PaRCha - JNU - All Organisations - 2013 ID-55069

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Lne JJ"JU student movement.

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~·iFor a non sectarian left unit .

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Fiuht for the democratization of Higher educationI .

Let us ensure 5Deprivation Points for the Muslim students .

who are urosslv under~representedIn INU! .

"[The Muslims] carry adouble burden ofbeing labeled as 'anti·national' and as being 'appeased' at the same time. While Muslims need to -Sachar Committee Report .

prove on a dally basis that they are not 'anti-national' and 'terrorists', it Is not recognized that the alleged 'appeasement' has not resulted in the desired level ofsocio·economic developmentofthe communityu .

Last semester before the Academic Council meeting, DSU raised the demand of expanding the Progressive Admission Policy and provide five deprivation points to the Muslim students at the time of their admission. We made this demand based on concrete analysis of the status .

of Muslim students in higher education in the country in general as well as in JNU in particular. Systemic exploitation, deprivation and persecution of Muslims because of their religious identity have impeded their growth and development which is reflected in their gross under-representation in both education and employment. In JNU too, the overall representation of Muslim students is abysmally low if one .

looks at the center-wise distribution. Muslim students are concentrated mainly in the centers for Urdu, Persian and Arabic languages, where they number around 53%. But excluding these centers, the total number of Muslim students in ~he rest of the centers comes .

approximately to around a mere 7.7%. In SSS, lhe percentage of Muslim studenb is approximately 8.5%; in SIS, it is approximately 6.8%; in the Science Schools, the mtegratod totai comes around 8.6%; in School of Arts and Aesthetics, it is a mere 4.1%. In SLL&CS, excluding the .

aforementioned centers, thestrength of Muslim students comes approximately to a mere 7.4%. .

E\'er since the transfer of power in 1947, the Indian state has upheld Hindu·fundamentalism and brahminism. The oppressed sections mcluding the Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims have been used as 'vote banks' by all parliamentary parties irrespective of differences in their professed ideologies or the colour of their flags. Their rhetoric notwithstanding, the range of parliamentary parties from Congress/ BJP to CPM and other pseudo-left organisations have repeatedly delivered lip-service to the oppressed. The imperialist onslaught with unabated support from all parliamentary parties has reduced the living condition of these sections to a subhuman level. And this reflects glaringly in .

education that has remained a fiefdom of lhe dominant Hindu brahmanical forces. Amongst all the oppressed, the condition of Muslims in particular and their proportionate representation in the domain of education and economic opportunities is glaringly low. The reality of the .

underdevelopment of M_usliins was most poignantly revealed.in the Sachar Committee report. .

The Sachar Committee report is a detailed analysis of the condition of Muslims in various states across the country, and has .

revealedthe true state of Muslims in the country. Quoted herein are just afew important findings and observations of the committee. .

The relative share for Muslims in education and employment is lower than even the Dalits in some instances . (p. 50) .

The literacy rate among Muslims in 2001 was 59.1 %. This is far belowthe all-India average (65.1 %). (p.52).

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As many as 25 %of Muslim children in the 6-14 year age group have either never attended school or have dropped out. (p.55) .

While 26% of 17 years and above in the country have completed matriculation, there're only 17% matriculates amongst Muslims. (p.60) .

Based on four years of da!C:I. on an average about 62% of the e1:g!ble children in the 'upper'-caste Hindu and other religious groups .

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(excluding Muslims) are likely to complete primary education followed by Muslims (44 %), SCs (39%) and STs (32%). (p.62) .

Those having technical education at the appropriate ages, (18 years and above), are as low as one per cent among Muslims. (p.64} .

states. In urban areas, Muslims are falling behind not only vis-a-vis 'All Others\ but also Dalits and Adivasis in several states. (p.68).

The all-lndta trend of increasmg disparities in Graduation Acquiring Rate between Muslims and 'All Others' is found to be prevalent in all .

Among the prem1er colleges of India, one out of twenty five students enrolled in Under Graduate (UG) courses and only one out of every .

In Post-graduate colleges it was found that only about one out of twenty students is a Muslim. This is significantly below the share of .

fifty students mPost-Graduate {PG) courses is a Muslim, (p.69) .

OBCs (?.4%) and SCs/STs (13%). (p.71) A companson of the probability estimates for completion of higher secondary and graduation suggests that Muslims are at a much larger .

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disadvantage at the htgher secondary level. This presumably results in a much lower s~ze of Muslim population eligible for higher education. .

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(p.75}. The report also highlights the wilful negligence of government schools, especially the Urdu medium schools and madrasahs, which are .

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attended by a large number of Muslim students. It also contrasts the approach and importance attached to Sanskrit from that of Urdu by the .

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various state governments, clearly reflecting the Hindu/Brahmanical nature of thestate. .

Jus!K:e Ranganath Mishra Committee has also made similar observations. It identified the Muslims as the largest religious minority with .

a--eountry-wide presence. "and yet educationally the most backward of the reltgious communities.· Among all the religious minorities Jains .

-(2147%) have the highest proportion of educated persons among all the religions among those who have completed graduation stage. This .

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is followed by Christians (8.71%) and Sikhs (6.94 %). Muslims have the lowest proportion at 3.6 %. One of the most progressive .

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recommendations made by this Com~ittee is the provision of 15% separate reservation for religious ·minorities. of which 10% to be .

earmarked for Muslims (commensurate with their 73% share of the former in the total minority population at the national level). This .

include 4.5% reservation for religious minorities within OBC reservation, which was opposed by both Muslims and the OBCs. Implementation .

recommendation is yet to be taken up or given due seriousness by the Indian state. What the UPA did instead as a poll gimmick was to .

of the separate 10%reservation for Musl.imswould be one of the biggest challenges for all progressive forces who stand by social justice. In JNU the students have fought and won the struggle for larger democratization of education through implementing deprivation ooints for students coming frombackwards regions and for women students. OBC students used to get 5deprivation points even before the 21% OBC reservation was finally implemented. Similar1y, as part of the larger battle for implementation of 10%reservation for Muslims, until it is legally providing 's deprivation points to all Muslim students during the admission tests. The previous AISA led J~USU ?pportunisticallymandated DSU demands that JNU administration must immediately address the educational and social ·discrimination of MusJims by refused to take any position on this issue. The current JNUSU too so far has only delivered mere lip set.Vi'Ces to th1s cruc1al demand. We .

demand that JNUSU must include the demand for 5 deprivation point for muslim students in the charter of demands and1iglll · resolute battle to make the JNU administration implement the same. .

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Done