Hyderabad: The Telangana government has decided to convene a special session of the state legislature this week, to discuss a bill to increase the reservation quota for backward sections of the Muslim minority and scheduled castes to 12 per cent each.
The Backward Classes Commission report, on the condition of backward sections of Muslims in the state, was submitted to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday and discussed in a state cabinet meeting in the evening.
The Commission, which found 80 per cent of Muslims in Telangana were living in severely disadvantaged conditions and suffering from educational and economic backwardness, called for affirmative measures by the state government.
It recommended an increase in the reservation quota from 4 per cent to 12 per cent.
The cabinet meeting at Pragati Bhavan, the camp office of the Chief Minister KCR, held a detailed discussion on the issue and decided to go ahead with the proposed legislation.
The BC Commission members, led by chairman B.S. Ramulu, had submitted their detailed report titled “Report on Increasing Reservations to the Economically and Educationally Backward Groups” to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday evening.
The report compiled by the Commission after visiting different parts of the state and conducting the public hearing at many places in Hyderabad concluded that the Muslims were backward in all sectors.
The commission found that there were 4.46 million Muslims in the state including 2.19 million Muslim women.
Such was the poverty among them that 32 per cent of families did not have their own houses and even in Hyderabad there was a severe shortage of housing within the community.
Contrary to the general perception of prosperity among Muslims in Hyderabad, the commission found that the majority of Muslims in the city were living in slums in the old city.
On the educational backwardness of Muslims, the commission said that the literacy rate in the minority community was only 55 per cent, almost 10 per cent less than the overall literacy rate.
The commission said the major cause of the educational backwardness was the lack of access and opportunities.
Only 25 per cent girls had studied up to 10th standard or more. They were not able to study due to the lack of schools, colleges and hostels as well as the financial hardship, the preport said.
On the economic condition of the community, the BC commission found that majority of them were dependent on petty jobs and small business like driver, mechanics, masons or working in shops. The job opportunities were far lesser for the women and only 19 per cent of them were working.
Because of the lack of economic opportunities every year more than 50,000 Muslims were leaving for the Gulf countries, the commission said.
The representation of the Muslim minority in the government jobs was still worse. While their share in the government service was 7 per cent, majority of them were class four employees or at the lowest level of jobs. The share of Muslims among the gazette or senior level government officials was a pathetic 1.43 per cent. only 7.36 per cent of the state secretariat employees were Muslims. Of the 340 officers of All India Services in Telagnana, only ten were Muslims.
In a sharp indictment of the failures of the past government’s neglect towards the minority community the BC Commission pointed out the lack of medical and health facilities in the minority areas and said they were largely dependent on the private clinics and doctors for their health care needs.
Similarly lack of access to banking facilities and loans was pushing Muslims towards the private money lenders and leading to huge exploitation of the community. The loans were private money lenders at exorbitant interest rates were mostly meant for the household needs and they face a lot of problems and harassment when they default on thos loans.
While recommending the increase in the reservation quota the commission said that it will benefit them not only in terms economic and educational uplift but also in terms of social progress. The Commission lauded the state governments’ schemes like Shadi Mubarak (assistance in the marriage of Muslim girls), Guurkul (residential Schools) and the loan disbursement and called for further expanding them.
