A socio-economic profi le of Muslims in Maharashtra commissioned by the Maharashtra State Minority Commission indicates dismal conditions on the social, economic and educational fronts as also poor representation in the legislature and the Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service cadres.
Muslims have contributed richly to Maharashtra’s multicultural milieu. However, the Rajinder Sachar Committee Report of 2006 pointed out that the condition of Muslims here is such that it needs the special attention of the state’s adminsitration.
Seven surveys commissioned by the Maharashtra State Minority Commission to the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Nirmala Niketan’s College of Social Work (Mumbai University) and the Research Centre for Women’s Studies of the SNDT Women’s University that were submitted in 2011 discovered that a very large proportion of Muslims live in dismal economic conditions.
Nearly one-third of the respondents in the TISS research reported an annual household income of less than Rs 10,000, 24.4% between Rs 10,001 and Rs 20,000, 7.5% between Rs 20,001 and Rs 30,000, 3.8% between Rs 30,001 and Rs 40,000, 1% between Rs 40,001 and Rs 50,000 and 5.6% above Rs 50,000. In recent years, a limited occupational diversification is noticed among the educated middle-class Muslims in the cities of the state due to new openings in the information technology (IT) and construction industry.
As per the Census 2011, Parbhani and Nanded districts had 30% Muslim population while Malegaon and Bhiwandi are Muslim majority cities. Mumbra and Kashi mira in Thane district are emerging as new hubs for economic activities, technical education institutions and community work among Muslims. The Malegaon block of Nashik district shows the highest percentage of Muslims (42.5%) followed by Bhiwandi in Thane (35.8%), Nanded (26.5 %), Aurangabad (25.5%) and Parbhani (25.1%). Marathwada as a region betrays a story of neglect. In Malegaon the Muslims are mainly concentrated in the urban area (70.96%) as compared to the rural areas (3.6%). Among the tehsils, the highest percentage of Muslims is found in Shrivardhan tehsil of Raigad district (20.26%), and percentages are nearly similar in both rural and urban areas. In Vidarbha region, in Akola, Yavatmal and Amaravati Muslims constitute 8.3% of the total population (Kulkarni and Alagarajan 2005).
Work and Employment Profile
In a state-level survey by the Minority Commission in 2011, it was found that nearly 32.4% of Muslims reported themselves to be “workers” as compared to 42.5% of the total population in the state. Among Muslims, the work participation rate was reported higher among men (49.97%) as compared to women (12.67%). Nearly 38.12% Muslims in rural Maharashtra described themselves as workers as compared to 29.97% in urban areas. Among Muslim men not much difference was observed in rural and urban areas as compared to the Muslim women population. Nearly onefourth of Muslim women living in rural areas reported themselves to be workers, while it was only 6.3% in urban areas.
Of the total Muslims in the state nearly 70.7% are engaged in semi-skilled and skilled informal sector work such as carpentry, masonry, electrician, plumber, mechanic, manual labour, coolie job, solid waste management, butchery, weaving, beadwork, jari and embroidery work, tailoring, hawking, petty trade, pulling cycle rickshaws and handcarts, driving four-wheelers and heavy vehicles; nearly 8% are cultivators, mainly small and marginal farmers; 17.6% are agricultural labourers while 3.6% are in the household industry. The proportion of Muslims in cultivation and agricultural activities is less than among their Hindu counterparts as well as total population in Maharashtra.
However, the involvement of Muslims in household industry and other category of activities is higher than that of the Hindus and others. In rural areas a higher percentage of the Muslim population reported themselves as agricultural labourers as compared to the Hindu population, while the proportion of Hindu population which reported itself as cultivators is more than double the Muslim population. Nearly 44% of Muslim women workers reported as agricultural labourers, and their proportion in rural areas is 61.6%. The Muslim involvement in other category of activities is higher among men as compared to women, in both rural and urban areas. It should be noted that nearly 70% of the Muslim population in Maharashtra is found in urban areas where non-agricultural activities dominate.
Unemployment
The 2001 Census asked those who reported as marginal workers about seeking or being available for work. About 39.9% marginal workers among the Muslim community in rural areas reported as seeking/available for work. Among Muslim nonworkers, nearly 6% described themselves as jobseekers in rural areas. The age-wise jobseekers were highest in the 20-24 years group followed by the 15-19 and 25-29 years age group. Thus unemployment among Muslim youth is a huge problem faced by the state.
In urban areas, the percentages of Muslim jobseekers among marginal and nonworkers were a little higher than that in rural areas. The age-specific rate of jobseekers among marginal workers was observed to be of a much higher level as compared to nonworkers. A higher percentage of Muslim men were found to be actively seeking/available for work than their women counterparts. As per the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) 61st round in 2004-05, the unemployment rate was found to be much higher in the urban areas with wider difference by gender and community. Muslim men reported nearly two times higher unemployment than their Hindu counterparts. The unemployment rate was higher in urban areas for both men and women as compared to rural areas.
Pattern of Landholding
The NSS 60th round in 2004 revealed that the percentage of those “having no cultivable land” was much higher among Muslim households in Maharashtra as compared to their situation in the rest of India. From 1993-94 to 2004-05 the situation remained similar. In 2007-08, land possession data showed that Muslim households possessed less land or no land in higher proportion than Hindu households. In urban areas the possession of land was much less.
Housing
The National Family Health Survey in Greater Mumbai (NFHS 2 and NFHS 3) and Nagpur (NFHS 3) data, collected from slum and non-slum areas, shows that a higher percentage of Muslim households live in slum areas as compared to Hindu and Christian households. A large majority of Muslims in Bhiwandi, Mumbai, Malegaon and over 40 other towns live in ghettoes without basic amenities such as safe drinking water, electricity, toilets, proper roads and closed gutters. The ghettoisation is detrimental to the long-term well-being of the community as well as for national integration. A very small percentage of other minority groups live in slums. This indicates that the majority of Muslims in Maharashtra’s cities are mostly engaged in low paying skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled jobs owing to their low educational qualifications.
Migration
As per the NSS data of 2007-08, 84.5% women in rural areas and 65.7% in urban areas reported marriage as the reason for their migration. The family migration in urban areas is the second most dominant reason among females. Among men, it was economic as reported by nearly 53% in rural and 73% in urban areas. Migration for education was reported by a little higher percentage in urban areas as compared to rural areas. Migration among Muslim women due to economic reasons was reported by about 1.5% in rural areas and 3.5% in urban areas.
Bank Loans
The reluctance of banks to grant loans to Muslims is another reason for their economic backwardness. In all studies commissioned by the Minority Commission, the respondents in most cases have stated that banks are biased and there are no well-defined and objective criteria for rejecting the loan applications of Muslims resulting in arbitrariness, bureaucratic bungling, corruption and leakage. The average amount of loans disbursed to Muslims by banks is found to be lower than that given to other minorities, especially the Buddhists and Sikhs (Jain and Shaban 1999).
Socio-economic Infrastructure
Their employment pattern is highly skewed towards lower-level activities in the tertiary sector with hardly any occupational mobility. Their access to bank credit is low and inadequate; the community has one of the lowest monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE), and lowest representation in public sector employment. In response to the persistent exclusion of Muslims from development efforts, the Ranganath Mishra Commission Report (2007) had asked for 10% reservation for them in central and state government jobs and 6% within the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quotas for Muslim OBCs, and the inclusion of Muslim and Christian dalits in the scheduled castes (SCs) list. It had also recommended setting up of the Equal Opportunities Commission. These recommendations are yet to be implemented.
Muslims across the state have complained that whenever they attempt to avail of any government scheme, “agents” charge Rs 1,000 for documentation and paper work, etc, and if the amount is granted by the state, they disappear with the money. Hence it is important to monitor the implementation of such schemes through voluntary organisations/non-governmental organisations (NGOs)/potential beneficiaries.
The community lags behind severely in political representation too. There are only five Muslim members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) and 11 members of the legislative council (MLCs). Representation of Muslims in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) has been less than 1% for the last three decades. There is only one Muslim in the Maharashtra IAS cadre of 2011-12 out of a total of 288 IAS officers. The sanctioned strength for IAS officers is 350 and there is a shortfall of 62 officers in the cadre. In 2010-11, there were only two Muslim officers out of a total strength of 350. In 2009-10 also there were just two Muslims out of 340 IAS officers. The number in the Indian Police Service (IPS) is four Muslims out of 203 officers in 2011. The sanctioned cadre strength for in Maharashtra is 302.
The major reason for the socio-economic deprivation of Muslims is the high incidence of communal riots (Masselos 1994) and the absence of civic ties due to ghettoisation creates an insular feeling. Muslims in Mumbai constitute 15% to 18% of the total population according to various estimates and the city is the worst hit. During 1908 to 2009 Mumbai alone witnessed 83 communal riots which claimed nearly 1,900 lives and resulted in injuries to over 8,000 people. No other city or region in Maharashtra has had more communal riots than Mumbai. It exceeds that of the communal incidents in Malegaon. A distant second in the 1908-2009 riots list is Aurangabad (12 incidents), followed by Pune, Nagpur and Malegaon (11 incidents each). Though Bhiwandi occupies the fifth spot with eight incidents, it ranks second in terms of deaths. During 1998-2008, 172 lives were lost in 1,192 incidents in the state due to a highly polarised society that is sharply divided along caste and religious lines.
Syncretic Culture
Maharashtra’s culture is marked by a high degree of syncretism and pluralism. The political economy of communal conflicts is proving to be a major threat to this glorious legacy. Maharashtra has had 1,192 communal clashes from 1998 to 2008, the highest in the country. Throughout this 10-year period, Maharashtra witnessed 10% to 23% of the total number of communal riots in India (Shaban 2008). Its share was particularly high during 2005-06, when 20% of all such incidents took place in the state (Phadke 2007). In this context, massive development intervention among poor Muslims with special focus on inclusive growth is urgently needed.
Recommendations
This inquiry into the causes of the socio- economic deprivation of Muslims is a crucial exercise to arrive at remedial measures and agenda for inclusive development through the government initiative of the Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP). The main rationale for MsDP is to remove disparities faced by areas with a sizeable minority population. In Maharashtra, four such districts: Parbhani, Hingoli, Washim and Buldhana were identified by the central government as minority concentrated districts for the MSDP during the Eleventh Plan (2007-12).
Bhiwandi
Known as the Manchester of India, this textile city is famous for its handloom and power loom industries mostly employing migrant labour.
• The state has to be proactive in ensuring social security and social protection to the informal sector workers. All of them must be provided with ration cards.
• Currently, only 30% of the city is covered by a drainage system. The remaining area must also be covered in order to control the spread of diseases.
• Public health and sanitation measures against unhygienic living and working condition must be taken as early as possible. Eradication of contagious disease programme (especially tuberculosis and skin ailments) needs immediate attention.
• Occupational health and safety standards for workers in power loom and handloom industries need to be operationalised by factory inspectors and the labour bureau. Support structures and medical facilities must be provided for the disabled.
• Urban housing schemes on a large scale for Muslims are urgently required.
• Modernisation of slaughter houses as per the norms of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board is the need of the hour, hence adequate financial assistance must be provided in the panchayati raj institutions (PRI) and state government budget.
• To eradicate child labour the Child Labour Prevention Act, 1986 must be implemented.
• New posts of Community Development Officers at the Bhiwandi Municipal Corporation must be created.
Mumbai
Mumbai has Muslim ghettoes spread around all three railway lines – central (Kurla, Byculla, Mazgaon), western (Behrampada, Dharavi, Jogeshwari) and harbour (Madanpura, Govandi, Mankhurd). There is a need to establish a strong centre-link programme that would coordinate policies, programmes and ground realities. This unit must be established either in the Department of Minorities Affairs or the Minorities State Commission.
• It must monitor the socio-economic and financial sector programmes within the access parameters of the minorities such as budget allocation for the minorities in proportion to the population and their levels of development.
• Top priority in the budget must be given to housing, roadwork, drainage, water supply and electricity.
• Call for a mid-term review of programmes and ensure that the allocations made for the minorities/women and other vulnerable groups are not reallocated, but will be spent for the purpose it is intended.
• Facilitate the dissemination of information about the various state welfare programmes especially targeting the minorities, but of all programmes and initiatives aimed at addressing issues of socio-economic justice. The idea is to have a single window approach to programmes.
• Resolve dispute over landownership in favour of the community.
• The present condition of the slaughter houses in the city is very bad, and is a threat to the health and hygiene of persons living nearby, as well as persons working there, and people who consume the meat that comes from there. Hence modernisation is urgently required, at least to ensure that basic standards of hygiene are in place.
Malegaon
Malegaon has the potential to emerge as a modern industrial hub and urgently needs an urban renewal plan.
• Major housing schemes, drainage and sanitation measures, tapped water, street lights, roads and public transport demand urgent attention for the poor Muslim workers in Malegaon.
• Small-scale manufacturing units – power loom, textile, oil, food and plastic industries and oil refinery should be provided regular and reliable electricity supply, credit and banking facilities, physical infrastructure in terms of road and transport for passengers and goods.
• Power loom industry must be modernised and yarn bank must be established. Paithani sarees produced in Malegaon deserve more proactive marketing.
• Vocational training institutes must be established for generating skilled workforce.
• Malegaon film industry should be encouraged and state support must be given in terms of investment, marketing, land for development of film city with studios, loans, consultancy services and awards similar to the way Bollywood and the Marathi film industries are getting.
• The government should encourage formation of 5,000-6,000 self-help groups (SHGs) of women in Malegaon.
• The state government must evolve a special package for the industrial development of Malegaon city.
• The government must make concerted efforts for intermixing of different religious communities through creation of mixed neighbourhoods as against the extreme segregation existing currently, sports, cultural activities, public parks, libraries, community centres, youth camps, health checkups by voluntary organisations for all citizens.
Overall Recommendations
• Block-wise disaggregated database on socio-economic indicators for Muslims in the state must be provided and regularly updated for proper targeting of development schemes and programmes.
• In 49 Muslim-inhabited blocks in Maharashtra, basic civil amenities such as water, street lights in the urban areas, sanitation, road, hospital/health centre, Integrated Child Development Service centres, school, multipurpose activity centres, community libraries and banking facilities must be ensured on a top priority basis.
• The government officers should be sensitised to issue below poverty line (BPL) cards and judiciously implement anti-poverty programmes and schemes for deserving Muslims. Community-based organisations and NGOs should be empowered to monitor procurement of BPL cards.
• Wide publicity should be given to the Maulana Azad Employment Loan Scheme as well as other educational loan and scholarship schemes.
• Quarterly audit of budgetary allocation for social sector human development initiatives for Muslims must be done so that the funds can be utilised on time.
• Reservation policy to be made applicable to dalit and OBC Muslims as per justice Rangnath Mishra’s recommendations.
• The state must set an example by taking the lead in instituting an Empowered Equal Opportunities Commission as per the recommendations of the Sachar and Mishra Commissions.
• Urdu medium schools to be adequately and consistently funded to meet the expenditure of school building, teachers’ salaries and campus/playground maintenance.
• State initiative in construction of urban houses for Muslims, 60% of whom are currently living in slums.
• Priority sector advances by public sector banks should be increased to 15% of the total lending in agriculture and small-scale industry as compared to current lending of 6% and 7%, respectively.
• To stop discrimination against Muslims in the housing sector, stern action must be taken against housing societies and builders who discriminate against citizens on the basis of religion/caste in selling or renting out flats/houses.
• Women-headed households should be given special consideration in all affirmative and anti-poverty programmes of the state.
• The Maulana Azad Minority Economic Development Mahamandal should give religion-wise break-up of beneficiaries of financial aid/loans under loan schemes, subsidy, education loan, micro credit, Mahila Samriddhi, loans for farmers and fisherfolks and microfinance for SHGs and vocational training scheme.
To promote higher and vocational education among Muslim girls and women, colleges and vocational training institutions must be started in the areas inhabited by Muslims.
Employment and Livelihood
• Ensure that the selection panels for government jobs have a representative from the Muslim community.
• Ensure minorities do not face discrimination regarding bank loans.
• Strengthen SHG programmes to ensure that the people do not have to take loans from private moneylenders on high rate of interests.
• Extend the outreach of schemes such as the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Anudan Yojana, Shravan Bal Seva Rajya Nivrutti Vetan Yojna and National Family Benefits Scheme.
• Extend coverage of the Unorganised Sector Workers Bill to the people of Behrampada.
• Ensure that the people are covered by people-friendly insurance policies.
• Sensitise bureaucrats, staff and the police.
• Employ Muslims in Muslim-concentrated areas.
• Strenghten professional skills and self-employment opportunities among Muslims.
• Strengthen health and education delivery systems to ensure that people do not get indebted due to these basic requirements of the people.
• Modernise urban slaughter houses in the state to meet the standards of environmental and health safety standards.
• Build hostels for working people.
Creation of Skilled Labour Force
At least 20 new industrial training institutes (itis) with Urdu as the medium of instruction must be recognised on grant-in-aid basis. At least 20 second shift ITIs in Urdu/Marathi medium must be started in government/aided ITIs exclusively for minorities.
At least 10 new polytechnics in Urdu medium (with affiliation from Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad) and 10 new polytechnics in English medium must be started by the state government for minorities.
These can be started as second-shift polytechnics using the infrastructure of government/semi-government polytechnics as suggested by National Knowledge Commission and the All India Council for Technical Education.
For effective time-bound implementation of minority welfare schemes, following are the suggestions to be worked out at state and local level by the government and NGOs.
(1) Administrative set-up of district minority welfare officer, at each district headquarter is essential at par with district social welfare officer by the state government (the Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh model can be referred to in this regard).
(2) For empowerment of minorities, a State Level Minorities Welfare Action Committee must be constituted.
(3) For mass awareness of the schemes up to grass-roots level, programmes must be organised in each taluka/minority-populated area.
(4) In-depth study of implementation of each and every scheme, practical difficulties observed during its implementation, number of deserved applicants, all such aspects must be considered to review the existing schemes to cater to the needs of a large number of minorities.
(5) Muslim-owned property, homes, shops, etc, must be insured keeping in mind fear of riots.
(6) Amendment of the Maharashtra Slum Rehabilitation Act 1970. The Maharashtra Slum Rehabilitation Act must be revised to create housing for all the existing residents of the area. They are among the poorest people in Maharashtra and they are a vulnerable community. Their problems are located in the overall neglect of the urban poor in state policies.
(7) Establishment of People’s Action Committee for Area Development. There is a need for a People’s Action Committee for the Development of Behrampada to facilitate the development of the area. Comprising high level officials, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) engineers, community leaders (both men and women) and local NG0s, this committee will be responsible for the identification of bona fide residents. This need arises from the discussions we have had with the local bureaucrats and the community. The understanding we received was that when the housing board wished to build houses after the fire in Behrampada, they were faced with the difficulty of identifying the bona fide beneficiary, since so many came with the same set of documents claiming ownership entitlements. It was narrated that the surveyor had a knife placed at his throat and the records torn by the hoard of angry residents who crowded them demanding the inclusion of their names. This observation was reiterated by the women in the area. A few said that they were the original residents of the area, but many more were claiming ownership rights.
• The need for area development committee is necessitated by the principles of democratic and participatory development. It will ensure that the people have a say in their own development.
• This monitoring of the development programme by the committee will circumvent the problems of identification of beneficiaries and maintain vigilance against corruption and delays in the completion of the projects.
• It will also be able to mediate between those responsible for the execution of the project and the beneficiaries. Our discussions with the BMC officers and the community highlighted the difference in understanding/explaining delays. For instance, the women living in the redeveloped part of Behrampada (i e, the area destroyed by fire), complained about the difficulties of living without water. The water pipes had been laid but the supply had not been released. When we discussed this point with the BMC, we were told that this was because some miscreants had broken the pipes, to illegally divert water. The need to repair the pipes and ensure that they are not damaged was a major concern.
• It will be able to ensure and insist that there is better coordination between the various departments of housing, roadwork, drainage, water supply and electricity so that the project can be completed on time with the minimum overflow of the sanctioned budget.
• The group will also ensure the education of the slum dwellers on the importance of sanitation and cleanliness in the environment to improve the quality of life issues.
• In addition, on the principle of social justice, government and civil societies should send a clear message to all housing societies that do not admit Muslims that these are against the country’s policies of social inclusion. There should be a quota for Muslims in government housing schemes.
Food Security
The NSSO reports for 1993-94, 1999-2000 and 2004-05 on calorie deprivation in Maharashtra revealed that religion-wise distribution indicates that Muslims are the most vulnerable in urban areas with an incidence of calorie poor of 55%. Their population share is only 17% but their share of the calorie poor is nearly one-fourth.
The recommendations made here are only concerned with questions of distributive justice, although the policymakers will no doubt take into account the need for efficiency in the procurement, transportation and storage of food supplies along with efficiency of distribution. The findings of the study indicate the following shortcomings of the existing targeted PDS (TPDS):
• The procedure for the acquisition of ration cards places the most vulnerable people (the homeless, migrants, single women and tenants) outside the eligibility criteria.
• The rules governing proof of residence, income, etc, should be simplified. Deserted women, in particular, would find it difficult to acquire these documents.
• It is necessary to revise the poverty line index on the basis of the current inflations. Additionally, it must factor in the high cost paid by the family for health and education, home repair and other basic amenities of water, electricity in the calculations.
•The existence of television sets or other major durable commodities cannot be the criteria for the measurement of poverty: these commodities may be discards and pre-owned products that do not indicate the economic well-being of the households.
• The TPDS should be need based rather than supply based. The coverage should be extended to all households requiring subsidies.
• There are errors of inclusion and exclusion in the TPDS system.
• Policies should ensure that women from minority communities have access to welfare schemes.
• Government Regulations to improve services should be widely disseminated. Government rules (GRs) are not necessarily known to the local officers and NGOs. Information should be published in the local papers.
This study calls for the following interventions: (1) legislative changes of policies; (2) streamlining and monitoring of food storage and distribution network; (3) strict vigilance at the local fair price shops to ensure that there is no pilfering of essential grains; and (4) quality control of grains and lentils supplied in the TPDS. The right to food security should be available to everyone irrespective of caste or religious/ethnic identity. It should be demand based and not supply based.
