RIYADH/DAMMAM, 18 November 2007 — Pointing out that Indian Muslims were “lagging behind” other religious communities in the country in terms of educational and job opportunities, Justice Rajender Sachar has stressed the need for community initiatives to uplift them on both fronts.
The author of the celebrated “Sachar Committee” report was delivering a keynote address at a function organized by Aligarh Muslim University Old Boys’ Association (AMUOBA) in Riyadh on Thursday night.
India’s Ambassador MOH Farooq, Deputy Chief of Mission Rajeev Shahare, and the office-bearers of AMUOBA, besides a large gathering of Aligrarians, were present. A special issue of AMU, “We the Aligs” containing articles and a directory of AMU alumni was released on the occasion.
Later on Friday, Justice Sachar addressed an impressive gathering under the aegis of the Indian Diaspora, in Dammam.
“Islam promotes education. It encourages each and every individual to seek knowledge. Yet, Indian Muslims are plagued with a pathetically low literacy rate. School dropouts are alarmingly high,” Sachar said in Dammam.
Speaking on the main findings of his study undertaken on behalf of the Indian government, Sachar said the committee’s report stressed the need for providing more educational and job opportunities for Indian Muslims who constitute over 13 percent of the population.
The report points out that the community is relatively poorer, more illiterate, has lower access to education, lower representation in public and private sector jobs and lower availability of bank credit for self-employment. In urban areas, the report said that Muslims mostly live in slums characterized by poor municipal infrastructure.
In this context Sachar said that the seven-member committee headed by him had toured eight states with substantial Muslim presence. It also contacted the NGOs and Muslim women activists. “We came to the conclusion that there is strong need for community initiatives to support vulnerable section of the Muslim sociaty. Even women activists also gave their backing for such initiatives.”
However, he told Arab News after the meeting that no such action has been taken either by Awqaf or Muslim political parties, whose strategy is dictated by their own vested interests.
Sachar said, it is regretable that the percentage of dropouts among Muslim students is quite high while the percentage of Muslims in higher education is just 15 percentage.
“This situation is unacceptable given the fact that the very first word in the Quran is read. Muslims should, therefore, come forward to take advantage of the facilities being provided by the government. They are unable to do so due to the lack of awareness in this regard.”
Refering to the findings of his committee, he said that the community is "only slightly better off than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and worse off than Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and in some cases, behind Dalits."
The report suggests educational reforms in madrasas, and the allocation of 15 percent of all government funds to Muslims. Sachar said that the madrasas were being reformed and had started providing education in English and also included science in their curriculum. Such institutions were receving government subsidies to encourage them in their initiatives.
"We have compiled the report and submitted it to the prime minister. Our job actually ends here. The implementation side is under the purview of the government,” Sachar said.
Earlier, Ambassador Farook paid tributes to Sachar for his committee’s report and its findings. He reiterated his call to the alumni of AMU to help the vulnerable sections of the non-resident Indians.
“Even if each Aligarian adopts one child and looks after his educational needs, it would go a long way in improving the lot of the Indian community,” he said, adding that 80 percent of nearly 1.6 million Indian expatriates were blue- color workers.
In his welcome speech, Dr. Riaz Mehdi, president AMUOBA paid tributes to Justice Sachar and his committee members for their monumental work, which documented the plight of Indian Muslims for the first time.
Mukaram Ali Khan, a veteran Aligarian and guest of honor, Shamsuddin Shams, vice president, and Dr. Mohammad Ahmed Badshah, general secretary, also spoke.
