Numbers don't lie. (Indian Muslims are no longer a minority)

Author : Vivek Gumaste
(Vivek Gumaste is a US-based academic and political commentator.)
Article Date : 01/11/2012

The Ranganath Misra panel report cannot be the basis for quotas for Muslims 

With assembly polls around the corner in Uttar Pradesh, the rush to dole out goodies by political parties to Muslims has turned into a free-for-all stampede. First it was Rahul Gandhi dangling the carrot of reservations for the community.
Then Mayawati's proposed their inclusion in an expanded OBC quota. To invest credibility to their
assertions, protagonists of reservation flaunt what they claim to be the gospel of truth -the Ranganath
Misra Commission report. But has anyone -politicians or the media -really read it? The answer is a
resounding `no'.
Devolved with a specific brief, a commission is required to objectively analyse data and draft proposals that mirror the evidence. The National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, better known as the Ranganath Misra Commission, does exactly the opposite. The report, a rambling 198-page dossier of repetitious material, meanders through irrelevant issues and makes recommendations that are not sustained by its findings.
The question at the heart of any demand for affirmative action is whether the concerned parties are
disadvantaged or not. The Commission responds to this query by a comparative analysis of India's
religious communities using educational, health and economic parameters. All data presented below,
unless otherwise stated, is extracted from the Commission's report.

First, let us look at economic criteria like the worker participation rate (WPR), defined as percentage
of workers to total population), household incomes and poverty levels. Overall, Muslims register a
low WPR of 31.3% compared to Hindus (40.4%) and Christians (39.7%). But this low number is
skewed by the dismal 14.1% WPR for Muslim women. When analysed separately, WPR for Muslim
men is 47.5% -marginally lower than the national average of 51.7% and not a significant difference
that would warrant reservations. To address low WPR among Muslim women, we need to ask it it's
due to the non-availability of opportunities or reasons germane to the community itself, like a
voluntary embargo on working women, which can't be resolved by reservations.
The household income information presented in the report is sketchy, leaving out figures for Hindu,
Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). A survey by the National Council of Applied
Economic Research (NCAER) provides a better perspective, as indicated by a report from the
Economic Times (April 5, 2007): “....
Hindus and Muslims, at a national level, run neck-and-neck on average annual household income
(AHI) of R61,423 and R58,420, respectively....Or, to put it differently, an average Hindu
household has an income of R168 per day, while an average Muslim household earns R160 a day.“
The Indian Human Development Survey indicates that annual household income of Muslims is better
than SC, ST and OBC categories, which constitute 70% of the Hindu community. The below poverty
level statistics state that Muslims are on par with Hindus in rural areas with figures of 27.22% and
27.80%. Only urban Muslims with a BPL rate of 36.9% appear disadvantaged.
In education, Christians have the highest literacy rate countrywide (80.3%), while Muslims stand at
59.1%. It's below the national average of 64.1% but far above the literacy rate among SCs (54.7%)
and STs (47.1%). At the primary school level, nationwide, Muslims surpass every community with
65.31% enrolment, followed by Hindus at 54.91%. But at the graduate level, Muslims (3.6%) lag
behind Christians (8.71%) and Hindus (7.01%). This could be due to inadequate secular training in
religious schools, which the report also acknowledges.
The health indices don't bolster the final recommendations. The infant mortality rate (IMR)is the
worst for Hindus (77.1).
Muslims fare better with an IMR of 58.8 and Christians top with an IMR of 49.2.
Therefore, in healthcare, Hindus are disadvantaged; in economic terms, Muslims are as good as all
Hindus; in education, the results are a mixed bag. A quota, while no doubt politically expedient, is
not a panacea.
The politics of reservation will only dilute the concept of merit. Any solution must therefore
subscribe to these basic principles: equal opportunity for all, aid to the economically-deprived regardless of caste or religion and preservation of merit.

http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/PUBLICATIONS/HT/HD/2012/01/11/ArticleHtmls/Numbers-dont-lie-11012012010009.shtml?Mode=1

Fair share of Vibrant Gujarat

Sohini Das and Vinay Umarji find out if there is any truth in Narendra Modi’s claim that Muslim businessmen in Gujarat never had it better...

In a locality scarred by the Gujarat riots of 2002, one store stands apart – Hearty Mart. The “community store” in Ahmedabad’s Juhapura neighborhood is the brainchild of Nadeem Jafri. He started the mini-supermarket in 2004 in what was a ghetto. With discounted prices and a no-frills shopping environment, it is targeted at people who find big-brand organised retail intimidating. He also supplies food to the hotels and restaurants run by the Momin community across Gujarat. “We leveraged the strength of our community which lies in running restaurants, around 2,000 of which are in on the Ahmedabad-Vapi belt,” says Jafri, an MBA from FMS Indore. Hearty Mart has grown from one store in Ahmedabad to nine more in Gujarat.

The condition of Muslims in Gujarat under chief minister Narendra Modi has been the subject of much debate. The riots that followed the Godhra massacre tarnished the state’s secular image. Yet, Gujarat remains the most popular destination for investments, with businessmen falling over each other to put money into the state. Have Muslims got their rightful share of the prosperity? Modi has said Muslim businessmen never had it better in Gujarat. But what is the situation on the ground?

Almost every businessman in Gujarat has basked in the glory of the state’s growth story. “Muslims too have made the most of this opportunity, and have prospered,” says Talha Sareshwala, CEO and managing director of Parsoli Motors, the leading BMW dealer in the city. When the dealership started in 2008, it hardly had Muslim customers. “I have seen the spending power of Muslims rise tremendously in these 8 to 10 years. Now, around 10 to 12 per cent of my customers comprise Muslims,” he says.

“If one is living in a society, one cannot lead a secluded existence; one has to come forward and join the mainstream. Any setback is actually an investment and becomes the cause for going forward,” says Uves Sareshwala, Talha’s elder brother and one of the co-promoters of Parsoli Corporation. The Parsolis have tried their hand at several lines of businesses including poultry, industrial valves, stock broking, paints and luxury cars.

It is not just the educated or the established Muslim business families that have managed to grow in the last few years. Ayub Pathan, who used to earn Rs 600 a month from his job at the city airport, owns a fleet of seven taxis. “In 2001, I had sold my wife’s jewellery, borrowed money at high interest rate from the unorganised market, and bought my first taxi. Bank loans were not easy for a Muslim entrepreneur then. But, things have improved. I have moved from my humble hutment at Camp Hanuman to an apartment at Shahibaug,” Pathan says with pride. He earns close to Rs 50,000 a month from his taxis.

Muslims, according to the 2001 census, make up nearly nine per cent of Gujarat’s population of 50 million. The Sachar Committee says Muslims aren’t badly off in Gujarat. Their literacy rate of 73.5 per cent is better than the national average of 59.1. The per capita income of Muslims in urban Gujarat is Rs 875 per month, higher than the national average of Rs 804. The number of Muslims living below the poverty line in Gujarat has also come down, from 54 per cent in 1987-88 to 34 per cent in 2004-2005. Muslims form 5.4 per cent in the state government’s roll call, compared with 2.1 per cent in West Bengal, 3.2 per cent in Delhi and 4.4 per cent in Maharashtra.

So, did government policies have a role to play? Yes, says Kaizar Mahuwala of Gurjar Images: “Our plant needs to run 24X7; if we shut down for a day, it would take 36 hours to restart production. Such a plant could possibly run only in a state like Gujarat where the power infrastructure can support industrial growth.” The sentiment is echoed by others. “The future is here. I cannot even think of living in any other city but Ahmedabad, everywhere else seems alien to me,” says Talha Sareshwala who is now planning to open BMW showrooms across Gujarat.

(Sohini Das And Vinay Umarji / Ahmedabad February 12, 2011)

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/fair-sharevibrant-gujarat/424871/