Survey on Muslim Situation

Literacy reaching 50%, Less than quarter work, Govt. schools in pathetic condition, Impact of Govt. Schemes next to nil, Hindi has replaced Urdu

Statistics speak factually. Scientific hypotheses need to be proved in laboratories. But in social sciences, it is surveys, statistics and studies that provide the empirical backbone to theories and presumptions. The Prime Minister’s High Power Committee to probe the situation of Muslims in India headed by Justice Rajinder Sachar presented a general picture of the community by picking up data from secondary sources. Being a pan-Indian exercise, it could not have afforded doing a grassroots job. The Centre for Promotion of Educational and Cultural Advancement of Muslims of India better know by its acronym CEPECAMI has done some seminal work by picking up data from primary sources through a sample survey in selected pockets of minority concentration districts in Uttar Pradesh. Of the three such places, where this survey was conducted during 2007-008, we present the highlights of Muslims in Koil Tehsil of Aligarh district. Small though sample size, the survey brings to light some vital facts of the life of average Muslims in Uttar Pradesh where live almost one-fourth of India’s Muslims. Editor

The CEPECAMI of Aligarh Muslim University recently conducted a survey of Muslims in Koil tehsil of Uttar Pradesh. Aligarh Muslim University falls under this tehsil. The survey looked at the socio-economic and educational conditions of 2,500 Muslim households in the area. It avoided households in the University area as its students and teachers are drawn from various places and do not represent the general conditions of the area.

Of the 2,500 households, 1,000 belonged to villages and 1,500 were spread over three urban localities in the tehsil. It may be recalled that tehsil is what taluka is known in south Indian states. The survey aimed at mapping out educational institutions to which these people have access, evaluate contribution of Area Intensive and Madarsa Modernization Scheme in the development of Muslims. It therefore assessed the quality of 89 schools and colleges and 34 madrassas located within this area.

The CEPECAMI or the Centre for Promotion of Educational and Cultural Advancement of Muslims of India is a body formed under the article 5(2)C of the Aligarh Muslim University Act. The survey was conducted by its Director Dr. Abdul Waheed.

There were 17,481 persons in the 2,500 households which means the average size of each household was 6.99, slightly higher than the average size of Aligarh district i.e., 6.43 persons. However, in urban portion of the households, the average size was 6.7 which compared favourably with the overall urban average household in the district. It also showed that there was a tendency to limit the family size in urban areas by Muslims. Ten per cent of the households were headed by women.

Of the sample, 51.9 per cent were males while remaining 8,402 or 48.06 were females. Thus there were 925 female to 1,000 males in the sampled people. This sex ratio is 63 points higher than that of district average sex ratio which is 862. This was also higher that the average sex ratio among Hindus in Aligarh district which is 857.

Social distinctions existed among Muslims. 71.05 per cent of the Muslims belonged to 24 biradries (caste like groups) which are clubbed under OBCs. General Muslims made up 28.08 per cent and those who did not like themselves to be identified with any caste constituted 0.8 per cent (they were either migrants from other states or had lost distinctions due to inter-biradri marriage).

Of the total 17,481 persons, 13,555 or 77 per cent is non-working population (women, children, unemployed youth or old age people) while the remaining 3,926 or 22.4 per cent are workers. Of those working, only 0.3 per cent reported their monthly income to be more than Rs. 10,000. As much as 63 per cent people fell under the category of Rs. 2000 monthly income. 1,080 persons fell in the income group of Rs. 2001—5000 per month category and 203 in the income group of Rs. 5001—10,000 per month category.

The study explored the nature of occupation of workers as it is an important indicator of economic condition. It was found that 3,926 persons of four income groups were engaged in 53 occupations. These occupations are classified into four major occupational categories i.e. cultivators, agricultural workers, household industrial workers and ‘other workers’. The cultivators constitute 5.99 per cent population of workers while percentage of agricultural workers is 2.73. Highest percentage (78.6 %) is of ‘other workers’ followed by the household industrial workers (12.68%). Only 200 persons were found in services such as attenders, chaprasis, medical lab technicians or white collar jobs like doctors, lawyers etc. These are included in ‘other workers’ category.

District of Aligarh is well known for manufacturing locks used in building doors, vehicles, V.I.P. brand suitcases, wooden and steel furniture etc. due to which Aligarh possess an important position in the industrial map of India and has come to be known as “Tala Nagri” (City of Locks). Recently manufacturing of glass beads has emerged as an important craft in the district. Manufacturing units of lock, hardware, brassware and glass beads are mostly located in urban areas especially in the city. Despite the existence of these small scale or cottage industries, only seven per cent workers of the district, as per Census of India 2001, are household industrial workers. Large numbers of workers are agricultural workers (20%) and cultivators (32%).

Housing condition and facilities
Economic condition of Muslims can also be gauged from the type of houses in which they live. Out of 2,500 households, 1,244 or 50 per cent, are pucca houses, 731 (25%) have mixed residence, 393 (or 15.7%) are mud houses (kaccha houses) and 132 are living in jhonpri (huts or hovels). Percentage of kaccha and jhonpri residence is more in rural area than in urban area.

Drinking water facilities within residence is available to 1,833 households but 66.72 per cent urban households and only 33.28 per cent rural households have access to this facility. Similar kind of rural-urban gap can also be seen in other indicators of human development or possession of gadgets for entertainment, communication and transportation. Out of 2,500 households, 167 have not been issued any kind of ration card while yellow colour ration card has been issued to 2,109 households, and red or white ration cards has been issued to 224 households (or 8.96 %). Both white and red colour ration cards are issued to poorest of the poor households.

Literacy and Education
Economic backwardness stems from low attainment in education or low quality of education. It is clearly reflected in education of Muslims of Tehsil Koil. Out of 14,166 persons in the 7 Plus age group, 6,932 are literate which means the literacy level is 48.93 per cent. Thus literacy level is 10 point less than district average (58.5%) and 11 point less than Tehsil Koil average (69.9%). However, their literacy level is 3 point higher than average literacy level of Muslims in Aligarh district i.e. (45.28%).

Of the 6,536 persons who have attained literacy either by having attended modern schools or a combination of madrassa plus modern school, 45.88 per cent have primary level education. Thus the data of this study show that among these 6,536 persons, 24.86 per cent have junior level education, 17.43 per cent have high school level of education, 7.47 per cent have Intermediate level, 3.03 per cent have graduate level education and 1.33 per cent have post graduate level education.
Number of dropouts at four levels of school education was found to be 1,764. This is 28.22 per cent of the total population (6,251) of students from 1st standard to PUC (class 12th std.) Total number of students from 1st to 10th standard is 2,999 out of which 667 (22.24 per cent) have dropped out before completing primary education.

Gender gap exists in literacy level. 61.17 per cent males are literate and only 38.83per cent females are literate. Time trend however shows that percentage of literates is decreasing among males while it is increasing among females. Largest number of male literates is found in the age group 15-35 years while in case of female it exists in the age group 7-14. Of the literates, 85.17 per cent received modern education while 11.37 per cent received both madrassa and modern education while 3.36 per cent received education only at madrassas.

Urdu
Urdu has been associated with Muslims inasmuch as it has become their identity symbol. Therefore, Muslims report Urdu to be their mother tongue. Do all Muslims know Urdu? Answer of this question is in negative as the survey reveals. It is evident that of the total literate sampled population, 8,516 (60.12%) do not even understand Urdu. Of the remaining 40 per cent, only 2 per cent could only read Urdu while 21.1 per cent know both reading and writing and 16.01 per cent cannot read and write but understand the language. Therefore, Urdu is the medium of acquiring knowledge for only 22 per cent population. For 78 per cent population, medium of acquiring knowledge is not Urdu. Out of 65 Muslim-managed schools in the area, only five are Urdu medium. The remaining six non-Muslim managed schools have either Hindi or English as medium of instruction. In this way out of 89 schools of different levels, only five are Urdu medium.

However, Urdu as a subject is taught in Muslim-managed schools. So even Muslims are not promoting Urdu as much as they often appear to desire. The survey says girls in general have more access to education be it Muslim managed or non-Muslim managed schools in the area. So also the urban people.

Hindi
Both knowledge and use of Hindi language is widespread among Muslims despite the fact that they report Urdu as their mother tongue. Thus, only 8.91 per cent population does not understand or know how to read and write Hindi. 47.46 per cent can understand the language while insignificant percentage (1.57 per cent) can only read. Hindi is medium of acquiring knowledge for 42.06 per cent population as they could read and write the language. This way Hindi is the language of social interaction as well as a medium of acquiring knowledge for majority of population. This changed equation between Urdu and Hindi has to be taken note of by all those who are working in the field of education, journalism, films and literature.

Newspaper subscription
Of the 2,500 households, only 131 subscribe newspapers. Out of these, largest numbers subscribe Hindi newspaper while the second largest subscription is for English language. Only 22 households subscribed Urdu newspapers.

Haj as an economic indicator
Performance of Haj is as much the indicator of one’s economic status as it is for religious consciousness. Those who have performed Haj can be said to be people having capital of more than one lakh rupees. Although an adult of any age is eligible for Haj performance. Indians generally afford to perform Haj at the age of 60 or above. Of the 527 people of the age group of 60 plus, 45 persons were found to have performed the Haj.

Landed Asset Ownership
278 households in the rural areas and 190 households in the urban areas owned lands among the surveyed people. Majority of these households (296) is of small landholders i.e.0-10 bigha. Only 16 households own land more than 50 bigha. (Bigha is the land measuring unit prevalent in Uttar Pradesh. About about five bighas is equivalent to one acre.) Among the land owning Biradries of rural area, Rajputs and Mewatis are prominent. Many of the Sherwanis, who had been Zamindars in the past and still own land in villages, migrated to urban areas for the purpose of education and employment. 506 out of 2,500 households owned assets like bullock carts, pumpsets, ploughs, or tractor.

Muslims have made tremendous effort in promoting education. This can be judged from the fact that they have set up 89 school/colleges and 34 madarassas in the sampled localities. Only 13 of the total 60 primary schools are of government. It means contribution of government in providing primary level educational opportunities is only 22 per cent while 78 per cent contribution is of NGOs. All 21 upper primary and secondary and senior secondary schools are also run by the NGOs.
Facilities in Govt. Schools

Out of 18 government schools, 15 have their own building while three are located in rented building. Does the government not have funds to construct its own building for school? It is astonishing to note that facility of electricity doesn’t exist in any of the government schools. And half of the schools do not have boundary walls, 12 schools have facility of playground but these grounds are not properly managed. Although 17 schools reported toilet facilities, the surveyors found them closed. No students are allowed to use them. Studies show that girl enrolment declines in schools that do not provide well enclosed and separate toilets with water facilities as most girls attain puberty by the time they reach 8th standard. It is painful to note that all schools don’t have drinking water facilities. It exists only in 14 out of 18 schools. It is evident from the survey that out of 65 Muslim managed schools, 17 don’t have their own building. Ten schools don’t he have boundary walls and facility of electricity doesn’t exist in five schools. But drinking water facility exists in all schools except one. Similarly all schools except five have toilet facilities and students use them. But half of the schools don’t have playground facility, as these schools are located in congested localities.
Impact of Government Policies More often than not both central and state governments formulate and implement policies for the educational development of minorities. Prime Minister’s 15-point programme, schemes for minority education in New Education Policy 1986, Area Intensive and Madarsa Modernization Programme, Maulana Azad Educational Foundation and very recently constituted Minority Educational Institution Commission are much hyped scheme and programmes. Thus Area Intensive and Madarsa Modernization Programme, the policy which was formulated after Dr. Gopal Singh’s finding and recommendation for educationally backward national minority i.e. Muslims in 1993, so far not been implemented in all tehsils and blocks for which it was designed. Tehsil Koil is one of the minority concentrated areas which comes under the scope of Area Intensive and Madarsa Modernization Programme. Out of 34 surveyed Madaris, only four have received government aid in one form or the other. But according to District Minority Officer of Aligarh, this scheme has not been implemented here till date. It may also be mentioned here that the District Minority Officer initially did not respond to our request in obtaining necessary information in this regard. We sought and procured the information under Right to Information Act, 2005. The District Minority Officer also informed us that no baseline survey about the condition of minorities has so far been conducted in the district. There are schemes of government for providing aid to Madaris. Madarsa modernization scheme is one of such schemes.

Government contribution towards educational development of minorities is next to nil in the area. It is evident from the fact that Pilakhana, a town of 20,000 people (70 per cent Muslims) does not have a school where education up to 10th standard is available. Even the government school in a non-Muslim locality is only up to 8th standard. However, it was found that quite a sizeable number of Muslim students are getting stipends and wazifas under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and in some cases even uniforms, textbooks and midday meals are available to Muslims students.