The Social And Cultural Life Of The Muslims - 1846 Words

1.1 Introduction So far as the minorities in India are concerned Muslims are the largest minority in the country. Majority of this community is educationally and economically extremely backward. Almost all other minorities are educationally and economically better off. Unfortunately Muslims have not been able to get their due share in total welfare work done by the Government, for economically weaker sections of the society in the country since independence. Different Governments appointed committees time to time to find out the causes of educational and economic backwardness of Muslims. Among these communities the latest one is the Sachar Committee. The committee has clearly revealed that only 4 per cent Muslim population is educated†¦show more content†¦Despite constitutional guarantees of equality and social justice and socio-economic and educational development in the country, large numbers of Indian Muslims are either unemployed or associated with manual low paid occupations both in vil lages and cities. Rapidly increasing communalism and frequently occurring communal Violence in different parts of the country make their economic condition fragile and vulnerable as well as multiply their woes and agony. Both NSSO and Sachar Committee Report provide a broad spectrum investigation into the socio-economic status of Muslims in India, and look into the roots of their disadvantaged conditions of life. In an informative article published in The Hindu in 2004, Asha Krishnakumar points out that socio-economic condition of a majority of Muslims is worse than those of Hindus. Some 59 per cent of Muslim women have not attended school; 60 per cent were married by the age of 17 and hardly 14 per cent registered work participation. Overall, Muslims have literacy rate of 59.1 per cent, 5.7 percent lower than the national average. Hardly half the Muslim women are literate. While in Haryana, just about one-fifth of Muslim women are literate, the figure is about one third in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Nagaland and Jammu and Kashmir. In 15 States, the literacy level among Muslim women is less than 50 per cent. Muslims register the lowest work participation rate of 31.3 per cent, and just about