RSS feels Muslims themselves are responsible for their marginalisation

New Delhi, Oct 27: If the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) talks about appeasement being the reason that has caused hindrance in the development of Muslims among the minority community then one of the think tanks of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) comes out with a report that suggests the community itself is responsible for marginalisation. Had this not been the case then the community with highest literacy rate in Kerala would have been better than the other minorities in the country. The report has reached Union law ministry, BJP leader Murali Manohar Joshi and even President Ram Nath Kovind.

The report prepared by Centre for Policy Analysis questions, "Who has marginalised the community of 172 million? Is community ready to adopt measures which may bring it to mainstream? If not then why is so much clamoring for it?" To understand it in a better way, the report says, "If the resource dependency ratio (DPR) of 1951 is compared with 2011, it is found that because of difference in population growth rate of both communities, in the case of the Hindu it has risen to 1:3.15 whereas, in the case of the Muslim Community, same ratio has risen to 1:5.05. It means, in the case of the Hindu, resource dependency ratio has increased 3.15 fold but in the case of the Muslim, it has risen to 5.05 fold."

It implies that even if there is no development differential between two communities, simply difference in population growth, has made an average Muslim poorer than an average Hindu by around 38 per cent. "Another important indicator is the status of its women. In a society where women have less say in routine affairs as well as in the decision-making process of the family, birth rate is generally higher. And the higher birth rate, in the absence of adequate economic means or per capita less availability of economic resources, results in low educational attainment as well as lower literacy rate," Centre for Policy Analysis executive chairman Durga Nand Jha told Oneindia.

The community talks about backwardness but unwilling to done away with causes that are constraining the pace of development of the community. "Moreover, if there should be any comparison on the basis of religion, it should be within the state. For example, Muslims of Kerala should be compared to the Hindu of Kerala and that of Muslims of West Bengal to that of their Hindu counterparts of the same state. If both communities are being compared at all-India level, it gives over generalized and misleading picture, as it disregards state-to-state sharp difference in development performance," says the report.

Moreover, if the community remains poor and backward, its implications will not remain limited to the community only, but it will reflect in development performance of the whole country. "As per NSSO data, in following States/UTs Muslim community's per capita monthly expenditure is higher than Hindus. They are: Andaman and Nicobar Island, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. In rest 24 states/UTs, Hindu's per capita consumption expenditure is higher. It means, in 31.42 per cent states/UTs, Muslims are economically better-off than Hindus while Hindus in 68.57 per cent states/UTs are better off than Muslim. In this regard, one noticeable fact is that these are the states where percentage of Muslim population in total population of the state is lower than its national percentage."

Average Christian, Sikh and Jain have higher per capita monthly consumption expenditure than Hindu in most of the states barring a few. But in Nagaland and Lakshadweep, Hindu is well off than all other minorities. Therefore, one thing is clear that there is no majoritarian slant in income distribution in India. On the contrary, in general, minorities are better-off than majority community of the state in respect of monthly consumption expenditure. So the report concludes, "It is recalcitrant attitude of the community towards forces of the change and development that is marginalising it."