A recent government report found that the Indian Muslim community is suffering from discrimination when it comes to benefits from government-run welfare programs, access to education, employment, and even the system of credit and bank loans, according to the Financial Express.
The report, by the Prime Minister’s High Level Committee, headed by Justice Minister Rajinder Sachar, examined the “social, economic and education status of the Muslim community in the country.”
The committee’s final report is expected to be presented to the government next June.
Since August last year, the committee has collected data from government officials, Muslim groups and NGOs in several Indian states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
The committee found that 94.9% of Muslims in Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in rural areas do not receive free food grains.
While only 3.2% of Muslims get subsidized loans, just 1.9 percent of the Muslim community benefit from the Antyodaya Anna Yojana Scheme, a program aimed at preventing starvation among the poor by providing food grains at a subsidized rate.
The committee also found that;
• 60.2% of Muslims do not own land in rural areas.
• Just 2.1% of Muslim farmers have tractors.
• Only 1% of Muslims own handpumps.
• On the educational front, the picture is equally bleak: 54.6% of Muslims in villages and 60% in urban areas have never attended schools. (The national average is 40.8% in rural areas and 19.9% in urban areas.)
• Only 0.8% of Muslims in rural areas are graduates.
• Although in urban areas, almost 40% of Muslims receive modern education. Only 3.1% of the Muslim community in urban areas are graduates. Just 1.2% are post-graduates.
“These figures are based on what people and organizations told us when we met them in the states. But they need to be analyzed before arriving at any final conclusion. The committee is yet to submit its report”, Justice Minister Sachar told the Indian Express.
The committee also reported on a number of shocking instances of discrimination against the Muslim community. Many Muslims also complained that they weren’t able to get bank loans, eben from nationalized banks, while others said that it was difficult to sell or buy property.
“There is an implicit diktat that loans should not be given in specific areas dominated by Muslims because of the high probability of default”, the committee concluded.
The committee also found inadequate number of government schools in Muslim-dominated areas, which contributes to the low number of Muslim boys and girls attending schools.
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