Lok Sabha Question No. 2835 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-05-11
Subject: Literacy Among Muslims
Ministry: MINORITY AFFAIRS
Asked by: BOORA NARSAIAH GOUD, KULAMANI SAMAL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2835 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.05.2016

## LITERACY AMONG MUSLIMS

## 2835.   DR. BOORA NARSAIAH GOUD: Dr. KULAMANI SAMAL:

Will the Minister of MINORITY AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether the Government has drawn any plan to achieve higher literacy rate among muslims in the country;
- (b)  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  number  of  muslims  likely  to  be  provided  literacy under the said plan, State-wise including Telangana and Andhra Pradesh;
- (c)  whether representation of students from muslim communities in technical and higher educational  institutions  as  well  as  the  Government  jobs  is  much  less  than  other communities in the country
- (d)  if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor along with enrolment / representation of muslim students in above said institutions and Government jobs; and
- (e)  whether the Government is taking any steps to ensure balanced representation of all the communities in educational institutions as well as in Government jobs if so, the details in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS (SHRI MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI)

(a) to (b): Pursuant to the receipt of Sachar committee Report, it was decided to carry out a  mass  mobilization  campaign  in  all  districts,      having  a  substantial  population  of Muslims, to generate awareness about the need for literacy and elementary education and to promote vocational education and skill development.  A special literacy drive was to  be  taken  up  in  these  districts  to  improve  the  overall  literacy  rate  and  especially  the literacy rate of Muslim women.

Saakshar Bharat, a centrally sponsored scheme for adult education and skill development, is being implemented since October, 2006 in the rural areas of 410 districts in 26 States and 1 UT that had adult female literacy of 50% or lower as per Census 2001, and all left wing extremism affected districts irrespective of their literacy rates. The main goal of the programme is to increase the country's literacy rate to 80% and reduce the gender  gap  of  10  percentage  points.  The  programme  is  primarily  focused  on  women, SCs, STs, Muslim minorities and other  disadvantaged groups in the rural areas in low literacy States / UTs. The principal target of the Saakshar Bharat programme is to impart functional  literacy  to  70  million  adults  in  the  age-group  of  15  years  and  beyond.  The category-wise target under the programme is to cover 14 million SCs, 8 million STs, 12 million  Muslims  and  36  million  others  including  overall  60  million  women.  About  52.93 lakh learners of Muslim minorities have appeared in biannual basic literacy assessment test  conducted  till  August,  2015  under  the  programme,  out  of  which  about  36.84  lakh learners  of  Muslim  minorities  have  successfully  passed  the  test.  State-wise  details, including undivided Andhra Pradesh, are at Annexure- I .

(c)  &  (d):  The  salient  features  of  the  Sachar  Committee,  which  submitted  its  Report  on 17.11.2006, inter-alia, with respect to educational status and Employment and Economic opportunities of the Muslims in the country are at Annexure- II

Ministry  of  Human  Resource  Development  has  informed  that  30.08%  of  the  total enrolment  in  minority  districts  was  of  Muslim  children  in  2012-13  which  increased  to 31.22%  in  2013-14.  At  the  national  level,  enrolment  of  Muslims  in  elementary  schools was 13.52% in 2012-13 and 13.73% in 2013-14 as against the Muslim population share of 13.43% in 2001 (2001 Census). The enrolment of Muslim girls is even better as they accounted for  50.57%  of the  total  enrolment  in  MCDs  in  2013-14  which  is  higher  than their share in the population. These facts indicated that the access to school for minorities has improved significantly. Further, as per Census 2011, the literacy rate among Muslims is  68.5%  (Muslim  Males-  74.7%  and  Muslim  Females-  62%),  which  is  much  higher  as compared to the literacy rate of 59.1% among Muslims as per Census 2001.

The  percentage  of  recruitment  of  minorities  in  Central  Government  /  Public  Sector Undertakings was 8.56% in 2014-15 in comparison to 7.89% during 2013-14. Besides, as per  Census  2011,  the  Work  Participation  Rate  (WPR)  for  the  Muslims  was  32.6  % (reason for not working by an individual is not collected in the Census) as compared to 31.3 % as per Census 2001.

(e):  The  Government  is  already  implementing  a  number  of  schemes  /  initiatives  for educational  empowerment  of  minorities,  including  Muslims,  so  as  to  ensure  their adequate  representation  in  technical  and  higher  educational  institutions  as  well  as  the Government  jobs  for  the  minorities.  A  list  of  schemes/initiatives  implemented  by  the Ministry of Minority Affairs and other Central Ministries for educational empowerment of minorities, including Muslims, is at Annexure-III .

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ANNEXURE-  I  REFFERED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  &  (b)  of  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2835 FOR 11.05.2016 RAISED BY DR. BOORA NARSAIAH GOUD AND DR. KULAMANI SAMAL REGARDING 'LITERACY AMONG MUSLIMS'

## State-wise number of learners of Muslim Minority appeared and successful in biannual basic literacy assessment test conducted till August, 2015.

| S. No.   | State                 | Total Minority    | Total Minority      |
|----------|-----------------------|-------------------|---------------------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh        | Appeared 2,71,955 | Successful 1,85,376 |
| 2        | Telangana (undivided) |                   |                     |
| 3        | Arunachal Pradesh     | 815               | 779                 |
| 4        | Assam                 | 2,59,335          | 1,53,264            |
| 5        | Bihar                 | 12,51,001         | 10,72,196           |
| 6        | Chhattisgarh          | 29,595            | 22,766              |
| 7        | Dadra & Nagar Haveli  | 92                | 58                  |
| 8        | Gujarat               | 69,205            | 42,787              |
| 9        | Haryana               | 10,369            | 5,821               |
| 10       | Himachal Pradesh      | 3,466             | 1,901               |
| 11       | Jammu & Kashmir       | 1,07,171          | 72,302              |
| 12       | Jharkhand             | 1,81,526          | 1,37,601            |
| 13       | Karnataka             | 2,21,338          | 1,70,701            |
| 14       | Madhya Pradesh        | 18,029            | 11,859              |
| 15       | Maharashtra           | 5,097             | 3,075               |
| 16       | Manipur               | 13,509            | 8,042               |
| 17       | Meghalaya             | 1,840             | 568                 |
| 18       | Nagaland              | 98                | 66                  |
| 19       | Odisha                | 1,868             | 1,035               |
| 20       | Punjab                | 2,840             | 1,402               |
| 21       | Rajasthan             | 3,71,425          | 2,64,190            |
| 22       | Sikkim                | 51                | 31                  |
| 23       | Tamil Nadu            | 31,140            | 26,441              |
| 24       | Delhi (Tihar Jail)    | 1,479             | 1,234               |
| 25       | Tripura               | 541               | 541                 |
| 26       | Uttar Pradesh         | 6,60,952          | 5,16,496            |
| 27       | Uttarakhand           | 85,532            | 63,197              |
| 28       | West Bengal           | 16,93,073         | 9,20,524            |
|          | Total                 | 52,93,339         | 36,84,253           |

## ANNEXURE- II REFFERED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (c) & (d) of LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2835 FOR 11.05.2016 RAISED BY DR. BOORA NARSAIAH GOUD AND DR. KULAMANI SAMAL REGARDING 'LITERACY AMONG MUSLIMS'

The  salient  features  of  the  Sachar  Committee  Report  with  respect  to  educational  status  and Employment and Economic opportunities of the Muslims in the country are as under:

## Educational status of the Muslims

- i. The  literacy  rate  among  Muslims  was  59.1%,  which  was  below  the  national  average  of 64.8%.
- ii. The mean years of schooling (MYS) is lower compared to the average MYS for all children.
- iii. 25% of Muslim children in the age of 6 - 14 years age group have either never attended school or have dropped out.
- iv. The majority of Muslim girls and boys fail in their matriculation examination or drop out before that.
- v. Less than 4% of Muslims are graduates or diploma holders compared to about 7% of the population aged 20 years and above.
- vi. There  is  a  strong  desire  and  enthusiasm  for  education  among  Muslim  women  and  girls across the board.
- vii. Schools  beyond  primary  level  are  few  in  Muslim  localities.  Exclusive  schools  for  girls  are fewer.
- viii. Lack of hostel facilities is a limiting factor, especially for girls.
- ix. Muslim  parents  are  not  averse  to  modern  or  mainstream  education  and  to  sending  their children  to  affordable  Government  schools.  They  do  not  necessarily  prefer  to  send  children  to Madarsas. However, the access to Government schools for Muslim children is limited.

## Employment and Economic opportunities of the Muslims

- i. Self-employment is the main source of income of Muslims. They are engaged more in selfemployed manufacturing and trade activities compared to others.
- ii. The share of Muslim workers engaged in street vending is the highest. More than 12 per cent of  Muslim male workers are engaged in street vending as compared to the national average of less than 8 per cent.
- iii. The percentage of women Muslim workers undertaking work within their own homes is much larger at 70 per cent compared to all workers at 51 per cent.
- iv. The  share  of  Muslims  in  the  total  workers  engaged  in  the  tobacco  and  textiles/garment related industries are quite significant.
- v. The  share  of  Muslim  workers  in  production  related  activities  and  transport  equipment operation is much higher at 34%, as against 21% of all workers.
- vi. More  than  16  per  cent  of  Muslims  were  engaged  as  sales  workers,  while  the  national average was only about 10 per cent.
- vii. While the participation of Muslim workers is relatively higher in production and sales related occupations, their participation was relatively lower in professional, technical, clerical and to some extent managerial work.
- viii. Muslims, by and large, are engaged in the unorganized sector of the economy and have to bear the brunt of liberalization.
- ix. The participation of Muslims in regular salaried jobs is much less than workers of other socioreligious categories.
- x. Muslims are relatively more vulnerable in terms of conditions of work as their concentration in informal sector employment is higher and their job conditions, even among regular workers, are less for Muslims than those of other socio-religious communities.
- xi. Percentage  of  households  availing  banking  facilities  is  much  lower  in  villages  where  the share of Muslim population is high.

ANNEXURE- III REFFERED TO IN REPLY TO PART (e) of LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2835 FOR 11.05.2016 RAISED BY DR. BOORA NARSAIAH GOUD AND DR. KULAMANI SAMAL REGARDING 'LITERACY AMONG MUSLIMS'

## DETAILS OF SCHEMES / INITIATIVES MEANT FOR EDUCATIONAL ENHANCEMENT / EMPOWERMENT OF MINORITIES ARE AS UNDER:

- i. Pre-Matric Scholarship
- ii. Post-Matric Scholarship
- iii. Merit-cum-Means  Scholarship
- iv. Maulana Azad National Fellowship
- v. Integrated  Child  Development  Services  (ICDS)  scheme  for  providing  services through Anganwadi Centres
- vi. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and opening of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas
- vii. 'Padho Pardesh'- Interest subsidy on educational loans for overseas studies
- viii. 'Nai  Udaan'-  Support  for  students  clearing  Prelims  conducted  by  UPSC,  SSC, State Public Service Commissions, etc.
- ix. Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madarsas (SPQEM)
- x. Scheme for Infrastructure Development of Minority Institutions (IDMI)
- xi. Greater Resources for Teaching Urdu
- xii. Free Coaching and Allied Scheme
- xiii. Schemes  of  Maulana  Azad  Education  Foundation  (MAEF)  for  promotion  of education.
- xiv. Mid Day Meal Scheme
- xv. Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)
- xvi. Sakshar Bharat/ Maulana Azad Taleem-e-Balighan
- xvii. Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS)
- xviii. Block Institutes of Teachers Education
- xix. Women's Hostel.
- xx. Educational loans given by the National  Minority  Development  &  Finance Commission (NMDFC).
- xxi. Educational loans under Priority Sector Lending.
- xxii. Issue of guidelines for giving special consideration for recruitment of minorities.
- xxiii. Educational infrastructures created under Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) in the minority concentration blocks/towns.
- xxiv. Nai Manzil- A Scheme to Provide Education and Skill Training to the Youth from Minority Communities (a new scheme).

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