https://mail.google.com/mail/h/140t2sr1xsu85/?v=c&th= 10e9a6b63519e916. [Source: farrukh15@hotmail.com]
2. Ibid.

Salient Points Highlighted by Shri Sanjay Kumar, (Fellow, Centre for Study of Developing Societies), in his Paper titled ‘Social and Economic Status and Popular Perception of Muslims in India’, presented in a Workshop-cum Seminar on Muslim Minority & Social Justice: Problems and Policy Options, organized by Dr. Sushma Yadav (Professor, Dr. Ambedkar Chair for Social Justice) at the Indian Institute of Public Administration, on September 2, 2006.

1. According to the author, his research was based on the data collected by the Centre for Study of Developing Societies after 2004 Lok Sabha elections. During the survey, more than 27,000 respondents spread across all the 20 States were asked questions not only on various social and political issues, but even general information was sought regarding their background (e.g., age, gender, education, religion, caste, things they possessed, etc.).

2. There has been a great deal of talk about educational and economic backwardness of Indian Muslims. A widespread perception exists that Muslims are way behind the Hindus and other religious communities in terms of education and economic prosperity. Census 2001 data also suggests that Muslims lag behind the Hindus in terms of educational attainments.

3. The findings of the National Elections Study (conducted by CSDS) show that among those who are above 18 years of age, “there is hardly any difference among the level of educational attainments among Hindus and Muslims”. At the national level, both among the Hindus as well as the Muslims, 36 percent are illiterates. There is a slight difference in the proportion of those who have completed college education. While among Hindus, 17 percent had passed college education, among Muslims the percentage was slightly less, i.e., only 15 percent. In the realm of higher education, the other minorities like the Sikhs and Christians are much better placed.

4. The story is not very different when we look at the level of economic prosperity among the Hindus and Muslims. “Contrary to the common belief that Muslims are poorer compared to the Hindus, the findings of NES indicate hardly any difference in the level of economic prosperity among people from the two communities”.

5. The proportion of those who would fall in rich class is more or less equal both among the Hindus and the Muslims. “At the national level, the proportion of those who would fall in very poor class is more among the Hindus compared to the Muslims”. With these figures, it is hard to believe Muslims are relatively economically backward compared to the Hindus.

6. In terms of level of media exposure, the Muslims hardly lag behind the Hindus. The findings of the survey indicate that the level of media exposure is more or less similar among the Hindus and the Muslims, while Christians are slightly more exposed to the media.

7. There is, however, a rural-urban divide. The educational backwardness among Muslims is seen more in the urban areas. Among the urban Muslims, only 24 percent were graduates, while among Hindus the number was much higher, 36 percent had passed college education. The number of illiterates among urban Muslims were also much higher compared to the number of illiterates among the urban Hindus.

8. Similar differences exists, in terms of level of economic development. In terms of level of economic prosperity, the Hindus and Muslims living in villages are more or less similar, but the urban Muslims lag behind the urban Hindus. While the proportion of those who would be considered as poor is more or less equal among the urban Hindus and the urban Muslims, but among those who have managed to be rich, the urban Hindus outnumber the urban Muslims in significant numbers. In other words, according to Shri Sanjay Kumar, the urban Hindus have a thick creamy layer.

9. While there are differences in terms of levels of educational attainment among Muslims from different regions, one could hardly find differences among the Muslims from different regions in terms of the level of economic attainment, though the Muslims from the southern region seem to be slightly more well off compared to the Muslims from either the West or the Hindi heartland States.

10. Shri Sanjay Kumar’s Seminar Paper covered many other social, educational and political aspects, including the community’s perception about their major problems, especially those of poverty and unemployment, sense of discrimination, attitudes towards modernity and conservatism, including observance of veil (which was favoured by an overwhelming majority of 84 percent Muslims interviewed) and issuing of Fatwas (favoured by 44 percent).

11. Nearly one-fifth of the Muslims (21 percent) interviewed claimed that they had experienced some kind of discrimination in their day-to-day life. Approximately, 75 percent women felt that having more than one wife was unjustified. Similarly, 66 percent women felt that the practice of triple talaq was incorrect and unjustified.

Incidentally, the well known Psephologist and Statistical Analyst, Prof. Yogendra Yadav, is the head of the Centre for Study of Developing Societies.