It is a fact that today India is the second fastest growing country of the world. We are a country which provides scientists to US for its scientific excellence, a country which is fast becoming a hub for medical tourism, a country which is a recognised nuclear power, a country with the largest youth population of the world, a country whose people have proved their intelligence, hard work and entrepreneurship par excellence wherever they have gone. All this indicates very clearly that nobody can stop India from becoming a super power.
But perhaps the present UPA regime is not finding this growth suitable to its communal designs. In the recent meeting of the National Development Council, the UPA government has come out openly with these designs. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on an earlier occasion openly announced that Muslims have the first right over the national resources. Twenty thousand national level scholarships for Muslim students, funding of Muslim run enterprises and development of Muslim artisan clusters are some of the schemes which the government has already initiated. And now the Government has decided to earmark 15 per cent of the country'sdevelopment budget for the religious minorities, including Muslims.
The Government'sarguments behind its actions are based on controversial findings of Sachar Committee (the Prime Minister'sHigh-Level Committee on the Social, Economic and Educational Status of Muslims), the National Sample Survey, Ministry of Human Resource Development and a sub-group on education in the Working Group on the Empowerment of Minorities for the Eleventh Plan. The Government'sargument is that Indian Muslims suffer grave deprivation in social opportunity, because of lack of access to education, healthcare and other public services, and to employment. For the most part they are even more disadvantaged than dalits. Forty-three per cent of them live below the official poverty line. Muslim men'swork participation rate (48 per cent) is lower than dalit males? (53 per cent). For Muslim women, it is just 9.6 per cent, less than half the dalit women's23 per cent. Muslims are less likely to use the public distribution system for food (22 per cent) than dalits (32 per cent) or vaccinate their children (40 per cent) than dalits (47 per cent). The literacy rate among Muslims is 59 per cent, below the national average (65 per cent). Half of rural Muslim children are illiterate, as are a third of urban children. One-eigth of Muslim children aged between 6 and 13 do not attend schools. About 65 per cent of Muslim children in the 6-10 age group are enrolled, but only about half as many in the next age-bracket (11-14) are enrolled.
Factors behind Muslim backwardness
Nobody would deny that Muslims are backward educationally, socially and even economically. They have lower literacy rate. But there is no bar for Muslim children to enter government schools or other educational institutions. They get more than equal opportunities to study. But Muslims do not prefer to send their children to normal schools rather send them to madrasas, under the influence from mullahs and moulavis. No amount of government aid can solve this problem. The solution has to come from within this community.
Nobody has so far heard that any Muslim was ever denied a ration card or Muslim children were refused to be vaccinated by government doctors. If their blind faith or superstitions come in way to their health, no government funding can help the same. Because of their failure to get good education, thanks to their mullas and moulavis, ill health due to their ill beliefs, they remain socially and economically backward. This gets reflected in their low representation in government services, both administration and defence. Using this Muslim deprivation theory to put taxpayers? hard earned money in wrong channels to carry forward its communal agenda is deplorable.
Modus operandi of 15 per cent earmarking
The implication of government'sdecision to earmark 15 per cent plan allocation for the benefit of minorities is not going to be achieved across the board. In the tenth five year plan, the combined expenditure of the Union and the States was around 12 per cent on agriculture and rural development, 26.5 per cent on energy, 15 per cent on transport and around 23 per cent on social services including education, medical and public health, family welfare housing, urban development, etc. Its not likely that government can demonstrate 15 per cent earmarking for agriculture, rural development, energy, transport, etc. Thus the whole burden of 15 per cent earmarking would be borne by social services. The government has already shown its intention clearly by announcing recently one scheme of stipend for minority students amounting to Rs 1,530 crore. Further subsidised medical and public health facilities and housing for Muslims are in the offing. If the whole burden of plan allocation was to be borne by social services then more than half of the plan for these services would go to minorities.
Defocusing and stalling of growth
After a long time, Indian economy has started moving on fast track with varies sectors contributing to the development of the economy. According to a report published by World Bank, India is now one of the fastest growing countries in the world and in the years to follow it will not only continue to sustain its growth, it may surpass even the developed countries of today. In the last three years India'snominal GDP has been rising at 16 per cent per annum in dollar terms (as rupee has strengthened against dollar). If this rate can be sustained then India will equal to US GDP of $11 trillion by 2050. This march towards development should be taken with a pinch of salt. Since agriculture has not been able to grow along with other sectors of the economy, poverty and unemployment are on rise, extra efforts are needed to take care of these problems. Instead of tackling these problems, attempts of the government to communalise economic planning would not only de-channelise and defocus the growth and stall the march of the country to became a developed nation but also create bitterness among the various communities in the nation and push the country to the communal fire.
(The author is Reader, Department of Economics, PGDAV College, University of Delhi, New Delhi.)
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