Muslims in economic India
One of the factors that tends to divide the ethnic Sindhi from the Mohajirs (or new Sindhis) is the so-called “discrimination factor”. At the Provincial level, the Mohajirs, being confined to the major urban areas of Sindh may have been discriminated against by institution of the quota system and denial of the right of metropolitan role, at the national level the ethnic Sindhi feels the same discrimination, even after having given three Prime Ministers to Pakistan (one still ruling) in the last two decades. Discrimination in our socio-economic life is something which we must constantly seek to eradicate. The Mohajir community has given great sacrifices in leaving their hearth and home for Pakistan, a glance at the economic plight of Muslims in India shows the true face of discrimination, the Mohajirs may rest well-assured that their sacrifices have been well-worth the effort.
Muslims in India constitute almost 12% of the population, but as a study conducted by Tahir Beg of the Department of Economics of the Aligarh Muslim University shows, they have negligible or no influence on the economic development of India. For the most part they have been economically isolated with resulting refuge for the majority of the Muslim workforce in the low-paid unorganized cottage industry sector, divorced from the economic mainstream as well as the scientific and/or technological advancement of the rest of India. Tahir Beg has had to depend upon fragmented and weak data since no large-scale survey on Muslims was available, major reliance has been placed on case studies related to various sectors of the Indian economy. For the purposes of studying Muslim participation in the economy we are looking at data pertaining to Muslim Employment in (1) the Industrial Sector (2) Agriculture and (3) the Tertiary Sector.
The Industrial sector composes of the Public and Private sectors. In the public sector a sample of 73 commercial departments and enterprises shows that out of 484 directors there are only 6 Muslims (1.2%) while out of 6,465 directors of public limited companies only 110 were Muslim (1.70%), only 8 being Managing Directors. In the private sector the Muslim presence is negligible, even worse than in the public sector. In four samples of 259 private limited companies the sum total of directors was 2,421 but the number of Muslim directors was only 33 including 4 serving civil servants, the percentage of Muslims coming to about 1.3%. In the executive cadre, the Muslims fare slightly better, taking a sampling of companies like Tisco, Texmaco, Mafatlal, Calico, Mahindra and Mahindra, Orkay, J K Industries and Indian Explosives, the Muslim share varies between zero (Texmaco, Mafatlal, Indian Explosives) to 4.1% (Tisco). In the Supervisors cadre the numbers range from 0.3% (Texmaco) to 5.6% (Tisco) while in the workers cadre there is improvement from 3.53% (Mafatlal) to 10.3% (Tisco). As regards employment of Muslims, a sampling of 13 private limited companies shows that out of 4,913 officials in various cadres, Muslims make up 1.2% (total number 59), this number relatively averages higher because of higher number of Muslim executives in multinationals ranging from Brooke Bond high (20%) to Indian Tobacco low (2%). As regards Muslim enterprises in medium and large scale industries, out of 2,832 industrial establishments owned by large corporate units, each with scale of turnover Rs.50 million or more, their turnover accounting for 57% of the total sales originating in the mining and manufacturing sector, Muslims own a grand total of FOUR units (or 0.14%). That is negligible enough to be non-existent. While no comprehensive data exists about Muslim employment in small scale or cottage industries, Muslim employment in this sector is not so depressing as in the case of the corporate sector. Tahir Beg makes a reasonable guess in estimating 14,000 Muslim owned small industrial units out of 600,000 (2.3%). Of the Muslim owned units approximately 2,000 belong to the small category with capital outlay ranging from Rs.20,000 to Rs.2 million. Given that Muslims as a community were pioneers in handicraft and were considered good artisans over a period of centuries, one would have expected proportionately much large participation of the Muslim community in small scale and cottage industries.
In the agriculture sector, scanty data is again available to determine Muslim participation. In a study in Karnataka State covering 245 villages, among households owning agricultural land only 5% were Muslims. In the same study only 41% of the Muslim population are shown to be engaged in agriculture in comparison to 77% of caste Hindus and 65% of scheduled tribes, the remaining Muslim population (59%) were engaged in the rural economy as labourers, artisans, traders, professionals and salaried workers. Muslim participation in agriculture has gone from bad to worse.
The Tertiary Sector is composed of (1) Government Services (2) Banking and Financial Institutions in the (a) Public sector and (b) Private sector. In the Government administrative services, out of a total of 416 Secretaries (including Additional and Joint Secretaries) in the Central Secretariat, only 6 i.e. roughly 1.5% are Muslims. The statistics become slightly better when you consider that out of a total of 3,883 officers of the Indian Administrative Services there are 116 Muslims (about 3%). In one of the areas which really matter in this sub-continent, the Indian Police Services, there are a total of 50 Muslims out of 1,753 IPS officers (less than 3%). As far as the Defence Services is concerned, in 1983 out of 374 candidates who qualified after taking the Defence Services Exam, only 4 (about 1%) were Muslims.
Public Sector Banking figures are available but statistics for private sector banks and other financial institutions could not be gathered. Relying on the public sector estimates show that Muslim employment in banking services, a key part of the economy, is almost non-existent. Out of 19 Members of the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India there are no Muslims, though in the local Board of Directors there is one Muslim among 19 Members. Out of 27 Principal officers, only ONE is Muslim while out of 14 Senior Managers there is not a single Muslim. Out of 698 directors of public sector banks, insurance companies and financial institutions, only 10 (1.3%) are Muslims. Banks like the Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Indian Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Corporation Bank, Punjab and Sindh Bank, Andhra Bank and Vijaya Bank do NOT have ANY Muslim directors. That is quite a clean statistic on the “Secularism Count”. Even in Banks located in relatively heavily populated Muslim areas, there are very few Muslim directors, e.g. ONE out of 41 directors of Allahabad Bank. So much for secularism!
With respect to summarizing the aforementioned we see that (1) Muslims have negligible or no presence in the private and public corporate sector — not only as managers and workers but also as owners of capital (2) in the small scale and organised cottage sector, Muslims, despite being pioneers in artisanship and handicraft, have been reduced to nominal presence (3) in the field of agriculture and allied activities the Muslims have very nominal presence (4) in the tertiary public sector, the nominal presence of the Muslims continues in the government administrative, police and defence services reducing to almost NO presence in the public banking and other financial institutions, but in the (5) private services sector self-employed Muslims have an unduly high percentage share of transportation, repairing and other community services.
The rabid discrimination against the Muslim work-force is thus apparent with the result that Muslims have been forced by exclusion to become self-employed in the unorganized sector. In India Muslims constitute a fairly high majority of construction labourers, rickshaw, cart and horse-cart pullers, coolies, barbers, tailors, carpenters, footpath-hawkers, mechanics, fillers, electricians, welders and petty shopkeepers. The situation is getting worse rather than better as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) takes a more influential political role in the wide swath of Northern India (the so-called Hindu Belt). An absolute majority of Muslim human resources is employed as community servants and artisans of the Indian nation, a little above outright slavery. The Muslim social status is more or like the Shudras (untouchables) who are (except for show-piece exceptions) as much discriminated against as Muslims.
As Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had foreseen, the Muslim minority community in India has increasingly become subject to abject poverty, persecution, exploitation, etc, reminding us of the sustained torture and atrocities inflicted on the Muslim community after the 1857 War of Independence. By being denied decision-making roles in the economic mainstream, the Muslims have been gradually consigned to penury status. With the help of the media and the school system, Muslim cultural identity has been gradually sapped of all vitality, economic backwardness has retarded educational performance leading to educational backwardness. Troubled by the all-enveloping poverty and resourcelessness, also influenced by the relatively inordinate earnings made possible by craftsmanship, parents tend to put their children in such vocations ignoring education. Deprived of opportunities that the Muslims see the Brahmins (and others in Class descending order) get in India, those that become educated make a bee-line for other pastures, a fair amount come to Pakistan (for Pakistan, read for the most part Karachi) where they become a statistic in the rising unemployment of white collar workers.
The cry of the Mohajir in Pakistan is one of frustration, that originating in Brahmin-ruled India. Deprived of his rightful economic and social status in an unequal society, the Mohajir in Pakistan feels rightly aggrieved at the perception of being discriminated against by fellow Muslims even in Pakistan. Secular India is a joke, the greatest farce perpetuated for over 40 years by Indian propaganda. The Indian Consul General in Karachi and most of his RAW colleagues continue this pretence by organising frequent cultural shows portraying secularism while our economic and bureaucratic elite fall over themselves to attend these functions. One wishes that these callous ingrates would choke on the food and drink lavishly laid out. Altaf Hussain is right when he speaks about the 2% power-elite calling the shots but very wrong when he thinks this discrimination is at the hands of the Sindhis (or the PPP, PPI or whatever). Blatant discrimination starts in India at the hands of Brahmins and continues (mostly in Karachi and Islamabad) by a shadowy class of vested interests constituting the 2% power-elite. While reversing of the all-out degradation of the Muslims in India is hardly possible, in Pakistan we must stand up and be counted against this conspiracy of discrimination of Muslims by Muslim, whether it be Sindhi, Punjabi, Pathan, Baloch or Mohajir.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment