A Comment on the Analysis in Sachar Report

Author(s): Steven Wilkinson

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 42, No. 10 (Mar. 10-16, 2007), pp. 832-836
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4419331
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better health conditions for women during
pregnancy and post-pregnancy periods. In
the same vein, the female child may also
get a fairer share of food at home. While
this hypothesis requires closer scrutiny,
two facts are consistent with this argu-
ment. One, the sex ratios (female/male) at
different age groups are better among
Muslims and incidence of low birth-weight
babies is among the lowest in the commu-
nity in several regions of the country. Is it
desirable to have a discussion around these
issues? If yes, how does one take it forward?
The report highlights significant inter- analysis. B1
regional differences in the conditions of
Muslims in India, with the southern region Email: rakesh@iimahd.ernet.in
doing much better than the northern region.
While recognising such differences, the Notes
report does not embark on any explanations.
Under what circumstances would such about 3.4 to 2.9, a reduction of nearly 0.5
information combined with the RTI Act points. The decline in fertility among Muslims
was therefore more than average.
put significant pressure on policy-makers 3 For example, fertility rates among Muslims in
and implementers at different levels? Are states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,
J and K and Andhra Pradesh are much lower than
there any prerequisites?
the fertility rates in some of the northern parts
- What is the role of community-specific of the country for virtually all socio-religions
and general policies/institutions in amelio- communities. In fact, generally the gap between
rating the conditions of a community? Are average fertility and fertility rates among
Muslims is also narrower in these states. The
minority-specific and poverty alleviation
reasons are many. The report has only relied
policies substitutes? Under what circum- on other studies that suggest that fertility rates
stances should one create new institutions decline with increases in education, incomes
rather than using existing ones? and supply of health services. A mix of these
Let there be more informed debate and factors must be in operation. The main point
is that in states where fertility rates have declined
rapidly, the Muslim population has also
experienced relatively faster declines, although
their fertility rates continue to be somewhat
higher than average even in these regions.
4 The small proportion of SCs/STs (less than 1.5
per cent taken together) in the Muslim sample
have been clubbed with Muslim-OBCs. This

A superficial analysis may suggest a posi- 1 This double burden seems to be specific to the may adversely affect their socio-economic
Muslim community, not experienced by other conditions at the margin but will not change
tive linkbetween conditions of Muslims and the overall conclusions.
SRCs.
the economic development of the region. 2 The estimates show that the total fertility rates5 Estimates of zakaat were difficult to get and
While this seems to be true to some extent, (TFR) among Muslims declined from about the committee found no evidence of "frozen
4.3 to 3.6 in the 1990s, a reduction of about accounts" or frozen interests proceeds from
a wholesale acceptance of this logic would
0.9 points. During the same period the fertility bank accounts of Muslims which can be utilised
be inappropriate. Although the north-south rates for the population as whole declined from for their benefit.
divide is palpable, the east-west differ-
ences are equally interesting. A better
understanding of how four factors - affir-
mative action, political mobilisation, his-
A Comment on the Analysis
torical context and nature of governance
- interact with economic development is
essential to unravel the determinants of in Sachar Report
inter-regional variations in the conditions
of Muslims. These interactions may alsoThe Sachar Committee Report presents a detailed, though not very
have implications for the links between
new, analysis of the socio-economic status of Muslims in the
equity, security and identity issues.
Overall, while providing a broad direc-
country. Two factors, however, remain crucial in explaining how
tion, the report has raised a variety ofwell Muslims fare: access to education, and the particular state
issues and policy questions that need to bein which Muslims live, neither of which is satisfactorily addressed
analysed and debated. The broad thrust is in the report.
on non-quota based initiatives to enhance
diversity, on the need to make more in- STEVEN WILKINSON Muslims' relatively.poor socio-economic
formation available on Muslims, on general status and the steps needed to improve
rather than community-specific initiatives he Sachar Committee was asked to things. In this commentary I explore some
and on improving the functioning of do two things, the first of them
of the methods used in the report, and I
existing institutions rather than creating somewhat easier than the second. argue that they tell us farless than we might
new ones (although a few new ones areFirst, it was charged with collecting syste-
wish about the processes of discrimination
sofight to be created). Apart from the matic information on Muslims' socio- and the major factors that may be respon-
analytical issues raised above, several economic status and public and private sible for Muslim disadvantage, which
others need debate: prevents us from designing the best gov-
sector opportunities compared to othercom-
- If inclusiveness and diversity is useful, munities. Second, it was asked to, "Con-ernment and NGO interventions to deal
what measures are likely to be efficacious? solidate, collate and analyse the abovewith problems the minority community
Are fiscal and other incentives to enhance information/literature to identify areasfaces.
of I then make some suggestions about
diversity required or would these invite intervention by [the] government to ad-
the kinds of analyses that might be done
more "distortion" than reservation? What in the future.
dress relevant issues relating to the social,
types of affirmative actions are moreeconomic and educational status of the The committee has collected a great deal
desirable? How does one incorporate the Muslim community" (Sachar Committee of information from government depart-
diversity of views within the community Report: vi-vii).l If it has fully succeeded
ments, the census, private survey organi-
in the ongoing debate and policy in neither of these two tasks it nonetheless
sations such as NCAER as well as from
formulation? deserves much praise for sparking much
a few smaller surveys it conducted itself.
- Would more information really help?wider public debate on the causes of The
the report's tables and technical notes

832 Economic and Political Weekly March 10, 2007

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alone run to around 130 pages. However new here, although having said that itnot is least because they repeat claims made
most of this information, extremely valu- clear that the Sachar Committee Report in many other publications over the years.5
able though it is to have it updated and all has been much more widely read and dis- But these are complaints from a largely
in one document, does not really change cussed (as well as condemned) than any self-selecting group of individuals and
our fundamental picture of Muslims' socio- of these previous reports, which givesorganisations,
it rather than representative
economic progress so much as it adds some considerable value regardless of novelty. opinion polls or scientifically designed
additional quantitative support to conclu- Neither, unfortunately, does the report studies
tell that allow us to truly compare
sions already reached by others on the us as much as we might hope about just Muslim experiences with the experiences
basis of studies and research over the past why Muslims should be worse off, and of members of other Indian communities.
three decades. The committee finds that what India can do about it. Are the causes As a result, the complaints detailed in
Muslims are generally worse off than most of Muslim poverty specific to Muslims, inchapter 2 can be easily dismissed by those
other communities in terms of their accesswhich case a community-specific strate- on the right as being either unrepresenta-
to public and private sector jobs, educa- gies such as reservations might be appro- tive or without foundation. For instance,
tion, infrastructure and credit, and that thepriate for some sections of the community we have plausible allegations from
gap between Muslims and other commu-at least, or are they better addressed by Muslimsthat "Discriminatory practices,
nities has failed to close or has even in- general anti-poverty or educational especially at the time of the interview,
creased on some dimensions over the past programmes? The problem here, as thewere... reasons for poor Muslim represent-
few decades. The committee also finds authors acknowledge at various times ination even at the class IV level or in grade D
the report, is that most of the data collected employment where high educational quali-
that, while there is still a significant fer-
tility difference between Muslims and by the committee are not really suitable fications are not required" [SCR: 20]. But
Hindus overall (a fact the committee for helping us determine whether Muslims assessing the validity of such claims in
handles very gingerly), large numbers ofare doing badly because of their economicorder to inform public policy is difficult
Muslims do use family planning and the backwardness, levels of Muslim politicalfor two reasons. First, we know that similar
gap in fertility differences between theinclusion or exclusion, anti-minority discri-claims are also made by members of other
minority and majority communities is mination, cultural factors that may influ- communities, such as the OBCs and SCs,
ence factors such as the community's access who do much better than Muslims in
closing (SCR: 40-42). None of these find-
ings, though, would come as a surprise to
to education or healthcare, or some other obtaining public employment. And second,
people familiar with the annual reports of state-specific orcommunity-specific factor.without systematic data on the numbers of
the Minorities Commission in the decade The data used in the report are largely people from various SRCs applying for
after 1978 or with the various data on the of two kinds. First, we have opinions on class IV or grade D positions, it is very diffi-
relative socio-economic standing of Mus- the extent and causes of Muslims' socio- cult in practice to assess just how much
lims and their representation in public and economic backwardness, put forward byworse Muslims are doing than other groups.
private employment compiled by Syed various people who either voluntarily In fact, the committee was able to obtain
Shahabuddin when he edited the journal contacted the committee or else were asked data on number of applicants, interviews,
Muslim India. As far back as 1991, for to present to it. Many of the complaints and rates of acceptance for all communi-
instance, Asha Krishnakumar published and theories about why Muslims are worse ties only for the very highest positions in
an article on Muslim demography and off - for instance, claims that Muslims higher education (admission to the IIMs)
fertility rates in Muslim India that makes have difficulty in getting admission for and the civil services (the results of the
many of the same points as the Sachar their children in good schools, or claims UPSC competition). And, somewhat sur-
Committee about the community's growth about widespread discrimination in prisingly, and in an improvement from at
rate.2 Nor would the data on the economic employment or housing markets - are de- least one earlier study, it found that Muslim
concentration of Muslims in short-term tailed in chapter 2 of the report, accom- candidates in fact had success rates for
contractual work or self-employed occu-panied by a cautious caveat that these these exams that were the same as other
pations and in handicrafts come as a shockopinions are not necessarily shared by the applicants in the case of the UPSC and
committee.
to people familiar with the excellent The second kind of data that slightly higher than average in the case of
surveys done by NCAER, or the NSS data the committee uses are outcome measures the IIMs (SCR:68, 165-166). Now the IIM
reported in the EPW in the 1990s by one such as, for example, the proportion ofand UPSC selection processes are, of
of the Sachar Committee's members.3Muslims compared to members of othercourse, widely regarded as perhaps among
Much of this data was conveniently socio-religious communities (SRCs), whothe fairest application processes in the
gathered together, with a great deal of are employed in various occupations, who country, so finding no great evidence of
analysis and history on Muslims' experi-have received credit from banks, or who discrimination there does not necessarily
ences in post-independence India besides,have participated in various government tell us about whether there is discrimination
in an excellent book written by Mushirulprogrammes. against minorities in other spheres of
Hasan in 1997.4 The first kind of data shed a lot of light employment. But the general point remains
on Muslim perceptions of why their that we need this kind of data about ap-
Old Data in New Bottles? community has poor representation in em- plicants and their qualifications as well as
ployment and education, has high levels their success rates if we are to make in-
So in terms of data on the extent of of poverty, and poor access to housing and ferences about whether discrimination
Muslims' under-representation in variousservices. Complaints about discrimination might exist. The many individual tables in
fields, access to services and credit, and
in various spheres of life loom large, and the SCR showing us the degree of Muslim
overall levels of poverty there is not much
many have the ring of truth about them, under-representation in government

Economic and Political Weekly March 10, 2007 833

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service or higher education cannot tell us really due to Muslim-specific issues orobvious is question from a policy perspective
whether this under-representation was rather the general outcome of economic is whether the effects of being Muslim
because of the lack of qualified Muslim and educational disadvantage. outweigh those of being poor, or male, or
candidates, community preferences for A limited amount of this kind of statis- living in a town in explaining graduation
some occupations over others, overt dis- tical analysis, to be fair, is carried out in rates. Calculating such substantive effects
crimination against Muslims, the greater the report (SCR: 72-74, 107-08). And is relatively easy and it would be very
political and social influence of other groups fascinating stuff it is too, though for some informative to be told, for instance, what
in society, or any one of a dozen other reason we are only told the broad direction would happen to Muslim graduation rates
plausible explanations. of the results, and not given the regressions in Kerala or Uttar Pradesh if we increased
themselves, which would help us assess average income or number of average years
Interventions and Their Limitations their validity. In the first regression the in school or some other variable by a
authors use data on 20-30 year olds from certain percentage. Seeing the effects of
And in the longer term, unless we can the NSSO 61st round to find out "if SRC specific policy interventions presented in
status affects educational attainment even
get a good sense of the relative importance this way would make the extent of the
after we control for economic status and
of these multiple potential causes of Muslim different benefits and trade-offs much more
disadvantage, it will be difficult to designotherfactors" (SCR: 72-73). After control-transparent for politicians and the public,
meaningful public policy interventions that ling for age, gender, economic status, statewhich would help focus the public debate.
of residence and rural/urban residence, they
will truly attack the roots of Muslim poverty One model of what might be done with
and disadvantage. Instead, we will have no find out that being Muslim (and being SC/the wealth of data the Sachar Committee
ST) has an important independent effecthas collected is provided by an excellent
choice but to simply list a variety of possible
solutions, without knowing how signifi- on reducing an individual's chance of recent paper on earnings inequality in India
cant any one of these might be. While this graduating from college, especially for menby Sumon Kumar Bhaumik and Manisha
will be attractive to some politicians and - in towns and cities (SCR: 73-74). InChakrabarty, a paper that like Sachar uses
because it leaves them maximum autonomy the second statistical analysis, the authorsNSS data.6 Bhaumik and Chakrabarty use
to adopt or not to adopt particular policiestry to find out whether, controlling for a a variety of statistical analyses to establish
while still nonetheless claiming that they variety of attributes, Muslims have lowerthe key role of educational attainment in
are "doing something" that the committeework participation rates than other com-explaining earnings differentials, and they
has recommended they do for the commu- munities. The report finds some smallalso establish that the returns to education
nity - it will not help us to identify the differences but emphasises that "it needsfor Muslims compared to equally qualified
most cost-effective and valuable policies to be noted that lower probabilities forHindus have been declining in relative
to help Muslims and others who need help. Muslims finding work in urban areas is notterms over the period from 1987 to 1999,
What would a good research strategy be,necessarily a reflection of discrimination...a period when inter-caste differences among
one that builds on the excellent data- the estimates are based on data generatedHindus have declined. This generates at
gathering work of the Sachar Committee after job choices have been made. If a least two hypotheses: one is that general
but also moves us further in the direction
person chose not to apply/join a regularovert discrimination against Muslims is
job, s/he has made a voluntary choice"the cause (although this is brought into
of identifying which of the causes of Muslim
disadvantage might be the most impor- (SCR: 107-08). The author then identifiesquestion by their finding that returns to
tant? First, we need to acknowledge greater
that policy initiatives in education, credit education for Muslims in 1987 were slightly
the bivariate analysis of the kind used andinskill acquisition as the way to go, higher, unless we think discrimination has
because these seem to have the greatestincreased); the second and more likely hypo-
most of the tables and chapters in the report
- in which we are separately shown in
prospect of improving things for Muslims,thesis is that reservations for Muslim
especially the relatively large proportionbackward classes (MBCs) and OBC
various chapters and tables the relation-
ship between being Muslim and outcome of Muslims who are self-employed. Hindus introduced over the past 25 years
A (poverty), then outcome B (education),These few pages provide some of the may provide these Hindu communities with
highest quality analysis and best recom-better educational endowments and a wider
then outcome C (fertility), then outcome
D (access to credit) - is much less illumi-
mendations in the whole report - if you range of good job options, at least in public
nating than analyses which show usread the only one page I would make it pl08service, compared to Muslims.7
relationship between being Muslim -and, and one wishes that whoever wrote these To further improve the statistical analy-
say, education, controlling for most ofsections
the these had been given a freer reinsis using the Sachar Committee's data we
other factors that might also plausibly to shape the data collection and analysisalso need to introduce a wider range of
influence an individual's education, such
in the report as a whole. But that said, thestatistical controls. The committee at
as her gender, income, caste, levelpresentation
of of the statistical results couldvarious times highlights the importance of
parental education, etc. Statistics cannot
be made even more helpful. For example,state-level characteristics (Muslims in some
explain everything, to be sure, andinnot the analysis of the reasons for differentstates consistently do better than in others),
graduation rates (pp 72-74), as well as beingand of patterns of political access and
everything that is important for explaining
Muslims' economic disadvantage cantold be that Muslim identity has an effect on incorporation, for instance, something I
measured statistically, but multivariate
reducing the prospects of graduation, wehave dealt with in my own work, but these
analysis is surely essential if we want toalso told that "As expected, the results variables are not then brought into the
are
weigh the relative contribution of different
show that economic status has a very large,analyses in the report as explanatory factors
positive, and significant impact onfor Muslim disadvantage, perhaps because
factors to Muslim poverty, as well as work
out whether Muslim backwardness is Graduate Attainment Rates (GARs)". The they are seen as politically sensitive.8

834 Economic and Political Weekly March 10, 2007

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 Another variable that needs to be con- specially commissioned surveysinand
Sachar focuses on education, but the
trolled for is the estimated proportion ofresearch studies to find out if some of the report still leaves the reader without a good
illegal migrants from Bangladesh into India.most likely hypotheses about the reasons sense of which factors leave Muslim
If we are to believe the estimates inadvert- for Muslims' poor representation in many children, and especially Muslim girls,
ently provided by minister of state for areas of Indian life are indeed correct. In without sufficient access to primary,
home Prakash Jaiswal to Parliament in representative opinion polls, do Muslimssecondary and higher education. The main
mid-2004, there are over 12 million illegal report facing greater levels of discrimi- explanation put forward by the committee
immigrants from Bangladesh in the country, nation in seeking housing, jobs or employ- seems to be generalised discrimination
the majority of whom are Muslims and ment than other SRCs? Can we identifyand lack of access, in part because of
who no doubt declare themselves as Indian research strategies to find out if empiri-poverty. But this cannot be the total
in the census and in the social surveys from cally this is the case, and if so how im-answer, because in some states Muslim
which the data on Indian Muslims used in portant discrimination is in explainingparticipation in education is much higher
the Sachar Committee are drawn.9 These outcomes compared to other factors suchthan the norm. In fact, on many measures
migrants are almost certainly poorer and as poor access to good schools, credit, orMuslims are doing better in western and
less well educated and have less secure skills training? southern states than they are in the rest of
employment on the whole than Indian Mus- Such studies have been used with in- the country. Just to give one example,
lims, and their presence in the sample creasing
is success in the study of dis- although in general Muslim literacy rates
likely therefore to depress our estimates crimination in other societies, and they are below the Indian average, in 10 of the
of how well Indian-born and educated are especially useful where, as perhaps21 is states studied (including Maharashtra,
Muslims might be doing compared to their the case in India, many members of the Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Kamataka)
SC/ST, OBC and upper caste Hindumajority need some convincing about Muslim literacy rates are actually higher
counterparts. the challenges faced by minorities. than In average (SCR: 53). So there is clearly
How much of a difference might adjust- the US, for instance, years of studies something that is state- or region-specific
ing for migrants make? Let us assume for showing that African Americans were that seems to be making a major difference
the sake of argument that there are 13 doing worse than whites on many dimen- to Muslims' life chances. This raises
million illegal migrants from Bangladesh sions, and were less likely to be employedtwo issues for the future. One is whether
in India, a figure somewhat higher than the in particular occupations than whites we can identify the factors that, in these
estimate presented by Prakash Jaiswal did in not necessarily convince the majority states, seem to be responsible for Mus-
mid-2004 but several millions lower than that discrimination was at work. But lims having a greater degree of access to
the 15 million estimate given by the pre-more recent studies have effectively education. The second, and clearly more
vious BJP government. If we estimate the established that much discrimination is intractable issue concerns India's poor-
Muslim proportion at 80 per cent of thistaking place. Economists Marianneest and least well-governed states,
total (given the fact that Hindus emigrateBertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan, through which centrally sponsored
schemes have to operate. Can India
disproportionately from Bangladesh), thatfor instance, had fictitious but equally
would give us perhaps 10 million qualified applicants with recognisably
design appropriate policies to help its
Bangladeshi Muslims in India, or 8 perAfrican American and white names most economically disadvantaged
cent of the total Indian Muslim population. (Lakisha and Jamal vs Emily and people,
Greg) including its minorities, even if
According to the Sachar report (appendix apply for 1,300 jobs, and were able the to
state machinery through which it
table 4.1), Indian Muslims have a 59.1 per establish that the African American has to work in some states is not up to
the task? IB
cent literacy rate, which places them well applicants got 50 per cent fewer callbacks
below the national average of 65.1 per cent, for interviews than applicants with
with a literacy rate even below that of SCs/ recognisably white names. 1 Other studies,
Email: swilkinson@uchicago.edu
STs. If, for the sake of argument, however, while acknowledging the continuing
we were to assign the 2002 Bangladesh role of prejudice against minorities inNotes the
literacy rates - 31 per cent for women and US, have found that a large proportion of
50 per cent for men - to 8 per cent of this the difference in black/white success in the
1 Henceforth abbreviated as "SCR." I thank
total, then the literacy average for the labour market is caused not by prejudice
Devesh Kapur for his comments on a draft of
remaining Indian Muslims would rise by but by differences in skill levels between
this paper.
almost a full per cent nationally, and by these groups, which suggests a renewed
2 Asha Krishnakumar, 'Canards on Muslims',
somewhat more than this in states such as focus on improving African American Muslim India 108, December 1991, pp 558-60.
3 See, e g, S Vijayagopalan, Economic Status of
Assam and West Bengal in which illegal access to education and skill acquisition
Handicraft Artisans, NCAER, New Delhi,
migration has been the greatest. On other at the elementary and high school level,
1993, and Abusaleh Shariff, 1995, 'Socio-
factors such as our estimates of Muslim where too many from the community Economic and Demographic Differentials
poverty levels the difference mightremain in sub-standard educational between Hindus and Muslims in India',
potentially be even greater.10 environments.12 Economicand Political Weekly, November 18:
2947-53. Shariff is one of the members of the
After reading this report, I kept thinking
Sachar Committee.
More Research Needed about two factors that, whichever way the
4 Mushirul Hasan, Legacy of a Divided Nation:
data were analysed, seem to be crucial in
India's Muslims since Independence, Oxford,
The second step that needs to be taken,
explaining how well Muslims fare: access
New Delhi, 1997.
to education,
after the multivariate statistical analysis of and the particular state
5 See, ein
g, Hasan (1997) ibid, and the descriptions
the Sachar Committee data, is to conduct
which Muslims live. Much of the analysis
of housing discrimination against Muslims

Economic and Political Weekly March 10, 2007 835

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 The Condition of Muslims
made in A R Saiyed' s, 'Changing Urban Ethos'
in K S Shukla (ed), Collective Violence:
Genesis and Response, Indian Institute of
Public Administration, New Delhi, 1985,
pp 97-119.
6 Sumon Kumar Bhaumik and Manisha The Sachar Committee, from its perspective of equity, has
Chakrabarty, 'Earnings Inequality in India:
brought out the poor economic condition of the Muslims.
Has the Rise of Caste and Religion Based
Addressing
Politics in India Had an Impact?', March 2006, this is important, but without ensuring social
security
Institute for the Study of Labour, Bonn, IZA and citizenship, our concern for equity is more rhetorical
Discussion Paper No 2008, available at
than sincere.
www.iza.org.
7 Bhaumik and Chakrabarty's interpretation
of their data from a policy perspective is
GHANSHYAM SHAH ofreference, the committee's primary focus
somewhat different than mine. They argue
that anti-discrimination laws may not be
has been only on equity. It does not
effective because "differences in educational fter the Gopal Singh Committee contextualise the issue of equity with
endowment, as opposed to differences in the report of the early 1980s, we now the prevailing political scenario which
returns on education, play an important role have more comprehensive infor- is breeding insecurity of life, real or
in determining differences in both inter-caste mation, thanks to RajindarSachar's report, imaginary, among Muslims in many parts
and inter-religion earnings" (p 16). This seems on the socio-economic condition of India's
of the country. The report essentially
to me to ignore the role that either reservations
156 million Indian Muslims. One-third of
deals with relative deprivation of Muslims
or overt discrimination may play in allowing
some groups to obtain educational endowments the world's Muslims, the Indian Muslimsvis-a-vis other social-religious com-
in the first place. constitute 13.5 per cent of the country'smunities (SRCs) in various dimensions
8 Wilkinson, Votes and Violence: Electoral population. of development.
Competition and Ethnic Riots in India, While preparing the report, the commit- Discrimination and poverty are the two
Cambridge University Press, 2004. tee visited almost all the states and received major reasons for deprivation. All SRCs
9 Chandan Nandy, 'Illegal Immigration from
578
representations on their conditions, are not the victims of discrimination and
Bangladesh to India: The Emerging Conflicts',
working paper from the Mellon-MIT grievances and demands. The gist of this poverty of the same kind and extent. A
Foundation on NGOs and Forced Migration, information is presented in Chapter 2 as sizeable segment of the communities like
November 2005, available at http:// 'Public Perception and Perspectives'. The the Jains, Sikhs and Parsis are well off and
web.mit.edu/cis/www/migration/pubs/rrwp/ rest of the chapters are essentially based
do not experience overt discrimination by
chandan_nandy_immigrants.pdf, pp 103-104.
on quantitative data available from the the majority community. In fact, in more
10 Adjusting for Bangladeshis is of primary
importance when we are using statistical data Census, National Sample Surveys, Nationalthan one sense they have become a part
to understand why Muslims who have grown Family Health Surveys and information of the mainstream. The data presented in
up in India are doing worse than people from from banking and financial institutions, the report bear out this. Their position is
other SRCs. Given that successive Indian
government departments, universities, etc. as good as that of the upper caste Hindus.
governments of various political stripes have
The committee has done commendable The overwhelming majority of the sched-
failed to expel illegal immigrants, it seems
work by disaggregating some of the data uled castes (SCs) and the other backward
clear that ending poverty among Bangladeshi
immigrants will be an important part of in a meaningful way. With all the limita-
classes (OBCs) are poor and also the victim
tions that quantitative data have, this infor-
ending poverty among Indian Muslims in the of discrimination because of their position
future. mation will help policy formulation. But
in the caste system. However, the case of
11 Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan,
the aggregate statistics often tends to miss
the scheduled tribes (STs) is different. Like
'Are Emily and Greg More Employable than
the complexities on the ground. Individual
the SCs, a majority of them are poor but
Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment in
micro-studies could have addressed this they are not the part of the caste system.
Labour Market Discrimination', NBER
Working Paper No 9873 issued in July 2003, limitations. Though the committee did By clubbing them with SCs, the committee
available at http://nber.org/papers/w9873. commission four studies as background has treated them as Hindus. This is
problematic. The main reasons for
Other excellent qualitative analyses that usepapers, all of them dealt with secondary th
interviews and social network analysis to
deprivation and poverty of the STs are
quantitative data. Unfortunately, the main-
explore employers' preferences for white or
stream social science departments in the
neither
religious nor caste-based hierar
Hispanic employees over African Americans
universities and research institutes have
chy. Over the past six decades, the cast
are: R Waldinger, 'Social Capital or Social
done very little empirical studies on
Closure? Immigrant Networks in the Labour system has been diluted: discrimination
Market', UCLA Lewis Centre for RegionalMuslims. The contribution of the two major
on the basis of purity and pollution has
Muslim universities and the research cen-
Policy Studies working paper, August 1997 been weakened, though not the extent tha
http://lewis.sppsr.ucla.edu/publications/
tres on Islamic studies in this field has also one would have expected. Its forms have
workingpapers/26A.pdf, and Philip Moss and
been
Chris Tilly, 'Raised Hurdles for Black Men:
negligible. also changed. That is a reason a section
Evidence from Interviews with Employers', of the SCs has been able "to catch up" with
Russell Sage Foundation, November 1995,
Context of Equity the mainstream. But the poor among
www.russellsage.org/publications/ them, victims of poverty and discrimina
workingpapers. Identity, security and equity are the main tion, are lagging behind. The condition o
12 Derek A Neal and William R Johnson, 'The concerns of the Indian Muslims. The
Role of Pre-Market Factors in Black-White the STs, on the whole, and particularly in
committee concedes that all the three issues central and eastern India, is worse than o
Wage Differences', Journal of Political
Economy, October, 1996, Vol 104, No 5,are not only important, but are also inter- the SCs. They are increasingly losing their
pp 869-95. related. But in confining itself to the resources
terms and excluded from the benefits

836 Economic and Political Weekly March 10, 2007

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