Problems related to muslim minorities in Bihar

A study on concepts, techniques, provisions

Submitted to: Dr Sangeet Kumar Submitted by: Inzmamul Haque Student, Ist year, Ist semester,Roll-933

Chanakya National Law University

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am feeling highly elated to work on the topic Problem related to muslim minorities under the guidance of my Sociology teacher Dr Sangeet Kumar . I am very grateful to him for his exemplary guidance. I would like to enlighten my readers regarding this topic and I hope I have tried my best to pave the way for bringing more luminosity to this topic. I also want to thank all of my friends, without whose cooperation this project was not possible. Apart from all these, I want to give special thanks to the librarian of my university who made every relevant materials regarding to my topic available to me at the time of my busy research work and gave me assistance. And at last I am very much obliged to the God who provided me the potential for the rigorous research work. At finally yet importantly I would like to thank my parents for the financial support.

-----------------Thanking You

Aims and objectives:I. II. III. To know about the history of Muslims. To know about the problems faced by Muslim minorities in societies. To know about the government views on problems of Muslim minorities.

Hypothesis:For the topic the hypothesis is the problems of the Muslim minorities in day to day life is being a major rapid growing problem and also leading to the unemployment and lack of education.

Research methodology:For the research of concerned topic the researcher had opted the most important way of research. He has used doctrinal and non doctrinal research (field work). In doctrinal the researcher did the online study and also a bit study of book. For in doctrinal research he interviewed some people of these minorities.

Sources of Data:
The researcher will use both the Doctrinal and Non-Doctrinal method research. The following secondary sources of data have been used in the project1. Articles. 2. Books 3. Journals 4. Websites

In non Doctrinal information is derived from personal interaction and queries made during interaction.

Table of contents
1. Introduction................................................ 2. History of Muslim In India........................ 3. Present status of Muslim............................. 4. Problems of Muslim minorities................... 5. Government schemes For Muslim minorities................................. 6. Field work and data analysis....................... 7. Conclusions................................................

Introduction:
A Muslim represent group of Islam a monotheistic Abrahmic religion based on Quran which Muslim consider the verbatim word of god as revealed to prophet Muhammad. India is one of the largest democracies in the world so obviously it has one of the largest minorities. It is not difficult to see why Muslims who live as a minority in non-Muslim country like Israel or India are seen by them as a problem. The reasons are very simple wherever Muslim live as minorities they increasingly face problems of discrimination. Islam means the active submission to the one God. It is strictly a monotheistic religion since it restricts worship to the one supreme Lord who is the Originator and Creator of the universe. Peace (the root from which the word Islam is derived) is attained through complete obedience to the commandments of God, for God is the source of all peace. Muslims are those who believe in one God and in Muhammad as the final Prophet of God. They devote their lives to the service of God, the Creator and sustainers of the universe. One, like other minorities, Muslims simultaneously face, problems relating to security, identity and equity. And the interplay of these dimensions is at the core of the socio-economic and political processes that the Community is exposed to on a daily basis. Two, the nature of these problems vary across spaces education, employment, political and social and probably over time. These are partly due to historical and political factors, partly due to the media, which have confirmed for many that Muslims are violent, unreliable and prone to anarchy. There is another reason. Most non-Muslim countries in which Muslims live have an image of themselves as plural, tolerant, secular and modern societies. Muslims somehow challenge this image. They provoke the worst aspects of the state. In the main, instead of solving the problems of the Muslims in a manner that would be mutually beneficial, the state tends to ignore or minimize them. In the former state of Yugoslavia the Serbs went one step further with their Muslim minority. 1

Anonymous, http://muslimcanada.org/livingislam4.html, accessed on 24-10-2013 at 07:45 IST

Indian Muslims, on the whole, are a marginalized community in terms of various economic, social and political indices is a well-known fact, and one which is acknowledged by the state as well. How the problems of the community, particularly the protection and promotion of their rights and their empowerment, can be articulated more effectively, by Muslim as well as secular and progressive groups are a major concern. The crucial point here is that articulating Muslim problems and concerns should not be seen, as is often seen by many Muslims and non-Muslims alike, as simply something to be done by Muslims alone.

History of Muslim in India:Even before the life of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) in the 600s,
Arab traders were in contact with India. Merchants would regularly sail to the west coast of India to trade goods such as spices, gold, and African goods. Naturally, when the Arabs began to convert to Islam, they carried their new religion to the shores of India. The first mosque of India, the Cheraman Juma Masjid, was built in 629 (during the life of Prophet Muhammad) in Kerala, by the first Muslim from India, Cheraman Perumal Bhaskara Ravi Varma. Through continued trade between Arab Muslims and Indians, Islam continued to spread in coastal Indian cities and towns, both through immigration and conversion.2 While some claim that Islams huge population in India is a result of violence and forced conversion, the evidence does not back up this idea at all. Although Muslim leaders replaced Hindu kings in most areas, society was left as is. Stories of forced conversion are very few and often not credible enough to warrant academic discussion. If Islam spread through violence and warfare, the Muslim community today in India would exist only in the areas closest to the rest of the Muslim world. Thus only the western part of the subcontinent would have any Muslim population at all. What we see instead is pockets of Islam throughout the subcontinent. For example, Bangladesh and its 150 million Muslims are in the far east, separated from other Muslim-majority areas by Hindu lands in India. Isolated communities of Muslims exist also exist in western Myanmar, central India, and eastern Sri Lanka. These communities of Muslims are proof of Islam spreading peacefully throughout India,
2

Anonymous, http://lostislamichistory.com/how-islam-spread-in-india/, accessed on 24-10-2013 at 07:56 IST

regardless of whether or not a Muslim government existed there. If Islam spread by force as some claim, these communities of Muslims would not exist. The Muslim immigrants, mostly Arabs, Turks, Afghans and Mughals, made the subcontinent their own homeland. Scattered in different cities, towns and villages, they became indistinguishable from the original inhabitants of India. The Muslim scholars and religious leaders propagated Islam among the original inhabitants and a large number of them converted to Islam. The vast majority of the present-day Indian Muslims are the descendants of these converts3. It is therefore not correct to say that Indian Muslims are not Indian but outsiders as it is wrong to say that they are all descendants of the converted Muslims. As far as the question of Indian origin is concerned, there is no difference between the descendants of the Aryan invaders (Brahmins, Kshatryas, Vaishyas) and the offsprings of the Muslim immigrants. In fact, the Muslim community of India, with its major segment having indigenous Indian origin, is more Indian than the descendants of the Aryan immigrants who had their origin some where in the Central Asia.

Present status of Muslim in India:The socio-economic backwardness of the Muslim community in India was underlined by the Justice Sachar Committee report. Then came the Ranganathan Mishra Commission report which recommended 10 per cent job reservation for Muslims because the community occupied the lowest rank in the human development index. Now, on the heels of these two reports, the National Council for Applied Economic Research has come out with data about the economic status of Muslims in the country that makes dismal reading. The NCAER report says that one-third of Muslims in India survive on less than Rs 550 a month. In other words, three out of 10 of them lived below the poverty line in 2004-05. Even among the poor, urban Muslims were slightly better off compared to Muslims living in the villages who survived on Rs 338 a month during the year under review. Now National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), a central government body, has confirmed that Indias largest religious minority is the most backward community on the educational front. Muslims ratio in higher education is lower than even Scheduled Tribes (STs), considered most backward.
3

Anonymous, http://www.islamawareness.net/Asia/India/muslims_in_india.html, last accessed on 24-102013 at 08:07 IST

Attached to the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, NSSO, in its report titled Education in India, 2007-08: Participation and Expenditure, says that of 100 Muslims in the education system, just 10 are enrolled in high school and above. Similar ratio for STs is 11, Scheduled Castes (SCs) 12 and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) 14. The report also says that high education among urban Muslims is lower than their counterparts in rural areas. This despite the fact that urban areas have better educational facilities. According to the NSSO report published on May 19, just seven out of 100 urban Muslims in the education system were enrolled in high school or above as compared to 12 in rural areas.4 Christians lead all communities religious and social in pursing education, followed by Sikhs and OBCs. The report is based on the household survey on participation and expenditure in education conducted in its 64th round. The field work of the nationwide survey was carried out during July 2007 to June 2008. The survey covered a random sample of 445960 persons, from 63318 rural households and 37263 urban households spread over 7953 villages and 4682 urban blocks, covering the entire geographical area of the country. It is most likely this fresh report highlighting the plight of the Muslim community will give fresh blood to the demand of reservation for the community in education and job. The three reports obviously belied the allegation of certain political parties and groups that Muslims are being appeased. It is, however, true, that 63 years after Independence, Muslims were being used merely as a vote bank by all the political parties and no worthwhile administrative action to improve their socio-economic condition was taken by any government. Under the circumstances, it is imperative for the government to come out with a comprehensive plan to improve the condition of Muslims. But it is equally necessary for Muslims themselves to come out of the quagmire and achieve their own empowerment.

Anonymous, http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2010/May/27/status-of-muslims-in-india-32.asp, last accessed on 24-10-2013 at 08:26 IST

Problems of Muslim minorities:It is not difficult to see why Muslims who live as a minority in non-Muslim countries like India or Israel are seen by them as a problem. The reasons are relatively simple. Wherever Muslims live as minorities they increasingly face problems of discrimination. These are partly due to historical and political factors, partly due to the media, which have confirmed for many that Muslims are violent, unreliable and prone to anarchy. There is another reason. Most non-Muslim countries in which Muslims live have an image of themselves as plural, tolerant, secular and modern societies. Muslims somehow challenge this image. They provoke the worst aspects of the state. In the main, instead of solving the problems of the Muslims in a manner that would be mutually beneficial, the state tends to ignore or minimize them. In the former state of Yugoslavia the Serbs went one step further with their Muslim minority. They systematically killed them and drove them from their homes in Bosnia. The world called it 'ethnic cleansing' and did nothing. Bosnia was added to the list of recent Muslim losses. What offends Muslims living in a country as the minority community? What is the Muslim 'problem'? There are two or three things that Muslims are most sensitive about5. The most important is religion. Muslims would like to be able to visit their mosques and say their prayers peacefully without interruption, without being beaten up, without being picked up for interrogation. They would also like privacy in their homes where they can lead their lives as Muslims. They would like dignity and honour for their families - in particular, for the elderly, the women and the children. They don't like police or paramilitary forces to burst into their homes and humiliate their families. They would like some control over their lives, some perpetuation of their own customs and values, the construction and maintenance of mosques which are the focus of social and cultural life, the capacity to read the Qur'an and the chance to live as Muslims and by Muslim traditions. These include family laws, inheritance, religious holidays and religious festivals. When these are threatened, Muslims are threatened; confusion and anger ensue. Indian Muslims are not granted the same constitutional safeguards as the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes and they are not entitled to reservations in employment or education. Although Hinduism is the

Anonymous, http://muslimcanada.org/livingislam4.html, last accessed on 24-10-2013 at 09:09 IST

majority religion it is not an official or state-sponsored one; India is a secular state and there is complete religious freedom guaranteed. A Minorities Commission set up after the election of a Janata government in 1977, monitors the position of nonScheduled Caste and non-Scheduled Tribe minorities, such as Muslims, although it has no power to implement changes. Nor are Muslims entitled to reserved constituencies in the central or state government assemblies although all, except the explicitly communal parties, will have Muslim parliamentary representatives in their group and governments try to ensure that there is at least one Muslim in the Cabinet. There have been several Muslim Chief Ministers in various states. However the number of Muslims in legislatures is less than their numbers would warrant. To date there have been two Muslim Presidents of India, a highly visible post, although with little real power. Despite their large numbers, Muslims in fact do badly in some areas of employment and administration. For example, at the beginning of the 1980s Muslims comprised only 1.5% of the officers and 1% of the clerks of the central civil service, and 3% of the elite Indian Administrative Service. Less than 2% of the army officer corps is Muslim (although a Muslim has been appointed as Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Air Force). This pattern extends beyond government however. A recent survey of 800 senior positions in 86 major companies showed only five Muslims. Some commentators have blamed the poor showing on traditional Muslim attitudes to education and the emphasis on Urdu and religious education, rather than on science or marketable skills. In any case the effect is reinforcing; Muslims are by necessity employed or self-employed in small businesses, artisanship, fishing and unskilled work and few are willing to try to break this circle if it exposes them to further discrimination. Another problem is language, especially in the north of India where most Muslim communities speak Urdu, a Persian-derived language, using a Persian script but which in its spoken form has similarities to Hindi (Hindi also has a considerable Urdu influence). Once the language of the elite, Urdu is not a recognized official language in India. This is, in part, not because of the numbers who speak it (which actually totals more than many recognized languages) but because of its lack of a distinct majority population in a specific area; apart from Kashmir, Muslims are everywhere a

minority. Uttar Pradesh, the state with the largest population in India and where approximately 15% of its 110 million people are Muslims 17 million in all did not recognize Urdu as an official language. Muslims have campaigned for Urdu to receive the status of an official language (alongside Hindi). When this was granted in Uttar Pradesh in September 1989 there were clashes between Hindu and Muslim students in which at least 23 died. Urdu has also received official language status in Bihar.6

Government schemes for Muslim minorities:1. Scholarship Government is doing his best to avail sufficient money to the muslim minorities for education. Pre Matric Scholarship Post Matric Scholarship Merit Cum Means Scholarship These are tree types of education scholar ship which are being provided to Muslim minorities. The State Govt. has till date completed the distribution process of centrally funded scholarship grant for only two scholarship schemes, namely, (1) Merit cum Means scholarship & (2) post-Matric scholarship (partially and not satisfactorily) for the year 2007-08 amounting to Rs.5.87 crores only. The state government has so far already received 29.97 crore from Central government. It means the state government is only able to distribute less than 20% of available fund. Thus defaulting for the session 2008-09 and 2009-10 besides default on pre-Matric scholarship scheme for 2007-10 as well as default on completion of renewal process. Moreover, the number of actual beneficiary shorts falls of the targeted number under post-Matric scholarship.

Anonymous, http://www.faqs.org/minorities/South-Asia/Muslims-of-India.html, last accessed on 24-10-2013 at 09:18 IST

Field work and data analysis:Name- Md Moinuddin Age- 51 yrs Sex Male Marital status- Married Educational Qualification- M.A(Geography) Area of reference- Working as an assistant teacher in govt +2 school arwal Area of residence- Vill+PO- Phulari PS-Sandesh Dist-Bhojpur (Arrah)

Questionnaire:Q 1) What are the problems faced by Muslim minorities? Ans - According to me, the people belonging to this very minority is facing various types of problems, like they are having lack of money or you may say that their economic condition is not so good. Due to this very problem they are also lagging behind in getting a better quality of education. They just do matriculation and they start searching for the job, even they did not think for the higher education because they having no sufficient money. The woman is also not allowed to do job means women in Muslim are not self dependent. They do not come out of their home, if they break this tradition which is still being practiced in many parts of our countries then they can earn money and can help their families in economic way. Q 2) What are views of the state and central government regarding problem of Muslim minorities? Ans - There are seven Minority Concentrated Districts in Bihar for which Multisectoral Development Plan has been launched with 100% grant from the Centre. For the current plan period, the Central Govt. has allocated 523 crore rupees to raise the socio-economic conditions of these districts under eight broad indicators of development to reach the national average. People of these districts, the civil society and Muslim NGOs & organizations are unaware of any positive steps of the State

Govt. towards implementing the plan. Also the people belonging to these community will have to more conscious about the government schemes are being avail to them. Q 3) why peoples from this community are flying to gulf countries at very little amount of income for any job? Ans because the qualification they possess they could not find any job in India so that they can have their essential commodities also. But in gulf countries they get a very good salary according to INR so that the fly to gulf countries for job at very little salary also. Q 4) Why are most of the Muslims fundamentalists and terrorist? Ans This question is often hurled at the Muslims, either directly or indirectly, during any discussion on religion or world affairs. In my view the media accompanied by gross misinformation about Islam and Muslims. Fundamentalist are those who Follow the adheres to the fundamentals of the doctrine or theory he is following. One cannot paint all fundamentalists with the same brush. When we talk about the terrorist then every Muslim should be a terrorist because the word terrorist means to create terror and it helps when anti social elements are there. I mean to say every Muslim should be a terrorist for anti social elements like thief. But a true Muslim should only be a terrorist for selective people. Q 5) What is the status of women in Islam? Ans - Woman is considered as a Home maker in Islam and not a housewife because she is not married to a house. Woman in Islam is considered to be a homemaker and not a housewife because she is not married to the house. v. In Islam, when a woman is married to a man it is not that she is married to a master so that she should be treated like a slave but she is married to her equal and should be treated like a partner with love and dignity. Q 6) Is there any restriction on education in Islam? Ans In holy Quran in a sura al alaq it is mention that o!prophet read in the name of my lord who created man from a sensitive drop of blood. Read in the name of thy lord who teaches man what he knows not. Read! And your lord is most beneficent & merciful. This shows that there is very much importance of education in Islam so that you can have ability of earning money for your essential commodities.

Conclusion:After reading various aspects of Muslim minorities in society the project will be summed up. In summing up the project researcher through his project will analyse that problems and suggestion for Muslim minorities.The governance of Muslim minority affairs in Bihar needs special attention in view of rampant backwardness of the community that constitutes 16.5% of the total population of the State, and also the fact that over the years, the state budgetary allocation for the community has been decreasing. For Muslim religious and political elites and organizations to go beyond simply identity-related or narrowly-defined religious demands or demands that benefit only a small class to include the social, economic and educational needs of the vast majority of the Muslims, who are deprived according to every indicator. For a recognition by Muslim groups of the particular concerns and problems of internal minorities', such as low' caste Muslims, women and sectarian minorities. For expansion of the normatively-defined discourse in which Muslim issues are often projected to include existing empirical social realities of Muslims. For Muslim organizations to engage in systematic research, documentation and publication on existing Muslim social realities. For Muslim groups to work with non-Muslim groups on issues concerning not just Muslims alone but also other marginalized communities and on issues of general concern. For a more effective media and lobbying policy on the part of Muslim groups to have their views represented in the media and be recognized and acted upon by political parties and the state. Increase the number of scholarship as well as the quantum of amount of scholarship for technical and professional courses.

Include useful heads of expenditure by adapting the heads shown in SC/ST spending and from the schemes implemented for minorities development in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Create some innovative heads of expenditure, like establishing Interest-free Minority Cooperative Corporation for economic development of the Muslim minority.

New privately managed Muslim minority schools upto 10+2 levels, specially girls schools be allowed affiliation from BSEB with financial support on salary head like given in Maharashtra and some other States to encourage community initiative as suggested in the Sachar Committee report.

Bibliography:Online websites
http://www.refworld.org/docid/49749d1141.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_India http://religion.info/english/articles/article_612.shtml#.Uk3EZ3BcFvI http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3516200?uid=3737496&uid=2&uid=4&sid=2110280557451 1 http://www.socialjusticeindia.org/minority_rights.htm http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/EC14Df04.html http://religion.info/english/articles/article_612.shtml#.UmnSFhcmNa9 http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2010/May/27/status-of-muslims-in-india-32.asp http://indiaminorities.wordpress.com http://www.milligazette.com/news/8983-puppet-indian-muslim-leaders-are-real-problem http://twocircles.net/2009nov01/governance_muslim_minority_affairs_bihar_analysis.html

Offline books
A brief illustrated guide to understanding Islam, I A Ibrahim

ISLAM Represents terror or Ideal?, Swami lakshmishankaracharya Coommon questions About islam, Dr Zakir Naik