Living on the Margins. Minorities in South Asia - EURAC

the oppressed even while we recognize that this has not yet got stabilized and there can
be reversals given the prominent presence of right reaction.
Sachar Report
The Sachar Report can be expected to strengthen this political trend, though its findings
are double edged and can be used by communal elements to reinforce the communities’
feeling of discrimination and alienation from the Indian state. xv The Report has
established that the socio-economic condition of the Muslim communities is
abysmally low, that it is just above that of the Dalits, and may be worse off than that
of the OBCs. The question of the under representation of Muslims in services and allied
areas, their lagging behind in education and their poor access to health facilities is
equally well established. Not that this evidence comes as a startling revelation. Many
of us who have been using the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies’ survey
data on class formation within different communities have written on similar lines.
What distinguishes the findings of this Committee is not just its exhaustive
thoroughness, but the official stamp it carries. xvi
Where the Report’s findings break fresh ground is in the revelation of the
backwardness of all territorial areas where Muslims populations have a very sizeable
presence. These have to do with provision of housing, tap water, schools, medical
facilities, roads, and what the Sachar Report has called the infrastructural variables.
The access of Muslim children under Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS)
is also low and so is the overall coverage. According to 2001 census, there are 11
districts where the Muslim population is above 50 per cent and 38 where it is above
25 per cent. About a third of the Muslim population lives in these areas. There are
another 182 districts where the Muslim population is between 10 to 25 per cent and
about 47 per cent of Muslim population lives in these areas. Also, there are a large
number of small and medium sized towns with a sizeable Muslim population. All
these areas are poorly provided with urban infrastructure and other civic amenities.
This is astounding.
In the case of the under representation of the Muslim in services and higher
unemployment, it can be argued, that it may be due to the educational and social
backwardness of the community; although the extent of political under representation
cannot be accounted for by the degree of backwardness. But how does one account
for the sheer absence of physical infrastructure? The absence of physical
infrastructure implies that Muslim areas are deliberately ignored in the state provision
of public services of all kind. xvii With regard to the deprivation of physical
infrastructure, the Committee’s findings establish that densely populated Muslim
areas are similar to tribal belts or village areas where Dalits reside. xviii A very high
degree of deliberate neglect therefore becomes undeniable.
This has led many to quite innocently assert that all deprivation and poverty
among the Muslims is the making of the Indian state. A section of the communal
minded leadership among the Muslims has jumped on this, to defame the Indian state.
This view is distorting. Certainly, the state is involved, but in a different way, as we
see below. The state did not create poverty among the Muslims like it did among the
tribal communities through massive displacements.
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