Sachar Committee Report
Encyclopedia
Main findings of the report
The entire Sachar Report is available for download at various websites.Some findings are as follows:
A..Sachar committee has put a lot of analysis about the Indian Muslim with "statistical reports" based on information from government agencies, banks, Indian Minority Commission, different state governments and its agencies. The major points covered in the reports are:
- In the field of literacy the Committee has found that the rate among Muslims is very much below than the national average. The gap between Muslims and the general average is greater in urban areas and women. 25 per cent of children of Muslim parents in the 6-14 year age group have either never attended school or have dropped out.
- Muslim parents are not averse to mainstream education or to send their children to affordable Government schools. The access to government schools for children of Muslim parents is limited.
- Bidi workers, tailors and mechanics need to be provided with social safety nets and social security. The participation of Muslims in the professional and managerial cadre is low.
- The average amount of bank loan disbursed to the Muslims is 2/3 of the amount disbursed to other minorities. In some cases it is half. The Reserve Bank of India’s efforts to extend banking and credit facilities under the Prime Minister’s 15-point programme of 1983 has mainly benefited other minorities marginalizing Muslims.
- There is a clear and significant inverse association between the proportion of the Muslim population and the availability of educational infrastructure in small villages. Muslim concentration villages are not well served with pucca approach roads and local bus stops.
- Substantially larger proportion of the Muslim households in urban areas are in the less than Rs.500 expenditure bracket.
- The presence of Muslims has been found to be only 3% in the IAS, 1.8% in the IFS and 4% in the IPS.
- Muslim community has a representation of only 4.5% in Indian Railways while 98.7% of them are positioned at lower levels. Representation of Muslims is very low in the Universities and in Banks. Their share in police constables is only 6%, in health 4.4%, in transport 6.5%.
- For the Maulana Azad Education Foundation to be effective the corpus fund needs to be increased to 1000 crores. Total allocation in the four years 2002 to 2006 for Madarsa Modernization Scheme is 106 crores. The information regarding the Scheme has not adequately percolated down. Even if the share of Muslims in elected bodies is low they and other under represented segments can be involved in the decision making process through innovative mechanisms.
- Most of the variables indicate that Muslim-OBCs are significantly deprived in comparison to Hindu-OBCs. The work participation rate (WPR) shows the presence of a sharp difference between Hindu-OBCs (67%) and the Muslims. The share of Muslim-OBCs in government/ PSU jobs is much lower than Hindu-OBCs.
- There are about 5 lakh registered Wakfs with 600,000 acres (2,400 km²) land and Rs 6,000 crore book value.
Removal of common stereotypes
The Sachar committee report helped in a big way to remove common stereotypes. Some of these important findings were:- Only four per cent of Muslims students actually go to madrassas primarily because primary state schools do not exist for miles. Therefore, the idea that Muslims prefer madrassa education was found to be not true.
- That there is “substantial demand from the community for fertility regulation and for modern contraceptives” and over 20 million couples are already using contraceptives. “Muslim population growth has slowed down as fertility has declined substantially”. This does away with the concern that Muslim population growth would be able to outnumber Hindus or change the religious demography in any meaningful way.
- That Muslims wherever spoken to complained of suffering the twin calumnies of being dubbed “anti-national” and of being “appeased”. However, the Indian Muslim community as a whole had never indulged in anti-national activities and the conditions borne out by the committee's findings clearly explained that no "appeasement" had taken place
- In private industry like the BPO industry, Muslims have been able to do well and find employment in large numbers. However this is restricted to large companies mainly.
- Muslims in Gujarat, a state that was ravaged by 2002 Gujarat riots, were indicated to be better of in terms of Education and Economic well being than the national average. Even in terms of employment Gujarat had a better share of Muslims in government jobs (5.4%) than compared to states like West Bengal (2.1%) and New Delhi (3.2%).
Summary of recommendations
The report put forward some recommendations to eliminate the situation raised for Indian Muslim. Justice Sachar explained that the upliftment minorities and implementation of these recommendations would strengthen the secular fabric of Indian society as well as increase patriotism due to their all inclusive progress. The recommendation include:- Mechanisms to ensure equity and equality of opportunity and eliminate discrimination.
- Creation of a National Data Bank (NDB) where all relevant data for various Socio Religious Communities are maintained.
- Form an autonomous Assessment and Monitoring Authority to evaluate the extent of development benefits
- An Equal Opportunity Commission should be constituted to look into the grievances of the deprived groups.
- Elimination of the anomalies with respect to reserved constituencies under the delimitation scheme.
- The idea of providing certain incentives to a diversity index should be explored to ensure equal opportunities in education, governance, private employment and housing.
- A process of evaluating the content of the school textbooks needs to be initiated and institutionalized.
- The UGC should evolve a system where part of the allocation to colleges and universities is linked to the diversity in the student population.
- Providing hostel facilities at reasonable costs for students from minorities must be taken up on a priority basis.
- The Committee recommended promoting and enhancing access to Muslims in Priority Sector Bank Advances.
- The real need is of policy initiatives that improve the participation and share of the Minorities, particularly Muslims in the business of regular commercial banks.
- The community should be represented on interview panels and Boards. The underprivileged should be helped to utilize new opportunities in its high growth phase through skill development and education.
- Provide financial and other support to initiatives built around occupations where Muslims are concentrated and have growth potential.
Responses to the committee findings
There are different responses to the sachar committee findings from different part of India.15-point minorities welfare programme
The Prime Minister has also unfolded a comprehensive 15-point programme for the welfare and empowerment of minorities.The new plan wants to help the minorities by Enhancing opportunities for education.Ensuring equitable share in economic activities and employment,Improving the conditions of living of minorities,Prevention and control of communal disharmony and violence.Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) or “Education for All Programme”, a national flagship programme to provide quality elementary education to all children in the 6 – 14 years age group through a time bound approach. Based on the data obtained from Census as well as District Information System for Education (DISE), SRI-IMRB Survey etc., the Government has made a number of interventions in SSA to help the minority (Muslim) children in education. One of the thrust areas is to ensure availability of schools in all minority concentrated districts. During 2005-06, 4624 primary and Upper primary schools, and about 31,702 Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) Centres were sanctioned in minority concentrated districts. During 2006-07, 6918 new primary and upper primary schools have been sanctioned in minority-dominated districts. 32,250 EGS centres with a total enrolment of 120.90 lakh children have been sanctioned for 2006-07. Sanction has also been accorded for enrolment of 11.25 lakh children in Alternative & Innovative Education (AIE) during 2006-07 in these districts.Madrasas/Makhtabs have been covered under SSA. The Madarsas affiliated to the State Madarasa Boards and satisfying certain conditions are eligible for such assistance as is available to other regular schools under SSA. So far 8309 madarsas have been assisted.
Facilities for minority girls
Free textbooks are provided to all minority girls from classes I-VIII. Urdu textbooks are provided for Urdu medium schools and for Urdu as a subject. Based on the 1981 Census, 93 districts (now 99) in 16 states have been identified for focused attention. The major focus is on the states of Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Assam. Out of the 1180 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV), 210 schools have been sanctioned in minority blocks, 1430 minority girls have already been enrolled in KGBVs till 31.3.06.Minority Concentration districts
In addition to above measures, there is also a special focus on 93 districts, which was found to be having more than 20% Minority population in the 1981 census, for SSA investments in 2005-06 and 2006-07. This included other religious communities like Christians, Hindus or Sikhs living as minorities in different parts of IndiaSachar Committee’s recommendations in the sphere of education include a special focus on free and compulsory education; institutionalizing the process of evaluating school textbooks so that they better reflect community-specific sensitivities; setting up quality government schools, especially for girls in areas of Minority concentration; and providing priming education in Urdu or native language in areas where the language is widely in use.
Status metrics
The following table pertains to select socio-economic data regards the Muslim community in India. It must be noted that even in States and Districts where Muslims are a majority, they are discriminated by Government ministries, institutions, corporations and banks. Over 100% figure for bank accounts indicates undercount of Muslims in decadal censuses. Enrolment rate pertains to school admissions of children aged 6 through 14 years. ST stands for Scheduled Tribe. OBC stands for Other Backward Classes. MPCE stands for Monthly Per Capita Expenditure.| Region | State / Union Territory | Share of Wakf Acreage (%) |
Share of Muslims (%) |
Share of purchasing power (%) |
Urban MPCE (%) |
Rural MPCE (%) |
Urdu speakers (%) |
Sex Ratio (%) |
Under-5 Mortality (%) |
Urbanisation (%) |
Bank Accounts (%) |
ST (%) | OBC (%) | Literacy (%) | Enrolment (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peninsular | Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India... |
16.1 | 7.4 | 16.1 | 75.0 | 96.5 | 67.3 | 88.9 | 4.2 | 70.0 | 76.4 | 0.8 | 10.8 | 78.1 | 91.0 |
| Himalayan | Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity... |
2.6 | 22.2 | 13.7 | 75.2 | 94.4 | 43.2 | 91.8 | 36.0 | 40.0 | 0.007 | 62.0 | 47.8 | 69.4 | |
| Peninsular | Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third... |
25.4 | 5.1 | 6.4 | 73.6 | 101.0 | 93.8 | 96.1 | 58.1 | 58.7 | 0.02 | 19.5 | 68.0 | 83.4 | |
| Peninsular | Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh... |
6.0 | 2.5 | 4.7 | 87.5 | 120.3 | 27.0 | 102.0 | 72.8 | 87.5 | 0.02 | 93.3 | 82.9 | 98.5 | |
| Peninsular | Gujarat | 1.5 | 3.3 | 5.7 | 72.6 | 103.6 | 12.0 | 93.7 | 58.7 | 83.5 | 0.2 | 32.8 | 73.5 | 78.9 | |
| Himalayan | West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP... |
10.3 | 14.6 | 13.2 | 64.5 | 87.0 | 8.2 | 93.3 | 7.7 | 16.8 | 48.0 | 0.03 | 2.4 | 57.5 | 82.8 |
| Peninsular | Karnataka Karnataka Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava... |
3.2 | 4.7 | 6.6 | 73.6 | 98.0 | 86.4 | 95.7 | 6.6 | 59.0 | 50.8 | 0.009 | 52.7 | 70.1 | 90.7 |
| Peninsular | Rajasthan Rajasthan Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with... |
26.8 | 3.5 | 3.0 | 72.5 | 102.2 | 13.8 | 92.9 | 12.2 | 48.4 | 88.2 | 0.08 | 55.7 | 56.6 | 77.1 |
| Peninsular | Kerala Kerala or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions.... |
3.9 | 5.7 | 7.8 | 79.8 | 93.9 | 0.2 | 108.2 | 2.6 | 25.4 | 71.3 | 0.003 | 99.1 | 89.4 | 99.0 |
| Himalayan | Delhi Delhi Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census... |
1.2 | 1.9 | 74.1 | 160.6 | 54.0 | 78.2 | 96.0 | 22.2 | 21.6 | 66.6 | 95.1 | |||
| Peninsular | Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city.... |
2.8 | 2.2 | 74.9 | 103.0 | 30.8 | 92.9 | 70.0 | 129.7 | 0.2 | 48.1 | 70.3 | 88.0 | ||
| Himalayan | Haryana Haryana Haryana is a state in India. Historically, it has been a part of the Kuru region in North India. The name Haryana is found mentioned in the 12th century AD by the apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar . It is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south... |
3.7 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 93.4 | 66.9 | 21.2 | 87.0 | 14.5 | 31.0 | 86.2 | 40.0 | 59.7 | ||
| Himalayan | Punjab Punjab (India) Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the... |
0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 62.1 | 85.9 | 6.9 | 79.3 | 43.6 | 112.5 | 54.4 | 51.2 | 89.0 | ||
| Himalayan | Bihar Bihar Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India.... |
9.9 | 4.0 | 77.0 | 95.7 | 69.2 | 94.3 | 12.4 | 52.7 | 0.1 | 63.3 | 42.0 | 65.8 | ||
| Peninsular | Orissa Orissa Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April... |
0.5 | 0.7 | 99.4 | 105.9 | 79.0 | 94.8 | 41.7 | 209.5 | 0.3 | 8.2 | 71.3 | 90.6 | ||
| Peninsular | Chattisgarh | 0.3 | 0.3 | 61.3 | 106.3 | 21.0 | 94.3 | 62.9 | 460.0 | 82.5 | 97.9 | ||||
| Himalayan | Jharkhand Jharkhand Jharkhand is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east... |
2.7 | 2.2 | 71.5 | 96.4 | 62.6 | 93.9 | 25.3 | 39.9 | 61.7 | 55.6 | 69.2 | |||
| Himalayan | Assam Assam Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country... |
6.0 | 4.2 | 106.0 | 88.6 | 93.8 | 8.7 | 6.4 | 17.8 | 0.01 | 3.0 | 48.4 | 87.0 | ||
| Himalayan | Uttarakhand Uttarakhand Uttarakhand , formerly Uttaranchal, is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the Land of Gods due to the many holy Hindu temples and cities found throughout the state, some of which are among Hinduism's most spiritual and auspicious places of pilgrimage and worship... |
0.7 | 1.0 | 73.2 | 92.4 | 49.2 | 87.5 | 38.2 | 36.1 | 53.2 | 51.1 | 61.4 | |||
| Himalayan | Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh is a state in Northern India. It is spread over , and is bordered by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir on the north, Punjab on the west and south-west, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on the south, Uttarakhand on the south-east and by the Tibet Autonomous Region on the east... |
61.1 | 95.5 | 17.2 | 13.7 | 57.5 | 73.7 | ||||||||
| Himalayan | Kashmir | 4.9 | 4.5 | 88.9 | 96.4 | 0.2 | 92.7 | 6.3 | 22.1 | 47.5 | 17.1 | 47.3 | 90.6 | ||
| Peninsular | Goa Goa Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its... |
0.006 | |||||||||||||
| Himalayan | Chandigarh Chandigarh Chandigarh is a union territory of India that serves as the capital of two states, Haryana and Punjab. The name Chandigarh translates as "The Fort of Chandi". The name is from an ancient temple called Chandi Mandir, devoted to the Hindu goddess Chandi, in the city... |
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| Himalayan | Tripura Tripura Tripura is a state in North-East India, with an area of . It is the third smallest state of India, according to area. Tripura is surrounded by Bangladesh on the north, south, and west. The Indian states of Assam and Mizoram lie to the east. The capital is Agartala and the main languages spoken are... |
0.2 | |||||||||||||
| Himalayan | Meghalaya Meghalaya Meghalaya is a state in north-eastern India. The word "Meghalaya" literally means the Abode of Clouds in Sanskrit and other Indic languages. Meghalaya is a hilly strip in the eastern part of the country about 300 km long and 100 km wide, with a total area of about 8,700 sq mi . The... |
2.6 | |||||||||||||
| Peninsular | Pondicherry | ||||||||||||||
| Himalayan | Manipur Manipur Manipur is a state in northeastern India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. Manipur is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west; it also borders Burma to the east. It covers an area of... |
0.3 | |||||||||||||
| Himalayan | Nagaland Nagaland Nagaland is a state in the far north-eastern part of India. It borders the state of Assam to the west, Arunachal Pradesh and part of Assam to the north, Burma to the east and Manipur to the south. The state capital is Kohima, and the largest city is Dimapur... |
3.1 | |||||||||||||
| Himalayan | Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh is a state of India, located in the far northeast. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south, and shares international borders with Burma in the east, Bhutan in the west, and the People's Republic of China in the north. The majority of the territory is claimed by... |
1.3 | |||||||||||||
| Himalayan | Mizoram Mizoram Mizoram is one of the Seven Sister States in North Eastern India, sharing borders with the states of Tripura, Assam, Manipur and with the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh and Burma. Mizoram became the 23rd state of India on 20 February 1987. Its capital is Aizawl. Mizoram is located in the... |
7.4 | |||||||||||||
| Peninsular | Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 3.6 | |||||||||||||
| Himalayan | Sikkim Sikkim Sikkim is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayan mountains... |
0.7 | |||||||||||||
| Peninsular | Dadra and Nagar Haveli | 1.6 | |||||||||||||
| Peninsular | Daman and Diu | 1.4 | |||||||||||||
| Peninsular | Lakshadweep Lakshadweep Lakshadweep , formerly known as the Laccadive, Minicoy, and Amindivi Islands, is a group of islands in the Laccadive Sea, 200 to 440 km off the coast of the South West Indian state of Kerala... |
98.5 |
Responses
- Syed Shahabuddin,the former MPMember of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
from Janata DalJanata DalJanata Dal is an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Congress, and the Jan Morcha led by V. P...
says Sachar Committee has collected the facts and figures more than suffice. But it should have put forward some concrete resolution like Minority Reservation if needed.
- Janata Dal (United)Janata Dal (United)Janata Dal is a political party in India with political presence mainly in Bihar and Jharkhand. Janta Dal party mentor and patron is "Veteran Socialist leader" George Fernandes; George Fernandes broke away from the erstwhile Janata Dal and formed the Samata Party in 1994. Presently it is led...
party president Sharad Yadav, a senior partner of the BJP in the NDA coalition, has strongly voiced his support and demanded quick implementation of the committee findings. He also emphasized the importance of including Dalit Muslims and Christians in the SC category.
- The Nationalist Congress PartyNationalist Congress PartyThe Nationalist Congress Party is a centre to centre left political party primarily based in the state of Maharashtra, India.-Background:...
(NCP) has also urged the government to table the bill for implementing the committee findings even if an emergency session has to be called.
External links
- Muslim deprivation widespread: Sachar Committee http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/01/stories/2006120107350100.htm
- Appeal to Sachar Committee http://www.milligazette.com/dailyupdate/2006/20060305_gujarat_appeal_PM.htm
- Sachar Committee Report executive summary (English)