Unaddressed Issues in Education
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article2889567.ece
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Miserable State of India’s Education
India is today seen as one of the leading economics in the world and counted among the top 5th. The competition is open to occupy the first and second spot by China and India respectively in about 30-40 years. Is this a true and real picture of India while a large portion of our citizens languish under the stress of poverty, deprivation even lack of food and high malnutrition. On a similar count India still has one of the largest illiterate population both in terms of absolute size and in proportionate terms. How and why India should heralds such a puzzling scenario. What is at the root of this puzzle is hope. It is the connect between what we are today and what we can be tomorrow which bridge this gap and explain the disconnect. This article takes the issue of literacy and education as an example and discusses as to what it takes for India to ensure creditable presence in the ‘league of top end nations’ marshaling achievements in the areas of ‘development, democracy and diversity’.
Accomplishments since Independence in 1947 in terms of literacy, spread of institutions, participation and equalization of educational opportunities have been quite significant. There has been phenomenal increase in the number of educational institutions, faculties, in teachers and students. The number of teachers has gone up five-fold and the number of schools three fold. Literacy rate has nearly trebled. The decennial census, 1991, saw India across the 50 per cent mark, and by 2011 the literacy level has reach 74.5%. This is not a mean achievement for India - needs to cherish this feat because literacy has more than tripled while its population also tripled during the same period.
Yet the rural-urban disparities in literacy have remained large, although there is a marginal decline in gender disparity only lately. As a thumb rule there has been around 20%ge point deficit in rural literacy and female literacy respectively. It is also no time to feel good and procrastinate since the level of learning and competence of those considered literate is lot to be desired. Further to understand future progress in literacy and education one needs to analyze the process indicator such as the ‘enrollment’ and quality of education.
PRATHAM a well know civil society organization since last seven years undertakes ‘annual assessment of education’ and brings out a report identified as ASER. The seventh such report with reference year 2011 provides a conflicting scenario – that practically all children 5-14 years are enrolled in the schooling system, over one quarter of them attend private schooling but a substantial proportion of children in government schools have very low levels of learning in terms of language, comprehension and numeracy. While there is something to cheer about in terms of enrollment efforts, with the private sector doing its bit, there are serious problems in the process, impact and outcome of education sector in India. The quality of schools and schooling is of poor quality in government system, although the government appointed teachers are well educated compared with the purely private schools. The private schools excepting in Kerala (actually government aided schools in Kerala) can also be of suspicious quality, as most do not meet the RTE standards and tend to appoint poorly trained and poorly paid teachers. Thus overall the situation is like – one has ‘sowed all her land with seeds, but at the end of the season there is no crop to reap’. This report itself has indicated that what is measured as enrollment does not reflect school attendance which has remained very poor and in states such as Bihar, UP and West Bengal there is a sharp decline in school continuation. Another disturbing factor is an increase in multi-grade class rooms which could be a factor for children shifting away from government to private schools in most of the states.
ASER dichotomize the schooling identities into government and private; although it refers to un-aided schools which can be considered private schools, what is disputable is to consider aided-schools as private, since while community groups manage the primary and elementary school most of the expenditures including teachers’ salaries are met by state budgetary mechanism. Overall, however, the private primary and elementary schools appear to produce relatively better levels of literacy compared with the government schools, although if other factors are controlled for this advantage may disappear. Further, the fact that private tutoring would sustain levels of learning somewhat has been enunciated through this research although generally it is only complimentary to the quality of schooling itself. The worrying fact is that that compared to previous years the learning levels in government school system has declined while the private school have maintained its own quality of education.
ASER-2011should be appreciated for a rare analytical measurement of learning ability and change over the last seven years for with the annual series of data are available. Generally one finds that the percentage of children who can read class 1 level of matter increase as the current grade increase which is but expected. However, the disturbing fact is this percentage in many higher grades has remained low since for example in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in fact there is sharp decline at grade 3 in Jharkhand, Odhisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and even in Haryana. Many factors can impact this which can be identified as sampling as well as non-sampling errors. The fact recent survey was undertaken about the time census of India 2011 was in operation could impact school education due to absence of teachers from school. Similarly, often the basic literacy programs are implemented in various formats, for example there can be special campaigns when quality of learning can increase al beit temporarily and so on. Analysis on learning abilities in arithmetic has also been evaluated and the scenario is much worse than the one enunciated in case of reading alone.
While ASER’s effort is commendable in exposing the state of literacy in the rural parts of India, I would have wished if a few crucial factors which impact school continuation rates were to be explored further. There is this debate as to what is the impact of mid-day meals on continuation, similarly provision of drinking water and toilets are expected to help improve girls schooling. High cost of education is considered an impediment to schooling, yet one finds large increase in private schooling in India. How can this trend be explained, and in this context it should be stated that during the last 2-3 years there is an emphasis pre- and post-matric scholarships, what is its impact. While it is true that there is a slow increase in literacy, enrollment and continuation rate in India, which is important to note is due to inefficient and asymmetric program implementation, the literacy, enrollment and continuation deficits are likely to be concentered amongst specified population groups or socio-religious groups. It would have been highly timely if information on language of instruction was also analyzed especially with respect to learning ability of English. It is essential that this dimension in the dynamics of literacy and education can also be a separate chapter in ASER at least as a supplementary report of 2011, and certainly as an integral part of its report in 2012.
Accomplishments since Independence in 1947 in terms of literacy, spread of institutions, participation and equalization of educational opportunities have been quite significant. There has been phenomenal increase in the number of educational institutions, faculties, in teachers and students. The number of teachers has gone up five-fold and the number of schools three fold. Literacy rate has nearly trebled. The decennial census, 1991, saw India across the 50 per cent mark, and by 2011 the literacy level has reach 74.5%. This is not a mean achievement for India - needs to cherish this feat because literacy has more than tripled while its population also tripled during the same period.
Yet the rural-urban disparities in literacy have remained large, although there is a marginal decline in gender disparity only lately. As a thumb rule there has been around 20%ge point deficit in rural literacy and female literacy respectively. It is also no time to feel good and procrastinate since the level of learning and competence of those considered literate is lot to be desired. Further to understand future progress in literacy and education one needs to analyze the process indicator such as the ‘enrollment’ and quality of education.
PRATHAM a well know civil society organization since last seven years undertakes ‘annual assessment of education’ and brings out a report identified as ASER. The seventh such report with reference year 2011 provides a conflicting scenario – that practically all children 5-14 years are enrolled in the schooling system, over one quarter of them attend private schooling but a substantial proportion of children in government schools have very low levels of learning in terms of language, comprehension and numeracy. While there is something to cheer about in terms of enrollment efforts, with the private sector doing its bit, there are serious problems in the process, impact and outcome of education sector in India. The quality of schools and schooling is of poor quality in government system, although the government appointed teachers are well educated compared with the purely private schools. The private schools excepting in Kerala (actually government aided schools in Kerala) can also be of suspicious quality, as most do not meet the RTE standards and tend to appoint poorly trained and poorly paid teachers. Thus overall the situation is like – one has ‘sowed all her land with seeds, but at the end of the season there is no crop to reap’. This report itself has indicated that what is measured as enrollment does not reflect school attendance which has remained very poor and in states such as Bihar, UP and West Bengal there is a sharp decline in school continuation. Another disturbing factor is an increase in multi-grade class rooms which could be a factor for children shifting away from government to private schools in most of the states.
ASER dichotomize the schooling identities into government and private; although it refers to un-aided schools which can be considered private schools, what is disputable is to consider aided-schools as private, since while community groups manage the primary and elementary school most of the expenditures including teachers’ salaries are met by state budgetary mechanism. Overall, however, the private primary and elementary schools appear to produce relatively better levels of literacy compared with the government schools, although if other factors are controlled for this advantage may disappear. Further, the fact that private tutoring would sustain levels of learning somewhat has been enunciated through this research although generally it is only complimentary to the quality of schooling itself. The worrying fact is that that compared to previous years the learning levels in government school system has declined while the private school have maintained its own quality of education.
ASER-2011should be appreciated for a rare analytical measurement of learning ability and change over the last seven years for with the annual series of data are available. Generally one finds that the percentage of children who can read class 1 level of matter increase as the current grade increase which is but expected. However, the disturbing fact is this percentage in many higher grades has remained low since for example in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in fact there is sharp decline at grade 3 in Jharkhand, Odhisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and even in Haryana. Many factors can impact this which can be identified as sampling as well as non-sampling errors. The fact recent survey was undertaken about the time census of India 2011 was in operation could impact school education due to absence of teachers from school. Similarly, often the basic literacy programs are implemented in various formats, for example there can be special campaigns when quality of learning can increase al beit temporarily and so on. Analysis on learning abilities in arithmetic has also been evaluated and the scenario is much worse than the one enunciated in case of reading alone.
While ASER’s effort is commendable in exposing the state of literacy in the rural parts of India, I would have wished if a few crucial factors which impact school continuation rates were to be explored further. There is this debate as to what is the impact of mid-day meals on continuation, similarly provision of drinking water and toilets are expected to help improve girls schooling. High cost of education is considered an impediment to schooling, yet one finds large increase in private schooling in India. How can this trend be explained, and in this context it should be stated that during the last 2-3 years there is an emphasis pre- and post-matric scholarships, what is its impact. While it is true that there is a slow increase in literacy, enrollment and continuation rate in India, which is important to note is due to inefficient and asymmetric program implementation, the literacy, enrollment and continuation deficits are likely to be concentered amongst specified population groups or socio-religious groups. It would have been highly timely if information on language of instruction was also analyzed especially with respect to learning ability of English. It is essential that this dimension in the dynamics of literacy and education can also be a separate chapter in ASER at least as a supplementary report of 2011, and certainly as an integral part of its report in 2012.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Email Reply to New York Time Query on the Current Controversy
1. In your opinion, was the action of the protesters and the threat of violence un-Islamic?
Any act of violence is not permitted by the Indian Laws. The current issue must be dealt with accordingly. I am not an Islamic scholar, but so far as my understanding goes Islam does not promote violence. The issue was made political mostly by media, it is the media which is fanning the current controversy possibly under the influence of political patronage. Further even the Jaipur – Literature Festival platform was misused by media yesterday by organizing a special session on ‘salman rushdie’. salman rushdie has visited number of occasions earlier, but none of those occasions was the information put in media in advance. All reporting was done after he had left India. Why is this different this time – media and political patronage?
2. Have you read The Satanic Verses? What is the most offensive aspect of the book, according to you?
Yes, this is not the best of writings which I appreciated. The government of India did it good to ban it in India. India is made of people with strong religious beliefs and one has to be sensitive to such religious beliefs; in fact one needs to cherish the diversity of India and be sensitive. Freedom of expression should not be used to promote hate writing and pornography in India.
3. Do you think the government handled Salman Rushdie's visit appropriately?
Government response must be in the larger interest of millions of it citizens and their legitimate requirements have to be met. It is also essential to keep peace and orderly behavior across India. The promoters of freedom of speech, English speaking elite are far too few and they live in their own ivory towers and often far removed from the practicality of human lives across the rural and urban parts of India. They can create their own ideological castles and live in their own cocoons. Understanding socio-cultural life styles of Indian is a serious matter.
4. Is the view held by Salim Engineer representative of the view of the mainstream Muslim society?
No single individual can represent the view of millions of Indian citizens. I do not know who this person is. But what matters is the sensitivities and religious sentiments must be respected, but not promoted. The religious believes do change as we educate our citizens.
Any act of violence is not permitted by the Indian Laws. The current issue must be dealt with accordingly. I am not an Islamic scholar, but so far as my understanding goes Islam does not promote violence. The issue was made political mostly by media, it is the media which is fanning the current controversy possibly under the influence of political patronage. Further even the Jaipur – Literature Festival platform was misused by media yesterday by organizing a special session on ‘salman rushdie’. salman rushdie has visited number of occasions earlier, but none of those occasions was the information put in media in advance. All reporting was done after he had left India. Why is this different this time – media and political patronage?
2. Have you read The Satanic Verses? What is the most offensive aspect of the book, according to you?
Yes, this is not the best of writings which I appreciated. The government of India did it good to ban it in India. India is made of people with strong religious beliefs and one has to be sensitive to such religious beliefs; in fact one needs to cherish the diversity of India and be sensitive. Freedom of expression should not be used to promote hate writing and pornography in India.
3. Do you think the government handled Salman Rushdie's visit appropriately?
Government response must be in the larger interest of millions of it citizens and their legitimate requirements have to be met. It is also essential to keep peace and orderly behavior across India. The promoters of freedom of speech, English speaking elite are far too few and they live in their own ivory towers and often far removed from the practicality of human lives across the rural and urban parts of India. They can create their own ideological castles and live in their own cocoons. Understanding socio-cultural life styles of Indian is a serious matter.
4. Is the view held by Salim Engineer representative of the view of the mainstream Muslim society?
No single individual can represent the view of millions of Indian citizens. I do not know who this person is. But what matters is the sensitivities and religious sentiments must be respected, but not promoted. The religious believes do change as we educate our citizens.
DEC 11 - JAN 12 Engagements
13 January 2012
Prime Time Debate – ‘The Big Fight’ - Row over Minority qutoa: Vote bank politics or something that is overdue.’ The NDTV-New Delhi Studio: http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-big-fight/row-over-minority-quota-vote-bank-politics-or-something-thats-overdue/221120
10th January 2012
Prime Time 10pm Live Debate on ‘Minority Reservations-will they be
adequate to improve the conditions of Muslims in India’, CNN-IBN National TV, New Delhi Studio: http://ibnlive.in.com/#hp_player2
6-9th January 2012
‘Gender Empowerment and Indexing: Measurements and Policy’,
Inaugural address at an international conference on ‘Gender Empowerment and Development’ organized by the Institute of Objective Studies and held at Town Hall, Calicut, Kerala State.
2nd January, 2011
'Role of Civil Society in providing affordable quality education in rural and semi-urban areas of Karnataka’, Key note address at the Annual Function of the Al Falah Education Institutions, Magadi, Karnataka State.
27-29th December 2011
How Inclusive are India’s Inclusive Policies? A review of post Sachar initiatives’, presented at 94th Annual Conference of The Indian Economic Association, Organized by Bharati Vidyapeeth, Pune-411 030.
17th December 2011
‘Financial Services and Economic Empowerment : New Opportunities’ presented at an international conference on Participatory Banking for All - A Business Proposition, organized by Two Circles.Net, Hotel Taj, Café Parade, Mumbai.
Prime Time Debate – ‘The Big Fight’ - Row over Minority qutoa: Vote bank politics or something that is overdue.’ The NDTV-New Delhi Studio: http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-big-fight/row-over-minority-quota-vote-bank-politics-or-something-thats-overdue/221120
10th January 2012
Prime Time 10pm Live Debate on ‘Minority Reservations-will they be
adequate to improve the conditions of Muslims in India’, CNN-IBN National TV, New Delhi Studio: http://ibnlive.in.com/#hp_player2
6-9th January 2012
‘Gender Empowerment and Indexing: Measurements and Policy’,
Inaugural address at an international conference on ‘Gender Empowerment and Development’ organized by the Institute of Objective Studies and held at Town Hall, Calicut, Kerala State.
2nd January, 2011
'Role of Civil Society in providing affordable quality education in rural and semi-urban areas of Karnataka’, Key note address at the Annual Function of the Al Falah Education Institutions, Magadi, Karnataka State.
27-29th December 2011
How Inclusive are India’s Inclusive Policies? A review of post Sachar initiatives’, presented at 94th Annual Conference of The Indian Economic Association, Organized by Bharati Vidyapeeth, Pune-411 030.
17th December 2011
‘Financial Services and Economic Empowerment : New Opportunities’ presented at an international conference on Participatory Banking for All - A Business Proposition, organized by Two Circles.Net, Hotel Taj, Café Parade, Mumbai.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Nation Building through Inclusive and Equity Policies
At the outset, it is essential to emphasize the fact that the minorities such as the Muslims, Christians and the Sikhs cherish and maintain aspirations and seek opportunities for development similar to any other community in India. The Sachar Committee report prepared at the instance of the Indian Prime Minister was made public in November 2006, a long five years age. After accepting the report a number of major announcements were also made, the Ministry of Minority Affaires was pressed to undertake minority/Muslim favoring programs. Other committees were formulated and reports submitted to understand the scope and functioning of ‘equal opportunity commission’ and finalize a methodology to prepare ‘diversity index’ in educational, employment, bank credit and urban living spaces. Yet a recent empirical review suggests minorities especially the Muslims lagging practically in all spheres of development including education, employment, income and assets.
Efforts of both the center and state governments to overcome Muslim deprivation across India were picked up in isolation, as opposed to systemic policy shifts which were suggested in the Sacher committee report. For example, funding allocations for post- and pre-matric scholarships were made but the implementation mechanism was not assigned to the ‘human resources’ ministry rather the minority ministry was made to implement the same. The minority ministry does not have the benefit of adequate funding and implementative structure and staff. Similarly, the issue of educational deprivation of Muslims has been reduced to notional program in promotion of Urdu and modernization of madrasas; while the requirement is to establish regular secular schools imparting modern education at elementary and high levels in Muslims dominant mohallas, towns and villages; affirmative action policies to ensure access to higher level education provided by public and private universities across India. Similarly, the credit needs for the businesses and entrepreneurship development is expected to be promoted by ‘minority development corporations’ rather than from the regular banking channels under the priority sector advances schemes. It is the national level regular banking structure which manages development funds and the ‘special purpose vehicles’ are a failure and waste of time and money.
A quick review of programs, new initiatives and the associated outcomes suggest little improvement during the last 5 years since the submission of the Sachar report. There are, therefore, compulsive reasons to strive for durable changes, firstly a recognition that deprivation amongst the minorities exists due to systemic causes which can be set right only through broad based public policy initiatives, not entirely through special purpose vehicles such as the minority/Muslim/Christian oriented programs; rather assisting them to strive to access their share within the mainstream from the regular ministries, departments and programs of government of India and many major states.
India through the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment has made a strong socio-political statement of its arrival as a matured democracy, championing multi-layer decentralized governance, sharing substantial powers and national pool of resources with the States. Further, the enduring cannons of governance and economic development are grounded in principals of socialism, inclusiveness and secularism and fully conscious of regional imbalance given a large expanse of the Indian nation. India probably is a rare example of pluralism, with multi-dimensional cultural and social groupings, language, race, region and not the least religion; in short rich in diversity and decentralized governance is essential to promote inclusiveness. Such efforts are essential, they do create enabling environment and a level playing field, yet the positive results embedded in resource allocation, process and outcome measures are hard to come by.
Like other main communities of India, the deprived minority and social groups should be able to pursue social, economic and educational aspirations within the frame and support of government provided infrastructure, opportunities and political awakening. One should expect ‘diversity’ - the diversity natural to our population get reflected in the public spheres such as in educational institutions, public and organized sector employment, political system and governance structures at all levels. Yet, in spite of the fact that practically all social, educational and economic spheres of living are governed, regulated and implemented by the States; one would find substantial (often unacceptable level) differences between varied social groups and across states. Such differentials are prominent in spite of special constitutional provisions bestowed upon the minorities since the Independence; as discussed above.
Over 230 million citizens, about 20% of all Indians are categorized as minorities and they reside across all parts of India. Muslims are the largest (80%) of all identified minorities and about 14% followed by Christians about 3% of the country’s population. Minorities reside in substantial numbers and proportions in states such as Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, UP and Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra and in the seven sister states of the North-east. In terms of the welfare of the minorities, there are examples and best practices found within India. Consider the states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, all have devised policies favoring Muslims at two levels. (a) Along with all others, the Muslims have relatively better access to quality mass education (both elementary and higher level) and employment; and (b) given the history of relative deprivation of the Muslims the state policy have extended the benefit of reservations in a certain measure of fractional-proportions linked to their size and share in population. Such quotas are enabling the Muslim girls and boys to catch up with their peers amongst the Hindus and Christians, both in education and employment. Similar provisions will enable Muslims to participate even in the political spaces; and Andhra Pradesh has made a beginning by promoting a system of ‘co-option’ or ‘nomination’ system to the Mandals (sub-taluka), Zila Parishads and Municipalities/Nagar Panchayets (AP Panchayat Act 2006).
But a number of states especially in the northern part of India, and at the level of the nation not such beneficial policies have yet been formulated, excepting in the guise of Mandal Commission, where the quota system is not well articulated and the benefits to minorities and Muslims are minimal. Maintaining diversity in public spheres is essential. When this does not happen naturally, it has to be made to happen through government intervention. Legislation can be one way; and the mechanism is to remind the government and the institutions that ensuring diversity is their responsibility; the state should have done it in the first place. Diversity can be assured in India by offering incentives/credits to government departments, institutions, universities, panchayats, PSU and so on. The most recent announcement to earmark a 6% quota within the OBC quota for the Muslim community will not yield more than 60,000 jobs at category ‘D’ and ‘C’ (lowly paid) while the requirement is over one million new jobs for Muslims alone across India.
Another mechanism is to provide institutional access to all deprived citizens (including religious minorities) and to ensure ‘Equity’ in public sphere. In spite of a plethora of public institutions in existence, systemic discrimination or bias seems to have occurred in case of the minorities and therefore establishing an ‘Equal Opportunity Commission’ will go a long way both to ensure diversity as a key state objective, and it can also function as an institution to enforce redressal.
The national government has made some efforts during the past 3-4 years to address various aspects of Muslim deprivation; especially after the Sachaer Committee report was presented to the national government. Broadly under the revised 15-point program, a special investment program in about 100 minority (includes substantial Christian and Muslim populations) concentration districts (MCD); exclusive scholarships are announced for the first time to cover minorities both in elementary and higher levels of education. The RBI is consistently sending memos to the public sector banks to increase funding to the applicants from the minorities and so on. However, a review of all the above programs suggest, that the MCD program has not even made presence in many states such as West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Gujarat. The overall utilization is less than 20% of the total funds earmarked to this program since inception. Similarly the scholarship program although very popular is able to cover only a fraction of total applicants; and it appears that the public sector banks have not even taken a note of the repeated requests make by the RBI which is a matter of utmost concern.
The larger malice of exclusion has to be fought unitedly by all ‘regular-line departments’ and Ministries at the national and State levels. It also needs collaboration and partnership with civil society and private institutional structures. How will a separate Ministry ensure the implementation of more than 300 programs that aim to alleviate poverty and improve human development which will promote inclusiveness of the excluded, whether they be Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes or Muslims?
Concluding Remarks:
Empirical evidence is essential to developmental knowledge. It is reassuring that modern empirical and econometric methodologies accurately estimate and identify characteristics of backwardness. Caste and religion stands out as dominant social identities of backwardness along with occupation (source of household income), residential and regional identities. Empirical analysis of process indicators (literacy, higher level education, formal employment, access to banking and credit, political participation etc.) according to religious communities excluding the Hindus confirm Muslim placement below the line of average. If the SCs/STs are singled out and compared with religious groups, one finds Muslims in most of the measures about the same or even lower. With adjustments for initial conditions, the conditions of Muslims relative to the SCs/STs have worsened over years. Such evidence suggests that policies and programs of the national and state governments are less accessible to Muslims, to the extent that they can be labeled as discriminatory.
Applying the standards set by the Indian constitution one can argue existence of systemic bias based on religion. The only way to eliminate such bias is to ensure equal opportunity and access to program which generate benefits proportional to the size of the population. Naming programs specific to the deprived community even if has to be done by caste and religious identity must be the public choice. It is clear, that there is no catch 22 situation as often made out to be and it is not even ‘unconstitutional’. Since the Indian constitution grants the State the responsibility of identifying the ‘backward communities’, it is bounden duty of national and State governments that the caste and religious communities facing exclusion especially the Muslims, are brought into the fold of mainstream policies and programs as recommended by the Sachar committee report. Note that Article 25 while setting the parameters of the right to freedom of religion has named selected religions to bring a certain degree of clarity as to what constitute the Hindus; and this Article does not preclude naming Muslims and Christians (two large religious communities) in public documents and legal enactments. Thus two pronged policies for growth and national interest are essential: (a) an inclusive economic penetration and (b) a social framework which promotes equity and participation.
In the absence of any time-line, program-specific implementative strategy and clarity with respect to monitoring tools and mechanisms, no results will be forthcoming. It is important to mention that a flat policy of earmarking 15 per cent of budgetary allocations to favour the minorities is not implementable. Rather, the service delivery procedures must use population shares at the “program specified operational levels” such as the district, taluka and block levels so as to ensure maximum coverage and provide a sense of equity. The early euphoria and expectations are dying out. The UPA -1 took many initiatives to dissect and diagnose the problem, and UPA -2 must ensure that inclusive policies are actually implemented before the people at large become disappointed. I only hope this does not lead to frustration.
Efforts of both the center and state governments to overcome Muslim deprivation across India were picked up in isolation, as opposed to systemic policy shifts which were suggested in the Sacher committee report. For example, funding allocations for post- and pre-matric scholarships were made but the implementation mechanism was not assigned to the ‘human resources’ ministry rather the minority ministry was made to implement the same. The minority ministry does not have the benefit of adequate funding and implementative structure and staff. Similarly, the issue of educational deprivation of Muslims has been reduced to notional program in promotion of Urdu and modernization of madrasas; while the requirement is to establish regular secular schools imparting modern education at elementary and high levels in Muslims dominant mohallas, towns and villages; affirmative action policies to ensure access to higher level education provided by public and private universities across India. Similarly, the credit needs for the businesses and entrepreneurship development is expected to be promoted by ‘minority development corporations’ rather than from the regular banking channels under the priority sector advances schemes. It is the national level regular banking structure which manages development funds and the ‘special purpose vehicles’ are a failure and waste of time and money.
A quick review of programs, new initiatives and the associated outcomes suggest little improvement during the last 5 years since the submission of the Sachar report. There are, therefore, compulsive reasons to strive for durable changes, firstly a recognition that deprivation amongst the minorities exists due to systemic causes which can be set right only through broad based public policy initiatives, not entirely through special purpose vehicles such as the minority/Muslim/Christian oriented programs; rather assisting them to strive to access their share within the mainstream from the regular ministries, departments and programs of government of India and many major states.
India through the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment has made a strong socio-political statement of its arrival as a matured democracy, championing multi-layer decentralized governance, sharing substantial powers and national pool of resources with the States. Further, the enduring cannons of governance and economic development are grounded in principals of socialism, inclusiveness and secularism and fully conscious of regional imbalance given a large expanse of the Indian nation. India probably is a rare example of pluralism, with multi-dimensional cultural and social groupings, language, race, region and not the least religion; in short rich in diversity and decentralized governance is essential to promote inclusiveness. Such efforts are essential, they do create enabling environment and a level playing field, yet the positive results embedded in resource allocation, process and outcome measures are hard to come by.
Like other main communities of India, the deprived minority and social groups should be able to pursue social, economic and educational aspirations within the frame and support of government provided infrastructure, opportunities and political awakening. One should expect ‘diversity’ - the diversity natural to our population get reflected in the public spheres such as in educational institutions, public and organized sector employment, political system and governance structures at all levels. Yet, in spite of the fact that practically all social, educational and economic spheres of living are governed, regulated and implemented by the States; one would find substantial (often unacceptable level) differences between varied social groups and across states. Such differentials are prominent in spite of special constitutional provisions bestowed upon the minorities since the Independence; as discussed above.
Over 230 million citizens, about 20% of all Indians are categorized as minorities and they reside across all parts of India. Muslims are the largest (80%) of all identified minorities and about 14% followed by Christians about 3% of the country’s population. Minorities reside in substantial numbers and proportions in states such as Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, UP and Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra and in the seven sister states of the North-east. In terms of the welfare of the minorities, there are examples and best practices found within India. Consider the states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, all have devised policies favoring Muslims at two levels. (a) Along with all others, the Muslims have relatively better access to quality mass education (both elementary and higher level) and employment; and (b) given the history of relative deprivation of the Muslims the state policy have extended the benefit of reservations in a certain measure of fractional-proportions linked to their size and share in population. Such quotas are enabling the Muslim girls and boys to catch up with their peers amongst the Hindus and Christians, both in education and employment. Similar provisions will enable Muslims to participate even in the political spaces; and Andhra Pradesh has made a beginning by promoting a system of ‘co-option’ or ‘nomination’ system to the Mandals (sub-taluka), Zila Parishads and Municipalities/Nagar Panchayets (AP Panchayat Act 2006).
But a number of states especially in the northern part of India, and at the level of the nation not such beneficial policies have yet been formulated, excepting in the guise of Mandal Commission, where the quota system is not well articulated and the benefits to minorities and Muslims are minimal. Maintaining diversity in public spheres is essential. When this does not happen naturally, it has to be made to happen through government intervention. Legislation can be one way; and the mechanism is to remind the government and the institutions that ensuring diversity is their responsibility; the state should have done it in the first place. Diversity can be assured in India by offering incentives/credits to government departments, institutions, universities, panchayats, PSU and so on. The most recent announcement to earmark a 6% quota within the OBC quota for the Muslim community will not yield more than 60,000 jobs at category ‘D’ and ‘C’ (lowly paid) while the requirement is over one million new jobs for Muslims alone across India.
Another mechanism is to provide institutional access to all deprived citizens (including religious minorities) and to ensure ‘Equity’ in public sphere. In spite of a plethora of public institutions in existence, systemic discrimination or bias seems to have occurred in case of the minorities and therefore establishing an ‘Equal Opportunity Commission’ will go a long way both to ensure diversity as a key state objective, and it can also function as an institution to enforce redressal.
The national government has made some efforts during the past 3-4 years to address various aspects of Muslim deprivation; especially after the Sachaer Committee report was presented to the national government. Broadly under the revised 15-point program, a special investment program in about 100 minority (includes substantial Christian and Muslim populations) concentration districts (MCD); exclusive scholarships are announced for the first time to cover minorities both in elementary and higher levels of education. The RBI is consistently sending memos to the public sector banks to increase funding to the applicants from the minorities and so on. However, a review of all the above programs suggest, that the MCD program has not even made presence in many states such as West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Gujarat. The overall utilization is less than 20% of the total funds earmarked to this program since inception. Similarly the scholarship program although very popular is able to cover only a fraction of total applicants; and it appears that the public sector banks have not even taken a note of the repeated requests make by the RBI which is a matter of utmost concern.
The larger malice of exclusion has to be fought unitedly by all ‘regular-line departments’ and Ministries at the national and State levels. It also needs collaboration and partnership with civil society and private institutional structures. How will a separate Ministry ensure the implementation of more than 300 programs that aim to alleviate poverty and improve human development which will promote inclusiveness of the excluded, whether they be Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes or Muslims?
Concluding Remarks:
Empirical evidence is essential to developmental knowledge. It is reassuring that modern empirical and econometric methodologies accurately estimate and identify characteristics of backwardness. Caste and religion stands out as dominant social identities of backwardness along with occupation (source of household income), residential and regional identities. Empirical analysis of process indicators (literacy, higher level education, formal employment, access to banking and credit, political participation etc.) according to religious communities excluding the Hindus confirm Muslim placement below the line of average. If the SCs/STs are singled out and compared with religious groups, one finds Muslims in most of the measures about the same or even lower. With adjustments for initial conditions, the conditions of Muslims relative to the SCs/STs have worsened over years. Such evidence suggests that policies and programs of the national and state governments are less accessible to Muslims, to the extent that they can be labeled as discriminatory.
Applying the standards set by the Indian constitution one can argue existence of systemic bias based on religion. The only way to eliminate such bias is to ensure equal opportunity and access to program which generate benefits proportional to the size of the population. Naming programs specific to the deprived community even if has to be done by caste and religious identity must be the public choice. It is clear, that there is no catch 22 situation as often made out to be and it is not even ‘unconstitutional’. Since the Indian constitution grants the State the responsibility of identifying the ‘backward communities’, it is bounden duty of national and State governments that the caste and religious communities facing exclusion especially the Muslims, are brought into the fold of mainstream policies and programs as recommended by the Sachar committee report. Note that Article 25 while setting the parameters of the right to freedom of religion has named selected religions to bring a certain degree of clarity as to what constitute the Hindus; and this Article does not preclude naming Muslims and Christians (two large religious communities) in public documents and legal enactments. Thus two pronged policies for growth and national interest are essential: (a) an inclusive economic penetration and (b) a social framework which promotes equity and participation.
In the absence of any time-line, program-specific implementative strategy and clarity with respect to monitoring tools and mechanisms, no results will be forthcoming. It is important to mention that a flat policy of earmarking 15 per cent of budgetary allocations to favour the minorities is not implementable. Rather, the service delivery procedures must use population shares at the “program specified operational levels” such as the district, taluka and block levels so as to ensure maximum coverage and provide a sense of equity. The early euphoria and expectations are dying out. The UPA -1 took many initiatives to dissect and diagnose the problem, and UPA -2 must ensure that inclusive policies are actually implemented before the people at large become disappointed. I only hope this does not lead to frustration.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
An Interview in GOVERNANCE NOW
1-15 October Issue of Governance Now
http://governancenow.com/views/interview/upa-considers-muslims-fools
http://governancenow.com/views/interview/upa-considers-muslims-fools
Friday, September 30, 2011
Constitution for Inclusive Policies
September 29, 2011 00:18 IST | Updated: September 29, 2011 00:21 IST
There is nothing in the Constitution which bars identification of beneficiaries of public programmes based on religion. Of late, there has been a debate on whether public programmes such as school education, scholarships, health-care
delivery and access to microcredit can be targeted at beneficiaries based on religion; some consider this ‘unconstitutional' and argue that it amounts to discrimination. I highlight the constitutional provisions and argue that there is nothing in the Constitution which bars identification of beneficiaries based on religion. Religious identity is listed on a par with race, caste, sex and place of origin, all in the same line, and these other traits are used to identify beneficiaries.
The Constitution, resolves to secure to all citizens .... ‘equality of status and of opportunity,' and directs the government to be proactive to ensure equal opportunity. Equality, equal access and equal opportunity concepts are elaborated in Articles 14 (right to equality), 15 (access to education) and 16 (public employment). The ‘... state shall not discriminate.... on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth ....' . Clause (4) of Article 15, states, “Nothing .... shall prevent the State from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the
Scheduled Tribes.” Interestingly, ‘socially and economically backward classes (SEBC)' precedes mention of the SCs and the STs. Clause (5) directs the state to make a special provision by law for the advancement of the ‘socially and educationally backward classes' ..... through admission to educational institutions including private, aided or unaided.
Article 16 provides for equal opportunity in government employment, and cautions the state not to discriminate on the grounds of religion, race, etc..; and clause (4) provides for making provisions for reservation of appointments in favour of ‘any backward class' which .... in the opinion of the state, is not adequately represented in the services under the state. Thus, the onus of identifying a ‘backward group/class' rests with the state. All explanations of Articles 14, 15 and 16 emphasise that the group classifications should not be arbitrary, must be
compatible with the ‘objective of classification' and pre-existing inequality should not be ignored. Therefore, any group of citizens (not arbitrarily formulated), including those named in the Constitution, namely religion, race, caste,
sex, descent, and place of birth/residence should form the basis for backwardness. Backwardness can also be assessed based on occupation, workplace, age, language, etc., which are not arbitrary in nature.
The state is directed by the Constitution “to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life” [Article 38(1)]. An amendment in 1976 states “The state shall, in particular, strive to minimise the inequalities in income, and endeavour to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities, not only amongst individuals but also amongst groups of people residing in different areas or engaged in different vocations [Article 38(2)].”Generally, the government collects and collates data for the SCs and STs; for example, to measure levels of literacy and higher education, share in state employment, etc. Similarly, multidimensional gender discrimination and regional disparities reflected from the ‘place of birth/origin/residence' are measured. One fails to understand, therefore, as to why an assessment based on ‘religion' is taboo. Therefore, the public policy view that religious comparisons in the levels of achievement in development indicators are ‘unconstitutional' appears due to a lack of understanding of the spirit and intentions of the Constitution. Religion in India is a dominant social identity next only to sex and caste and therefore, it cannot be singularly sidelined or ignored. Further, religious identity lends itself to a double whammy. Studies show unacceptably large compounding effects of sex, age and regional discrimination interacting with those linked to religion. Muslim and Dalit women (children)living in less developed States are the most excluded of all types of socio-religious groups in India.
Empirical evidence is essential to developmental knowledge. It is reassuring that modern empirical and econometric methodologies accurately estimate and identify the characteristics of backwardness. Caste and religion stand out as dominant social identities of backwardness along with occupation (source of household income), residential and regional identities. Empirical analysis of process indicators (literacy, higher level education, formal employment, access to banking and credit, political participation, etc.) according to religious communities excluding Hindus,
confirm Muslim placement below the line of average. If the SCs/STs are singled out and compared with religious groups, one finds Muslims in most of the measures about the same or even lower. With adjustments for initial conditions, the conditions of Muslims relative to the SCs/STs have worsened over the years. Such evidence suggests
that policies and programmes of the national and State governments are less accessible to Muslims, to the extent that they can be labelled as discriminatory.
Applying the standards set by the Constitution, one can argue the existence of a systemic bias based on religion. The only way to eliminate such bias is to ensure equal opportunity and access to programmes which generate benefits proportional to the size of the population. Naming programmes specific to the deprived community even if has to be done by caste and religious identity must be the public choice. It is clear that there is no catch-22 situation as has often been made out to be and it is not even ‘unconstitutional.' Since the Constitution grants the state the responsibility of identifying ‘backward communities,' it is the bounden duty of the national and State governments to bring the caste and religious communities facing exclusion especially the Muslims, into the fold of mainstream policies and programmes as recommended by the Sachar Committee report. Note that Article 25, while setting the parameters of the right to freedom of religion, has named selected religions to bring a certain degree of clarity as to what constitute the Hindus; and this Article does not preclude naming Muslims and Christians (two large religious communities) in public documents and legal enactments.
(The writer is with the Centre for Research and Debates in Development Policy, New Delhi. He was Member-Secretary, ‘Prime Minister's High Level Committee on Muslims in India' — 2005-06, and Adviser, ‘National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution' — 2001-02.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
