Infringement of Economic Rights of Minorities in India

Abstract

India is a progressive democratic economy and has adopted the changing trends with the changing times. It has tried and tested various economic policies and has adopted a system which is unique in itself has a blend of western capitalism and Nehruvian socialism. The policy believes in all-round development and protection of economic rights of the masses but down the line, it has faltered to achieve its goal. A large chunk of India’s minority population has been sidelined and marginalised with the proceeds of ongoing economic development. It is said “to judge a democracy you have to see at the minority welfare in the state”, to this Sachar Committee and Ranganath Mishra Commissions have stated that the condition of the Muslims is even worse than SC/ST in certain areas which are worsening day by day. The state is not taking affirmative action and even if it does, it does not ensure the policy implementation towards it. Secondly, Muslims have lost faith in the state machinery because of half-hearted implementation which leads to the absence of targeted results promised by the state. The term ‘Muslim’ has been attached to a religious identity and is treated as a religious group having no benefactors in the economy. They are the victims of a systematic political apprehension framework. Anti-national and criminal association of the community espoused by the law enforcement agencies further reduces their capacity of the political bargain within the constitutional frameworks. The Muslims are treated as a mere political vote bank and actual development has not seen the light of the day. Their human development index is low. They have been forced to stay at places which are inhumane and populous. They are thinly represented in government jobs, schools, higher education and administration. India saw an economic boom from 2000 and the fruit of job creation of post-liberalization era was also denied to them as they had little or insufficient training and specialized knowledge for these kinds of job, making them completely helpless for survival and development pace through which India is going. Many banks have designated Muslim populated area as the negative or red zone so that the Muslims cannot take a loan. Muslims only represent less than 5% in the govt jobs and therefore, the guarantee of government offices is not available to them further complicating the matter and thus, the gap remains open between the Muslims and the formal sector. The development has always been a much-needed phenomenon for any community and in the present scenario, Muslims being the largest minority in India, need it most for developing society as a whole and to realise the true meaning of ‘unity in diversity’ which is only achievable by ‘development of the diversity’.