Study

Dr. Mohammad Parvez, 2015

Abstract Since, the submission of the Sachar Committee Report (2006), several analytical and descriptive studies have been undertaken to analysis the socio-economic and educational conditions of Muslims in India. Many researchers, educationists, thinkers, politicians, policy makers and common Muslims believe that education is the only panacea to eradicate the each and every ails of Muslims, and it is the only mechanism by which not only their status can be raised but also facilitate their entry into better paid job. This paper aims to evaluate the available evidences on the pattern of Muslim participation in education and employment. It is an attempt to see the Muslims’ participation in education and employment in relation to other Socio Religious Categories of India. Based on different secondary data sets, it attempts to see how the Socio Religious Categories across India have utilised the process of education and achieved educational and employment opportunity higher than the Muslims. Muslims as a homogenous group did not participate actively in the educational development, more especially in the arena of higher education whereas the other Socio Religious Categories have acquired the maximum benefits with the constitutional and political interventions that are taken place in Pre and Post- Independent era. The present paper also try to see the trend of Muslims’ participation in education right from the primary education to higher education as well as sector wise employment and work activities as compared to other Socio Religious Categories. Key words: Education; Employment; Socio-Religious Category

India’s Muslim community, which accounts for 14.4 percent of India’s vast population and is thus the largest of all religious minorities, has been the subject of considerable development discourse as Muslims have the lowest level of educational attainment and standard of living among socio-religious groups in the country. This study addresses the meaning of education and career opportunities for Muslim youths in relation to their educational credentials and social position in the hierarchy of Muslim class and caste groups, with particular reference to a community in Uttar Pradesh. The author contends that the career opportunities, possibilities, and strategies of Muslim youths in Indian society depend on multiple factors: social hierarchy, opportunities to utilize economic resources, social networks, cultural capital, and the wider structural disparities within which the Muslims are situated and wherein they question the value of higher education in gaining them admission to socially recognized and established employment sectors.

India is the third largest Muslim dominated country, a nation home to 10.9% of the world's Muslims after Indonesia (12.7%) and Pakistan (11%). After the publication of Sachar Committee Report (2006) and periodic publication of religion based data in 2001 and 2011 by the Census of India, it is a well-known fact that the Muslims are the demographically largest and sociologically most significant minority of our country. The sociological significance of the Muslims as a minority group does not rest solely on their numerical strength. Rather, their social construction as a minority in the socio-political history of India is a crucial factor [1].Therefore, the assessment of educational status as a very significant indicator of human development for all including the Muslims remain an important task. The contribution of education to inclusive growth and development is widely recognized. "Education is found to be a more sustainable and more effective measure than other measures to reduce inequality in society. Unequal education reproduces social inequality [2]. "Much theoretical and empirical literature rightly lays emphasis on education as a necessary precursor to socioeconomic mobility. In fact, the positive outcomes of education are so huge and so crucial for human development that one often takes education as a single measure to assess the overall well-being of a population or a subset of it. In brief, the higher the proportion of a population with formal schooling, the wider is the stock of human capital and the greater the ability to achieve upward socioeconomic mobility" [3].

The present paper aims to analyse the state wise educational status of Muslims in India. It also aims to compare the educational status of muslims with the educational status of other religious communities in India. The country level and state level published data have been obtained from census of India. At the same time the association between the educational status of muslims is sought with their socio-economic development. The results have revealed that the educational status of Muslims in India is not satisfactory and needs special attention. It is found that more than half i.e., 53.95 per cent of the total population of the Muslims in India is illiterate with 17.48 per cent literate people just for the name sake only. Technical education or higher education is meager among the muslims. From the results it is also clear that Muslims who accounts for 13.46 per cent of the total population of the nation show lowest literacy rate, lowest percentage of higher education and lowest degree of female education. Budhist who only claim for less than half per cent of the total population of the country are most literate. The percentage of higher education, sex ratio and female literacy rate is also highest in this religious community.

2016

India is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-linguistic country; people belonging to many religious faiths live side by side. Muslims are the largest minority of the country. This paper attempts to present a demographic and socio-economic profile of the Muslims in Uttar Pradesh by focusing on the district wise distributional variation of Muslim concentration, their literacy, work participation rate and broad occupational groups. It is based on secondary data obtained from religion data, 2001 census. For understanding of current situations in the state, a cross-comparison of population in distribution, of literacy and employment have been made. The rate of urbanization is 37 % among Muslims of Uttar Pradesh, which is 2 % points more than that of national Muslims average. The position of Muslims in the state both in terms of education and employment has also been dissatisfactory, where male literacy rate is 58 % and female literacy rate 41%, whereas the WPR (work participation ra...

Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs , 2022

Muslims are one of the most socially and economically backward communities compared with other religious groups in India. The present study was undertaken to examine the labor market outcomes for Muslims in India in comparison with other dominant religious groups in the country, especially the Hindus. Based on the employment survey of 2011-12, the paper finds that as compared with Hindus, Muslims are concentrated mainly in self-employment and lesser in regular salaried employment, which often comes with social security. Muslim workers are engaged in low-tech industries such as manufacturing of wearing apparel, textiles, tobacco products, and leather products. In addition, Muslims occupy the lower rungs of occupations such as salespersons, drivers, street vendors, mining and construction laborers, transport laborers, and freight handlers, which explains their poor economic status. Their marginalization is further exacerbated by stiff competition with other dominant religious groups, poor capital investment, and lack of direct access to output markets directly.

Journal of Geography and …, 2011

India is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-linguistic country; people belonging to many religious faiths live side by side. Muslims are the largest minority of the country. This paper attempts to present a demographic and socio-economic profile of the Muslims in Uttar Pradesh by focusing on the district wise distributional variation of Muslim concentration, their literacy, work participation rate and broad occupational groups. It is based on secondary data obtained from religion data, 2001 census. For understanding of current situations in the state, a cross-comparison of population in distribution, of literacy and employment have been made. The rate of urbanization is 37% among Muslims of Uttar Pradesh, which is 2% points more than that of national Muslims average. The position of Muslims in the state both in terms of education and employment has also been dissatisfactory, where male literacy rate is 58% and female literacy rate 41%, whereas the WPR (work participation rate) 41 and 12% to male and female respectively, an overwhelming majority of women working in the marginal. Comparison of existing inequalities by religion operates within the large matrix of structural inequalities such as among regional difference. The paper proves that the increase in inequalities aid the increase in backwardness; which have a disproportionate impact on women as well as in the cumulative development of the state in particular and nation in general.

Iza Discussion Papers, 2007

Few researchers have examined the nature and determinants of earnings differentials among religious groups, and none has been undertaken in the context of conflict-prone multi-religious societies like the one in India. We address this lacuna in the literature by examining the differences in the average (log) earnings of Hindu and Muslim wage earners in India, during the 1987-2005 period. Our results indicate that education differences between Hindu and Muslim wage earners, especially differences in the proportion of wage earners with tertiary education, are largely responsible for the differences in the average (log) earnings of the two religious groups across the years. By contrast, differences in the returns to education do not explain the aforementioned difference in average (log) earnings. In conclusion, we discuss some policy implications.

2008

Few researchers have examined the nature and determinants of earnings differentials among religious groups, and none has been undertaken in the context of conflict-prone multi-religious societies like the one in India. We address this lacuna in the literature by examining the differences in the average (log) earnings of Hindu and Muslim wage earners in India, during the 1987-2005 period. Our results indicate that education differences between Hindu and Muslim wage earners, especially differences in the proportion of wage earners with tertiary education, are largely responsible for the differences in the average (log) earnings of the two religious groups across the years. By contrast, differences in the returns to education do not explain the aforementioned difference in average (log) earnings. Citing other evidence about persistence of educational achievements across generations, however, we argue that attempts to narrow this gap using quotas for Muslim households at educational institutions might be counterproductive from the point of view of conflict avoidance.

The Indian Journal of politics, 2021

Muslims in India form the largest religious minority in the country. According to the 2011 Census, they comprise 14.4 percent of India's total populationroughly 174 million people. They are the third largest Muslim population anywhere in the world, after Indonesia and Pakistan. It is a universally accepted notion that education is the only mechanism that enhances the process of socioeconomic and cultural development of communities. While the level of education all through India is still below the universally accepted standards, the educational status of Muslims, in particular, is of grave concern. The statistics irrefutably demonstrate that Muslims are far less accomplished than their non-Muslim counterparts on the educational front, and this is so across almost every state in India. The community has progressed at a pace more gradual than any other Socio-Religious Community. In several aspects, they have even been overtaken by the traditionally underprivileged SC/STs. Against such a backdrop, the present paper analyses the factors responsible for the educational backwardness of the country's largest minority despite state intervention. Further, the present study has also identified the problems of Muslim's education in India and further advanced suggestions and measures for improvement.