Muslim-dominated villages lacking basic facilities: Sachar

New Delhi, Jan 6 (UNI) More than one thousand villages with large Muslim population in West Bengal and Bihar do not have any educational institutions.

In Uttar Prdesh there are about 2000 such villages and the situation is worse in small villages, says the Sachar Committee in its report on the social, economic and educational status of Mulims submitted to the Prime Minister recently.

The committee quoting national surveys said there was a clear and inverse association between the proportion of the Muslim population and the availability of educational infrastructure in small villages.

Muslim dominated villages are also not served with pucca approach roads and local bus stop. This trend gets worse as the village size increases.

The lack of bus stop is of particular concern in such areas of states like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar.

As Muslims are less landed and more likley to be artisans, casual workers and small traders, physical mobility provided by roads and bus services will open up economic opportunities to them. The data suggests that they are at a significant disadvantage on this count.

The situation is poor regarding medical facilities too. More than 60 per cent of the villages without medical facilities are located in the Muslim concentration areas.

Almost 200 such villages in Asom and Jammu and Kashmir, more than 3000 villages in West Bengal and Bihar and above 5000 villages in Uttar Pradesh are without any medical facilities.

Moreover, a large number of Muslim concentration villages in states like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Asom, Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand lack post and telegraph facilities.

In both urban and rural areas, the proportion of Muslim families living in pucca houses is lower than the total population.

The access of Muslims to toilets is also low, with half of the families without this facility. However, their situation in this respect is better than SCs and STs.

Overall, the progress in creating infrastructural facilities is inadequate in all villages, said the Sachar Report.

UNI