These are the findings of the Sachar committee report which was constituted by the UPA government to find the true socio-economic condition of India’s largest minority. Muslims are at the bottom of virtually most socio-economic indicators like government jobs, education, health care. In some cases their condition is even worse than that of the scheduled castes and tribes.

For instance, Muslims are severely underrepresented in government jobs. Their numbers are well below their share as a percentage of the population. In Assam where they constitute 30 %, they have only 11.2% of govt jobs; West Bengal (25%) 4.2% [This in a bastion of the supposedly secular CPI(M)]; Kerala (24%) 10.4%; UP (18.5%) 5.1%. Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are states with more proportionate representation.

Even in the judiciary its the same story. Muslims share of jobs here is less than their population share overall. When it comes to education Muslims are worse off than OBCs, SCs and STs.

The only place where Muslims are over-represented are prisons. The share of Muslims in prison for petty and serious crime is way above their proportional share in the population. A mixture of prejudice and apathy on the part of the authorities and a failure of Muslims to show determination to move out of their plight is maybe responsible for this state of affairs. The condition of Muslims in India is not very different from the condition of Afro-Americans in USA.

The current state of affairs cannot continue. 15 % of India’s population cannot be allowed to languish at the bottom of the socio-economic table and not expect serious repercussions in the future. The government should take concrete steps to improve the lot of Muslims. The time for cosmetic measures of the Mulayam Singh Yadav variety is long past. Something has to be done NOW.