A group of educated Muslim professionals has launched a pan-India campaign to encourage Muslim children to take up careers which directly contribute to "nation building".
A special drive has been launched in schools across India last week wherein the professionals are telling kids to make careers in defence, civil services, judiciary, medicine and the media. Through a series of lectures titled "Hum Banenge Hind ki Nayi Pehchan" the group — Association of Muslim Professionals — is reaching out to children studying in class 9-12.
"There is a negative agenda against Muslims in the political sphere and even on the media. Attempt is on to rob off the community's contribution in the freedom struggle and even after freedom. Muslims feel pained and offended. The narrative has to change and we realised that it can't be done through media debates," says Aamir Edresy, president of AMP, highlighting the need of the campaign.
If more Muslims will join administrative services, police force, judiciary and media, perception of the community among people of India will also change gradually, feel community leaders.
The Mumbai-based AMP, which has been conducting similar lectures in Maharashtra for past two years, has scaled up its effort pan India, 2016. This is significant considering the reports that several Muslim youths have joined the terror group — ISIS.
Edresy says: "Lectures have been held in around 380 schools in Delhi, UP, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and a few other states. More schools would be reached out soon."
The Sachar Commission report in 2004 had highlighted skewed presence of Muslims in both political space and administration. It stated that since the first Lok Sabha, average 20 Muslims got selected for Lok Sabha while the proportionate figure is around 77 as they constitute 14.2% of India's population. In civil services, Muslims were less than 2.5%.
Though several schemes were launched to increase their representation in the administration and government jobs since then, Amitabh Kundu's report to evaluate the post Sachar period revealed that those drives have dismal effect.
Now, community leaders feel that Muslims can't always sit and blame the successive governments for their plight. To improve its socio-economic conditions, the community itself has to come forward. No better way than taking up careers which are regarded as "nation building".
At least half a dozen Muslim groups and organisations are also doing similar campaigns. Among them is Zakat Foundation of Syed Zafar Mehmood, former IAS who had served as the OSD of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The foundation is organising lectures for school children to encourage them to take up civil services and start preparing early for this.
Mehmood says, "The Sachar Commission report has highlighted that Muslims are less than 2.5% in the civil services. The commission didn't cite any reasons for poor representation of the community in the administration. Our research has found that it is because very few Muslims take the UPSC exam. Less than 1500 candidates are from the community among over 11 lakh candidates in the civil services exam."
"While most Muslims are self-employed to meet the day's needs, the only fields where there is over representation of Muslims are the hospitals and the jails. Things won't change unless number of Muslims rises satisfactorily in administration and in political governance," says Mehmood.
