Oxford Handbook series has a well-deserved reputation. The volume under review — edited by Abusaleh Shariff, secretary of the Sachar Committee (March 2005-November 2006), appointed by the prime minister, and IIM-Ahmedabad’s Rakesh Basant, who was closely associated with the committee’s work — provides well-researched reference material on the status of the largest minority of the Republic of India. India has the largest population of Muslims, next to Indonesia, and the Indian sub-continent accounts for about one-third of the global Muslim population.
The Handbook is divided into four sections: Socio-Historical Context; Socio-Economic Status; Employment and Labour Market; and Policy Implications
Prof Irfan Habib provides some interesting insights into the issue of coexistence during the medieval period and Prof Satish Saberwal gives a concise account of diffusion of Islam over centuries in different regions of India and its syncretic aspects, given the indigenous origin of a vast majority of Indian Muslims.
The contrary claims of victimisation and appeasement have been an area of contention and polemics. The Sachar Committee, arguably for the first time, examined the problems in depth based mainly on official data. It highlighted the relative deprivation of the Muslim community in terms of levels of living and human development conditions. According to the authors, Muslims contend with various issues as they simultaneously face problems relating to “security, identity and equity”; and their ghettoisation is the result of insecurity.
However, the essays in the volume, instead of painting a broad brush portrait, argue for a more differentiated and disaggregated approach to “socio-religious communities”(SRCs). Such an approach provides a more rational and actionable basis for tackling the problems of equity and inclusive growth. They highlight the ground realities of existence of three broad groups among the Muslims of India, roughly corresponding to those of high castes (ashraf ), OBC (ajlaf) and SC (arzals). The Sachar Committee does not recommend reservations, but if reservation is seen as a policy option, a most backward class (MBC) status for arzals would probably make sense, according to the authors.
Abusaleh Shariff in his pioneering work on philanthropy among Muslims has shed some interesting light on the Zakat charity, a mandatory part of Muslim faith, and more importantly on the issue of Waqfs (endowments). Historically, a large number of properties were assigned as Waqfs across the country since the medieval period. The British dealt a crushing blow to these age-old institutions, but still a considerable number of them have survived. According to him, regrettably, most Waqf properties have neither been demarcated at site nor mutated in revenue records, despite repeated requests and reminders to the revenue authorities concerned. Consequently, many of these valuable properties, often in urban areas, are either heavily encroached upon or lost or in litigation. According to his estimates, about five lakh Waqfs, with a total area of about six lakh acres (West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh accounting for more than 50 per cent of these properties), are valued at a minimum of Rs 6,000 crore, which could be used for philanthropy for Muslims. But the current income from these properties is only about Rs 163 crore, amounting to a meagre return of 1.5 per cent. Through proper management, these could give a return of 10 per cent valued at Rs 12,000 crore. Many Waqfs are mismanaged by Muslim trustees themselves. A Joint Parliamentary Committee has submitted its report and recommendations for urgent reforms in Waqf-related issues. The sooner the system is cleaned up and streamlined and Waqf Acts are amended suitably by respective state governments the better for utilisation of their resources for the deserving groups and institutions of the Muslim community.
Two important studies by Sonia Bhalotra-Bernarda Zamora and Sonalde Desai-Veena Kulkarni are devoted to the most crucial issue: the status of education among Muslims. Only about 4 per cent of Muslim children are estimated to be in madrasa, the rest are in the mainstream. At the beginning of this decade, Muslim middle school completion rate was 37 per cent as compared to 47 per cent for the general population. While many conscious efforts have been made to reduce educational disadvantages of Dalits and adivasis, “little attention has been directed towards reducing educational disadvantages of Muslims” and “improvements in their education have failed to match those of the Dalits and adivasis”.
The contributions in this volume have taken the analysis and debate further than the Sachar Committee report. The editors hope that further work will be undertaken to have more informed and purposeful debate and policy formation.
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The ball lies in the court of academics, as the University Grants Commission has sanctioned special studies and research centres on Dalit and Minorities Studies in many universities. Following the Sachar Committee report, the planning commission has opted for an area-based and not a community-based approach; instead of a sub-plan for minorities, 90 minority concentration districts have been selected for additional development and budget allocations. The jury is still out about the efficacy of this approach — and this could also be an appropriate issue for analysis and research by the aforementioned university centres.
The reviewer is ex-vice chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi
HANDBOOK OF MUSLIMS IN INDIA
Empirical and Policy Perspectives
Edited by Rakesh Basant and Abusaleh Shariff Oxford
308 pages; Rs 850