Author: Ashok Chowgule
Publication: Hindu Vivek Kendra
Date:
India Today is the largest circulating weekly
English magazine that is published in India that deals with the socio-political
issues relating to current affairs. The title of the cover story in its August
14, 2006, issue is: "Muslim Education Levels: A Shocking Divide".
The magazine says that it has done an analysis of the data compiled in the
census taken in 2001. The central conclucions that the magazine arrives at
is: "The study irrefutably establishes that, on an average, Muslim men
and women are far less educationally accomplished than their non-Muslim counterparts."
The magazine has been in existence for the last 31 years, and that it has
stumbled only now on information that has already been known to so many others
is a poor reflection on the people managing it.
The biggest lacuna in the analysis is that
the authors have not done the study for the other major religious minority,
namely the Christians. But then to have done it would have meant that the
editors would have to revise the pre-determined primary reason that the magazine
gives for the state of education affairs of the Muslims, namely: "The
lessons are clear. Our educational institutions, governments and social systems
have failed to create an effective, inclusive environment that may have influenced
most Muslim parents to educationally empower their children in the way the
rest of the country has."
Perhaps the magazine can inform its readers
how the educational institutions, governments and social systems succeeded
with the non-Muslims, while they have failed with the Muslims. It is hoped
that the magazine is not implying that there was a deliberate plan to ensure
that the Muslims are actively discriminated against when it comes to education.
If so, then the magazine should seriously question the various politicians,
who have been ruling the country all these years, starting from 1947, the
year of our independence, for their miserable failure. It would also have
to seriously question the intellectuals in our country for sitting back and
doing nothing to rectify the failure of the polticians.
The magazine follows up the above two sentences
with the following: "Muslim leaders and opinion makers are also to blame
for not influencing the community enough to send and, more importantly, keep
their children in regular schools and colleges."
Does this mean that leaders and opinion makers
of other communities influenced members of their communities to send, and
more importantly, keep their children in regular schools and colleges? Is
this not a compelling condemnation of the leaders and the opinion makers of
the Muslim community? And the same leaders and opinion makers of the Muslim
community are forever adversely commenting about the state of affairs of India
in general. So, how come their voices are muted when it comes to their own
community?
Anyway, there is a major disconnect between
the first two sentences, where the secular institutions are blamed, and the
third sentence where the communal leadership is blamed. Given the failure
of the secular institutions, as alleged by the magazine, surely there is very
little the communal leadership could have done. If there is no effective,
inclusive environment, even if the communal leadership had made tremendous
effort to influence the community to send and, more importantly, keep their
children in regular schools and colleges, they would have certainly failed.
The Muslim students would find the environment prejudicial to their interests
and so would drop out anyway. The magazine should make up its mind and state
where the real problem lies. Otherwise, we would just be chasing mirages and
make the real problem even worse.
And then the magazine warns its reader as
follows: "The signs are ominous because if these inequalities persist
in the years ahead, a large section of Muslims will be denied a place in India's
educated work-force. More critically, a majority of unemployed, uneducated
youth would be in urban areas, creating scope for social and communal tensions."
So it is the people at large that have to
suffer for a problem that is not of their making!
In the recent past, I thought the magazine
had reached the nadir in terms of intellectual analysis. I now find that it
has started to dig further with great vigour. The magazine seems to specialize
in resorting to the use of the English language as a substitute for reasoned
analysis. But then, this malady has affected the intellectual class in India
quite strongly for a long time.
As per the headline of the cover story, the
magazine proclaims that it is shocked to find the divide. In fact, its readers
should be shocked that it has found the situation shocking. It does not need
an analysis of the census data to know what is happening at the ground level.
Moreover, in India, the secularists (in which class the magazine makes desperate
efforts to be in) have been continually saying that the social, educational
and economic status of the Muslims has been very poor. In fact, these same
secularists were quite specifically saying that there is a deliberate programme
to keep the Muslims in the sorry state of affairs, often implying that it
is the fault of the Hindus who are the majority. They have been saying that
it is the enlightened interest of the Hindus that the Muslims should not be
backward, and that it is the responsibility of the Hindus that the Muslims
should be snatched from the clutches of their leaders and opinion makers!
An irony in the article is the following statement:
"The saving grace seemed to be Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, where the
literacy ratios of the Muslim males and females were marginally better than
those of non-Muslims." Now, this magazine, along with much of the mainstream
English media, has been saying, ad nauseum, that the Muslims in Gujarat are
in a state of discontentment, and has blamed the votaries of Hindutva for
it. Its coverage of the post-Godhra riots has contributed, in no small way,
to creating a sense of resentment in the Muslims all over India. And it even
today subtly justifies the Islamic terrorism in terms of these post-Godhra
riots. If it were true to even a modicum of professionalism then it should
stop the canard that it has indulged in, and continues to do so. But then
this is too much to expect of a magazine so steeped in an agenda where truth
has little role to play.
Another irony is the findings with respect
to Kerala and West Bengal, where the state of affairs with respect to Muslims
is worse than the national average. In both these states, various political
parties that assiduously court Muslim votes at the time of elections are defined
as secular by the magazine. Moreover, the magazine carries on the fiction
that the Marxists in West Bengal are 'ideologically more attuned than others
to the necessity of modern education, and are against gender discrimination.'
A proper analysis of the state of affairs
of education levels of Muslims should also include an international comparison.
It is no state secret that the literacy levels of Muslims in Pakistan and
Bangladesh are no better than the Muslims in India. One does not hear of institutes
of excellence in secular education, like the IITs and the IIMs in India, in
either of these countries. The situation in most other Islamic countries is
no different.
Then there is the situation of the education
of Muslims in countries like the UK and the USA. According to data collected
by the government in the UK, almost a third (31 per cent) of Muslims of working
age in Great Britain had no qualifications - the highest proportion for any
religious group group -- as compared to 16% among Christians and 13% among
Hindus. The Muslims are also least likely to have degrees (or equivalent qualifications).
In an article "Education and the American
family" (The News International, May 29, 2000), Dr. Manzur Ejaz while
giving details and information of the education system in the USA, stated
that there are glaring discrepancies in educational achievements between the
people from Pakistan and India. He says that the education level of Pakistani
immigrant youth is much less as compared with their Indian counterparts, despite
having the same setting in the US.
Is the magazine then implying that in the
Islamic countries, and in the West, the educational institutions, governments
and social systems have failed to create an effective, inclusive environment
that may have influenced most Muslim parents to educationally empower their
children? Or is it that Muslim leaders and opinion makers are to blame for
not influencing the community enough to send and, more importantly, keep their
children in regular schools and colleges?
The magazine would like to keep its eyes and
mind closed to what has happened in the bomb attack in Mumbai. Many of those
arrested for the crime are well educated, and hold professional degrees. Yet,
they have decided to indulge in the acts of wanton terrorism. As the New York
Times (August 9, 2006) noted: "(The bomb attacks) also underscored a
gathering threat for India: a small but increasingly deadly cadre of young
and often educated Indian Muslims who are being drawn directly into terrorist
operations." So, even if the Muslim community is educated, the problem
to the society that the magazine has stated that will be caused by lack of
education will still persist. Is it not time to look at the real reason for
the cause of Islamic terrorism?
Things are no different in other parts of
the world. Osama bin Laden is no uneducated village bum. Twenty-four terrorist
suspects being held last night over an alleged plot to blow up as many as
10 transatlantic jets include middle-class, well-educated young men born in
Britain.
Even as the magazine narrated statistics to
confirm what everyone else already knew, it has not made even a small effort
to tell its readers what the solutions can be. But then this is something
that the intellectuals in India seem to be incapable to doing. Because if
they did they would find that they are very much part of the problem, and
the situation would be most uncomfortable for them. The reason why India does
not seem to be able to find enduring solutions to its problems has nothing
to do with the politicians, but with those who occupy the intellectual space.
I have often wondered if they have as much interest in keeping the Muslims
in a state of discontentment as those who project themselves as protectors
and benefactors of the Muslims.
But a solution needs to be found. To do this,
we will have to throw the analysis made by the magazine in the dust-bin. It
is necessary to understand that state and private institutes offer secular
education, and that everyone has an opportunity to take advantage of it. If
a person chooses not to do so, no one can be blamed except the person himself.
To an extent the community leadership can play a role, as has happened with
many communities in India.
It is unfortunate that the Muslim community
leaders in India have often played a negative role in guiding the Muslims
in the right direction. In fact, there is a strong suspicion that they are
deliberately keeping the community in a state of discontent, since only in
such an environment will the members seek to have a communal leader. At the
same time, these leaders continuously harangue the state to give benefits
in terms of communal issues - like subsidy for Haj pilgrimage, Urdu teachers,
etc. But they rarely will cajole the community members to get themselves educated.
But while education is an important first
step, it alone is not enough, as has been stated above. How this education
is used is equally significant. And here the role of the secular community,
belonging to both Muslim and non-Muslim elements, is much more important than
the religious and political leaders amongst the Muslims. It is these secularists
that need to stand up and expose any leader who projects an obscurantist agenda,
and not rationalize it. The type of story that India Today has presented makes
one pessimistic whether this is going to happen in the near future.
An enduring solution will only be found when
there is a sound and truthful analysis. When the keys to the house are lost
in an area where it is dark, one will surely not find them under a street
light.
