Welcoming the efforts made by the Union Government to collect information about the social, economic and educational status of Muslims in India, Dr John Dayal, a member of National Integration Council and the Secretary General of All India Christian Council, has urged Justice Sachchar, Chairman of the
Prime Minister's High Level Committee for Preparation of Report on Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India, to expand suo moto the terms of reference of the Committee to include all Christians or at least Dalit Christians in his survey. “That you use your good offices to recommend to the Prime Minister and the Union Government to either expand your commission to include Christians or to set up a separate and similar committee to study the economic situation of Christians,” he urged.
In a letter to Justice Sachchar, with copies to the Prime Minister, the Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance, the Leaders of the Left Parties and the Chairman of the Planning Commission, Dr Dayal said, “We welcome the Government of India’s efforts to collect information in areas where there is lack of authentic information such as in the case of the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community of India which comes in the way of planning, formulating and implementing specific interventions, policies and programmes to address the issues relating to the socio-economic backwardness of this community.” Referring to the terms of reference, which, inter alia, include questions such as (1) (A) what is the proportion of Other Backward Classes (OBC) from the Muslim community in the total OBC population in various States? (b) Are the Muslim OBCs listed in the comprehensive list of OBCs prepared by the National and State Backward Classes Commissions and adopted by the Central and State Governments for reservation for various purposes? (c) What is the share of Muslim OBCs in the total public sector employment for OBCs in the Centre and various States in various years? and 2 (a) Does the Muslim community have adequate access to (i) education (ii) health services (iii) municipal infrastructure (iv) bank credit and (v) other services provided by Government / public sector entities?, Dr Dayal said they were all excellent questions. He said the questions should also apply to the vast majority of Christians in India. “They specially apply to Christians of Dalit Origins as well as to Tribal Christians. Dalit Christians comprise a full 60 per cent or more of the entire population of 2.5 crore Christians. They are more than 75 per cent in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Punjab and some other parts. Apart from ‘Islands of development’ in certain pockets of Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore, Cochin, Thrissur, Kottayam, Chennai and possibly Kolkata, the Christian community is among the poorest of the poor.” Dr Dayal said as per their studies, the Christian community did not have an entrepreneur class, nor did it have an artisan class of people who could be self-employed. The urban population was entirely in the service sector, grossly underemployed. The Rural population, mostly Dalits, was landless peasantry, pauperised landless labour and others dependent on seasonal and inadequate employment. “The 2001 Census also shows that despite the comparative overall high education levels of the community (urban), the levels of education in the rural and tribal areas are dismally low, specially relating to the girl-child in tribal areas. The migration of women from tribal areas to the metropolitan cities for jobs, and their sexual and economic exploitation is unparalleled in any community.” He said he, along with Archbishop Vincent Concessao, the Archbishop of Delhi, had the privilege of conveying some of these concerns to the Planning Commission during the drafting of the current Plan. A comprehensive study of the economic disempowerment of the Christian community would be en eye-opener to everyone, including the government and the leadership of the Churches. |
News 
