'Muslims worse off than other religious groups'

New Delhi, Nov 17: The Muslim community is poor, more illiterate and has less access to education and public and private sector jobs compared to other religious groups, reveals the Justice Sachar committee report submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today.

The committee, constituted by the Prime Minister to study the social, economic and educational status of Muslims in the country, says the community is lagging behind other religious groups of India in most development indicators.

The community suffers even in self-employment because of lower availability of bank credit, says the report.

According to the committee, which visited a number of states and met a wide spectrum of people, commissioned detailed surveys and research papers by experts, in the urban areas the community mostly lives in slums with poor civic infrastructure.

The committee also reviewed published research meterial on the socio-economic and educational status of Muslims besides collating available data and interacting with various departments and central and state agencies to prepare its report.

The report, however, says there is considerable variation in the condition of the community across states and regions.

The committee has suggested formulation of appropriate programmes to address the educational and economic backwardness of the Muslim community.

UNI