With a "Secular" government like this who needs religious zealots?
Spotlight on West Bengal — the minority report How much do we know about our closest neighbor? I definitely was surprised to learn that Muslims might have better economic opportunity in Narendra Modiâ's Gujarat than the red secular West Bengal. All are Anti-Muslims Full Times of India article over the fold. Hat tip: Comrades from Kafila. Bengal worse than Gujarat for Muslims? Abantika Ghosh, TNN, Mar 23, 2011, 03.39am IST NEW DELHI: These are figures the Left Front should be wary of as it prepares to defend its citadel of 34 years in West Bengal. An analysis of data on the Muslim community released by the chief economist of the National Council of Applied Economic Research, Abu Saleh Sheriff, reveals that the state's minority has benefited little from development measures. In terms of human development indices, the Muslims have fared very poorly. Of the 25.2% Muslim population, only 2.1% have government jobs and 50% children are out of school at the primary level. Only 12% go on to complete matriculation. These numbers are all the more astonishing given the fact that Left swears by its secular credentials and positions itself as a protector of minority rights. Alarm bells have already started ringing, especially after a postmortem of the Left's poor showing in the civic elections last year. An important factor which could have resulted in the dismal performance was Muslim disenchantment. In what may be viewed as the party's efforts to make amends, there is a steep 33% hike in the number of Muslim candidates fielded by Left Front. It has gone up from 42 in 2006 to 56 this time in the 292-member Assembly. Throughout his lecture, Sheriff â€" who has also been the member secretary of the Sachar panel â€" spoke of Gujarat and West Bengal in the same breath. In fact, he used the data to project the Left-ruled state in a far worse light than the state ruled by Narendra Modi, not regarded by many as a benefactor of the minorities. And this comparison appeared all the more relevant because the West Bengal government had gone out of its way to provide shelter to Qutubuddin Ansari, the man who became the face of the post-Godhra riots with his folded hands and tearful eyes. "If a substantial fraction of the state's 25% Muslim population have traditionally voted for the alliance it could be because of the projected gains of the land reforms even though if you look at the figures, it shows that these reforms do not seem to have made any significant difference to the living standards of the community. With the elections coming, it is time this reality is brought to the knowledge of the public," Sheriff said. He was addressing a seminar on "Relative development of West Bengal and Socio-Religious Differentials" organized by the Institute of Objective Studies at the India Islamic Cultural Cultural Centre. Shariff's figures on education, sourced, according to him from the census database and the Planning Commission, show 50% Muslim children attend school at the primary level, 26% remain in middle school and only 12% complete matriculation against 54%, 30% and 13% respectively for SC/STs and 80%, 58% and 38% for others. Of the 90 minority-concentrated districts in the country, West Bengal has 12. "The worst are the state government employment figures where even Gujarat with its 9.1% Muslim population and with a 5.4% share in jobs is way ahead of West Bengal which is by far the worst in the country. We had to try very hard to get these figures out from the state government because, for obvious reasons, they are very secretive about this," Shariff said. A look at OBC statistics in Bengal shows only 2.4% of its Muslims belong to that category. This, Sheriff says, is not the real picture and simply exposes the state government's reluctance to undertake the enumeration exercise. West Bengal Facts and Figures | | Date of formation State Capital Area Latitude (capital) Longitude (capital) Population (2001) Population Density Male population Female population Sex Ratio Literacy rate Per Capita Income No. of Districts No. of towns Largest City No. of Villages No. of Lok Sabha seats No. of Rajya Sabha seats No. of assembly seats Religion Official Language Time zone Temperature Average Rainfal | 01-05-1960 Kolkata 88,752 km² 22.82° N 88.2° E 80,176,197 903 per sq. km 41,465,985 38,710,212 934 females per 1000 males 69.22 % 19 375 Kolkata 51,043 42 16 294 Hindu, Muslims, Christians and others Bengali IST (UTC+5:30) Min. 12-150C; Max. 38-420C 4170 mm | | Gujarat Facts and Figures | | Date of Formation | 1st May 1960 | Area | 196,024 sq km | Capital | Gandhinagar | Latitude | 20-6' N to 24-42' North | Longitude | 68-10'E to 74-28' East | Population (2001) | 50,596,992 | Male population | 26,344,053 | Female population | 24,252,939 | Population Density | 258 persons per sq. km | Sex Ratio | 921 | Literacy rate | 69.97% | Per Capita Income (04-05) | Rs.28, 355 | No. of villages | 18,539 | No. of towns | 242 | No. of Districts | 25 | No. of assembly seats | 182 | No. of Lok Sabha seats | 26 | No. of Rajya Sabha seats | 11 | Biggest city | Ahmedabad | Major Religions | Hinduism, Islam | Chief Language | Gujarati | Other languages spoken | Hindi, English and Marathi | Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) | Variation of Temperature | 23°C-43°C (summer), 15°C-36°C (winter) | Annual average rainfall | 1685 mm | Railway Length | 5310 Km | Highways Total Length | 74031 Km | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Left's worries in Bengal include disenchanted Muslims Kolkata: As the Left in West Bengal heads into what’s being described as its toughest election in the state, it must contend with its growing gap from the Muslims, who once were on its side. The minority community makes up 25% of the state’s population. In 2006, the report of the Sachar Committee said West Bengal was among the worst states for Muslims to live in. Headed by retired judge Rajinder Sachar, the committee was appointed by Dr Manmohan Singh to assess the social, economic and educational status of Muslims in India. Days ago, a member of that committee, Abu Selah Shariff, who is an eminent economist, dealt a heavy blow by declaring that Muslims are better off in Gujarat than in Bengal. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee dismissed that allegation. “In our state, minorities live in peace and harmony but in Gujarat they live with fear and mistrust. You should not compare Gujarat with West Bengal,†he said. As part of his argument, Mr Shariff pointed out that in Bengal, Muslims hold 2.1% of government jobs. In Gujarat, that figure is 5.4 per cent. Mr Shariff also said that half of Bengal’s Muslim children don’t go to primary school. Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen has said that there is 99% enrollment in Bengal’s primary schools. Mr Shariff says that while Muslim parents may sign their children up for school, they’re not attending class. The Left has long argued that the Sachar report â€" is based on incomplete statistics. Even if that is the case, the general elections of 2009 showed that there was a 9 per cent swing in Muslim votes away from the Left. “This is correct. This is a factor. The Sachar and Ranganath Mishra reports showed a terrible picture. That’s why Muslims are depending on us. The people of Bengal want us in politics,†said Siddiquallah Chowdhury, a leader of the People’s Democratic Alliance of India that is contesting 40 seats this election. It could be the results of the general election that have nudged both the Left and its political rival â€" Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress â€" to field a record number of Muslim candidates this time around â€" 56 for the Left, 42 for Ms Banerjee’s party. |
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