The Budget and the minorities (read Muslims) - The Economic Times, Mumbai, INDIA

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The Budget and the minorities

By M Y KHAN

The minority community in India has, by and large, missed out on the fruits of the economy’s diversified growth, engaged as its members are, for the most part, in petty professions. Their problems - unemployment, under-employment, lack of education compatible with the profile of jobs available in the market - are not dissimilar to those of the majority.

The additional cause of distress in their case is paucity of those, entrenched in the system and able to offer patronage, based on caste, region, political favour, personal contacts, etc, which often determines who gets jobs in this country. Even the meritorious amongst the minorities have had to be disappointed, when they made efforts to get any good position in the government, discouraging subsequent generations to even try for such jobs.

Fortunately, the government has been, of late, trying to address the problem. Budget 2010-11 makes an effort in this regard, allocating Rs 2,600 crore for minority welfare. Some crib this is too little for a population of 18 crore, but that is not entirely justified. This paper draws upon a random survey covering nearly 400 poor and lower middle class Muslim households, staying in slums with poor infrastructure and amenities. About 25% of them send their children to non-Arabic government-aided and private schools and colleges and 35% send their children to Arabic Madrassas and remaining 40% are not interested in education. Many of them said that they send their children to Arabic madrassas only because these are cheap and the parents cannot afford tuition fees, clothes and transport for other schools.

Many students in Muslim schools and colleges come from poor parents working as labourer, carpenter, hawker, house servant, taxi drivers and petty jobbers, very few from middle class families. Minority parents are often unable to pay college fee. Adequate food and proper clothes are distant dreams for them. Freedom is far away for such people, irrespective of their caste and religion.

The Union government has shown concern about the above problems which have been reflected in the Union annual budgets. In the budget for 2010-11, the government has allocated Rs 2,600 crore for minority schemes. The most important are the prematric scholarship for minorities scheme (Rs 400 crore as against Rs 180 crore for 2009-10), post-matric scholarship (Rs 238.5 crore as against Rs.135 crore), multisectoral development (Rs 1,245 crore as against Rs 890 crore) and social security and welfare (Rs 140 crore as against Rs 130 crore).

It would be seen from the above figures that for minority communities with nearly 18 crore of population, a total outlay of Rs 2,600 crore will not be adequate. It can be used only selectively and as such a big portion of them warranting government help will have to be overlooked.

Many minority groups have shown displeasure on small outlay without understanding the far-reaching effects of this amount. This outlay will  work as useful seed money and the minority community should use it effectively. The community has to stand on its own feet and the government help can work as pace-setter. For instance, they should try to get benefits from other general schemes which have been framed by the government for all people. As a matter of fact, people in general and Muslims in particular, have very little awareness and knowledge of application of funds and financial assistance provided under other various schemes designed to help the poor.

It may be noted that minorities cannot solve their problems only by receiving government assistance. They should use it as foundation money and start their own training centres to upgrade skills and competitive capabilities. Nations and communities have progressed faster on their own efforts, hard work and sense of accountability towards their goals and deeds.

Today, India is a global centre and provides a number of opportunities for self-employment in the financial sector as well as in other segments of the economy. Muslims can set up employment bureaus in towns, cities and villages to spread awareness of employment opportunities and financial facilities available from banks, financial institutions and government. Advertisements with regard to vacancies should be available in the employment bureaus. The employment bureaus also should have details of minority unemployed youths and a good library that offers information on new industries and professions coming up. These bureaus need to provide details of various government schemes particularly pertaining to self-employment.

Muslims should not always hold government responsible for their poverty. At the same time, there should be a quantitative assessment and evaluation of implementation of schemes by the government in terms of financial as well as physical achievements.

(The author is former economic advisor to SEBI)