Not too long ago, the Government at the Centre made an attempt to count the number of Muslims in the Indian armed forces. Even before the process could be initiated, certain people with political background opened a front against the Government, with full backing of certain sections of the media. Eventually, the plan had to be shelved and a figure that would have been of much interest to the planners and social activists remained hidden behind veil, very much like the face of a devout Muslim woman.
Those who do not want the Muslims to come in the mainstream may have succeeded for the time being. BJP has already cashed in on this and its victory in the recently concluded mayoral elections was a consequence of this. But the truth is out there in the open for all those who value truth and justice over narrow-minded issues and petty gains.
Today, Muslims are worse than the tribals and dalits, in terms of education and jobs. Nearly 51 per cent Muslims do not know how to write their names. With these figures, you can very well guess the education status of women. Out of those children who go to school, 90% leave school before they reach class X. Of those who appear for Class X exams, only 7.2% are Muslims. In cities, 4.8% and in rural areas only 1.5% Muslim youths go the college. The fact has not escaped the eyes of UNESCO’s Education for Global Monitoring, which says that of the 1.3 crore children in India who are unable to go to schools, majority of them are Muslims. This is in spite of Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan continuing for years now, which clearly suggests that the benefits of this have not reached the Muslim concentrated areas yet.
One of the main reasons for backwardness of Muslims is poverty. In rural areas, 29% Muslims are merely spending 300 rupees per month. Naturally, when there is not enough to eat, how can they think of education for children. When these people send their children to work on dhabas and shops, so that they can at least get two meals a day, the children are picked up, under the new child labour laws, and parents are coerced by police. In order to get their children released, the parents end up paying whatever little they could have saved till then.
In terms of jobs, there are only 6.4% Muslims in government jobs, though their population in the country is said to be 14%. There are merely 11.2% Muslims in government jobs in Assam, which has nearly 31% Muslim population. In West Bengal, the situation is worse. There are a mere 4.2% Muslims in government jobs when they number nearly one quarter of the population. In UP, there are just 5.1% Muslims in government jobs when their population is 18.5%.
All this would just appear to be statistics if we do not give live examples. The exact position of Muslims in the armed forces may never be known to elucidate their true position and how they have continued to lag behind the mainstream each passing year, ever since Independence. Not just the Government, fact remains that the presence of Muslims is far worse in the private sector where it is possible to find companies which employ hundreds of people and the number of Muslims is so low that it can be counted on the fingers of two hands. The condition is so pathetic that we won’t be surprised if there are companies which employ a few hundred employees with not even one Muslim on its rolls.
BJP may have thwarted the Government’s plan to go ahead with counting the number of Muslims in the armed forces, but there are certain areas where the numbers are starkly visible.
Media is supposed to be secular and above sectarian or communal divisions. From listings given on their own pages, we counted the number of Muslims which prestigious media-houses like Outlook, The Week and India Today employ. This is to be remembered that such listings give the names of employees in key positions only. And from the internet, we got the lists of judges in various courts in north India, where the number of Muslims amount to nearly one fourth of the entire population. Results are there for you to see.
Of the 89 names listed in India Today as their key employees, only one Farzand Ahmed is a Muslim (1.12%). The Week, another leading newsmagazine, too has only one employee, Tariq Ahmad Bhat at Srinagar, out of 78 names that it has listed (1.28%). And Outlook gives names of three Muslims on page 1 viz. Ajaz Ashraf, Saba Naqvi Bhaumick and Prayaag Akbar out of 101 names that it mentions (2.97%). Outlook’s City Limit likewise gives 43 names with none of the names appearing to be of Muslims. If you are of opinion that Muslims may not be favouring the English media, Outlook (Hindi) has 62 names given of which there is not a single Muslim.
We wish to clarify here that Vinod Mehta, the Editor-in-Chief of Outlook Group is known to be one of the biggest champions of secularism in the country. If this is the condition of his publications, it is certainly not due to any nefarious plans but because there are not too many Muslims capable of entering his publications on merit.
See now the list of Muslims in judiciary in some of the North Indian states. Allahabad High Court has four Muslim judges (Justice Syed Rafat Alam, Justice Imtiyaz Murtaza, Justice Sibghat Ullah Khan and Justice Barkat Ali Zaidi) in the Allahabad bench comprising 65 judges and a Chief Justice (6.06% when there are 18.5% Muslims in UP). Lucknow bench has just 2 judges (Justice Abdul Mateen and Justice Allah Raham) out of 21 judges (9.52 %). Rajasthan High Court has only one Muslim judge viz. Justice Mohammad Rafiq in the list of 30 judges (a mere 3.33%). High Court of Gujarat too has just one Muslim judge (Justice Abdul Hamid Qureshi) among 33 judges (3.03%). Only Patna High Court is a marginal better with 5 Muslim judges (Justice Aftab Alam, Justice S. Nayer Hussain, Justice Syed Mohammad Mahfouz Khan, Justice Anwar Ahmed and Justice Smt. Sheema Ali Khan) out of 27 judges (18.52%). The self-proclaimed champions of the Muslim cause, the Leftists, who have been in power in West Bengal for decades now are lagging behind in this area as well. Muslims number one-fourth of the State’s population and there is not even a single name that appears to be that of a Muslim in the list of 45 judges in the Calcutta High Court.
Now see the condition of Delhi that has remained mostly under Congress rule till now. Delhi High Court has a lone judge (Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed) in the list of 34 judges (2.94%). Out of 100 Additional District Judges at Tis Hazari Court, there is not a single Muslim. Likewise, there is no Muslim among 24 Civil Judges in Tis Hazari Court and 4 in Karkardooma Court. There is not a single Muslim among 4 Rent Controller/Addl. Rent Controllers. Out of 44 Addl. Sessions Judges at 3 courts, there is no Muslim though there are several Sikhs, numbering far less than Muslims. Out of 22 judges posted as Matrimonial Judges and at Labour Courts & Industrial Tribunals, again there is no Muslim. In all, out of 228 judges posted at various courts in Delhi, there is only one who is a Muslim (a mere 0.44%). Should we pity the system or pity the Muslims?
While reading all this, it must be kept in mind that most of the figures given are from North India where the population of Muslims is far more than their national average of 14%. In the entire listings of 823 people that we have given above, only 19 are Muslims (2.31%). Imagine the position of Muslims in South Indian states where Muslims measure far less than North India.
In one of his letter to Hi Time Express, Justice Kamleshwar Nath, Retired Judge Allahabad High Court, writes: “The greatest obstacle in our progress as a nation is a strange aloofness – exclusiveness of the largest minority of our Nation, the Muslims. I am quite perplexed when I hear self-serving politicians say: ‘We should do something to bring the Muslims into the mainstream of our society’. Haider saheb: This is putting the cart before the horse; the truth is just the other way round. I write this to you because of the youthful fervour I like in your write-ups and the paper’s moto: “For the young, of the young, by the young”. It is the youth which makes life vibrant, and I wish your paper to smoothen out the aberrations which have dogged and continue in aggravated form – the good, and much needed spirit of one-ness of our people. Please think over the malaise and project a remedy – God will bless you.”
Hope we are doing the same. May God bless us!
Those who do not want the Muslims to come in the mainstream may have succeeded for the time being. BJP has already cashed in on this and its victory in the recently concluded mayoral elections was a consequence of this. But the truth is out there in the open for all those who value truth and justice over narrow-minded issues and petty gains.
Today, Muslims are worse than the tribals and dalits, in terms of education and jobs. Nearly 51 per cent Muslims do not know how to write their names. With these figures, you can very well guess the education status of women. Out of those children who go to school, 90% leave school before they reach class X. Of those who appear for Class X exams, only 7.2% are Muslims. In cities, 4.8% and in rural areas only 1.5% Muslim youths go the college. The fact has not escaped the eyes of UNESCO’s Education for Global Monitoring, which says that of the 1.3 crore children in India who are unable to go to schools, majority of them are Muslims. This is in spite of Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan continuing for years now, which clearly suggests that the benefits of this have not reached the Muslim concentrated areas yet.
One of the main reasons for backwardness of Muslims is poverty. In rural areas, 29% Muslims are merely spending 300 rupees per month. Naturally, when there is not enough to eat, how can they think of education for children. When these people send their children to work on dhabas and shops, so that they can at least get two meals a day, the children are picked up, under the new child labour laws, and parents are coerced by police. In order to get their children released, the parents end up paying whatever little they could have saved till then.
In terms of jobs, there are only 6.4% Muslims in government jobs, though their population in the country is said to be 14%. There are merely 11.2% Muslims in government jobs in Assam, which has nearly 31% Muslim population. In West Bengal, the situation is worse. There are a mere 4.2% Muslims in government jobs when they number nearly one quarter of the population. In UP, there are just 5.1% Muslims in government jobs when their population is 18.5%.
All this would just appear to be statistics if we do not give live examples. The exact position of Muslims in the armed forces may never be known to elucidate their true position and how they have continued to lag behind the mainstream each passing year, ever since Independence. Not just the Government, fact remains that the presence of Muslims is far worse in the private sector where it is possible to find companies which employ hundreds of people and the number of Muslims is so low that it can be counted on the fingers of two hands. The condition is so pathetic that we won’t be surprised if there are companies which employ a few hundred employees with not even one Muslim on its rolls.
BJP may have thwarted the Government’s plan to go ahead with counting the number of Muslims in the armed forces, but there are certain areas where the numbers are starkly visible.
Media is supposed to be secular and above sectarian or communal divisions. From listings given on their own pages, we counted the number of Muslims which prestigious media-houses like Outlook, The Week and India Today employ. This is to be remembered that such listings give the names of employees in key positions only. And from the internet, we got the lists of judges in various courts in north India, where the number of Muslims amount to nearly one fourth of the entire population. Results are there for you to see.
Of the 89 names listed in India Today as their key employees, only one Farzand Ahmed is a Muslim (1.12%). The Week, another leading newsmagazine, too has only one employee, Tariq Ahmad Bhat at Srinagar, out of 78 names that it has listed (1.28%). And Outlook gives names of three Muslims on page 1 viz. Ajaz Ashraf, Saba Naqvi Bhaumick and Prayaag Akbar out of 101 names that it mentions (2.97%). Outlook’s City Limit likewise gives 43 names with none of the names appearing to be of Muslims. If you are of opinion that Muslims may not be favouring the English media, Outlook (Hindi) has 62 names given of which there is not a single Muslim.
We wish to clarify here that Vinod Mehta, the Editor-in-Chief of Outlook Group is known to be one of the biggest champions of secularism in the country. If this is the condition of his publications, it is certainly not due to any nefarious plans but because there are not too many Muslims capable of entering his publications on merit.
See now the list of Muslims in judiciary in some of the North Indian states. Allahabad High Court has four Muslim judges (Justice Syed Rafat Alam, Justice Imtiyaz Murtaza, Justice Sibghat Ullah Khan and Justice Barkat Ali Zaidi) in the Allahabad bench comprising 65 judges and a Chief Justice (6.06% when there are 18.5% Muslims in UP). Lucknow bench has just 2 judges (Justice Abdul Mateen and Justice Allah Raham) out of 21 judges (9.52 %). Rajasthan High Court has only one Muslim judge viz. Justice Mohammad Rafiq in the list of 30 judges (a mere 3.33%). High Court of Gujarat too has just one Muslim judge (Justice Abdul Hamid Qureshi) among 33 judges (3.03%). Only Patna High Court is a marginal better with 5 Muslim judges (Justice Aftab Alam, Justice S. Nayer Hussain, Justice Syed Mohammad Mahfouz Khan, Justice Anwar Ahmed and Justice Smt. Sheema Ali Khan) out of 27 judges (18.52%). The self-proclaimed champions of the Muslim cause, the Leftists, who have been in power in West Bengal for decades now are lagging behind in this area as well. Muslims number one-fourth of the State’s population and there is not even a single name that appears to be that of a Muslim in the list of 45 judges in the Calcutta High Court.
Now see the condition of Delhi that has remained mostly under Congress rule till now. Delhi High Court has a lone judge (Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed) in the list of 34 judges (2.94%). Out of 100 Additional District Judges at Tis Hazari Court, there is not a single Muslim. Likewise, there is no Muslim among 24 Civil Judges in Tis Hazari Court and 4 in Karkardooma Court. There is not a single Muslim among 4 Rent Controller/Addl. Rent Controllers. Out of 44 Addl. Sessions Judges at 3 courts, there is no Muslim though there are several Sikhs, numbering far less than Muslims. Out of 22 judges posted as Matrimonial Judges and at Labour Courts & Industrial Tribunals, again there is no Muslim. In all, out of 228 judges posted at various courts in Delhi, there is only one who is a Muslim (a mere 0.44%). Should we pity the system or pity the Muslims?
While reading all this, it must be kept in mind that most of the figures given are from North India where the population of Muslims is far more than their national average of 14%. In the entire listings of 823 people that we have given above, only 19 are Muslims (2.31%). Imagine the position of Muslims in South Indian states where Muslims measure far less than North India.
In one of his letter to Hi Time Express, Justice Kamleshwar Nath, Retired Judge Allahabad High Court, writes: “The greatest obstacle in our progress as a nation is a strange aloofness – exclusiveness of the largest minority of our Nation, the Muslims. I am quite perplexed when I hear self-serving politicians say: ‘We should do something to bring the Muslims into the mainstream of our society’. Haider saheb: This is putting the cart before the horse; the truth is just the other way round. I write this to you because of the youthful fervour I like in your write-ups and the paper’s moto: “For the young, of the young, by the young”. It is the youth which makes life vibrant, and I wish your paper to smoothen out the aberrations which have dogged and continue in aggravated form – the good, and much needed spirit of one-ness of our people. Please think over the malaise and project a remedy – God will bless you.”
Hope we are doing the same. May God bless us!
