gender inequality, economic participation, education, workers, regional analysis

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Asia Pacific Journal of Social Sciences, Vol.II(2), June-Dec 2010, pp.82-104

ISSN 0975 – 5942Vol.II(2), July-December 2010, pp.82-104

Visit: http://www.socialsciences-ejournal.org© International Society for Asia-Pacific Studies (ISAPS), www.isapsindia.org

Understanding Reality: Population Growth,Distribution and Educational Status of Indian Muslims

Md. MainuddinResearch Fellow, Department of Sociology

Jamia Millia Islamia, New DelhiEmail: [email protected]

AbstractPopulation is a dynamic phenomenon that varies spatio-

temporally. Rapid growth of population over the past hundred yearsresults from the gap between birth rate and death rate. Populationgrowth becomes a threat to socio-economic well-being of humanbeings, and is more vulnerable where the group is already socio-economically underprivileged. Though, population growth has itspositive impact on economic development. West Bengal occupies thethird position among states of the country in terms of percentage ofMuslim population (i.e. 25%). The present study aims to analyse thepopulation distribution and educational status of the community inthe districts of West Bengal. The analysed data show that Muslimsare not uniformly distributed in all districts of the state. Moreover,Muslims of West Bengal are largely rural community in comparisonto their coreligionists in other parts of the country. This means thatMuslims of West Bengal are less urbanized. There are only twodistricts where Muslims constitute more than fifty percentpopulation. Lower literacy rate and educational attainment is theoverall characteristic of the Muslim in India in general and Muslimof West Bengal in particular. The paper proves with the percentageof Muslim population increases in a district the literacy andeducational attainment decreases. Finally, the estimates ofpopulation growth, population distribution and educationalattainment computed in this paper will contribute in providing anempirical basis to the debates in this regard objectively.

Keywords: Muslims, Population, Distribution, EducationalBackwardness

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IntroductionThe 21st century has been seen unprecedented growth of

human population on this planet. Population growth is one of theproblems in present society and most of the groups propagate thepopulation growth. In the history of human demography, it has beenseen that in earlier time high population growth is a naturalphenomenon due to low level of technological advancement and highmortality leads to high fertility. But with the technologicaladvancement population growth is declining world over and in Indiaas well. In recent past Muslim population growth became an issue ofnational debate in India. Muslims constitute the largest minoritycommunity in India with 14 per cent population at the end of 2001census. They are not only the largest minority community, but theirpresence is visible in all the states and union territories. This largestminority community has been relegated to the lowest socio-economicstratum in the post-independent India. Though India in recent yearhas achieved economic development but influence of this economicdevelopment is not uniformly distributed across the religiouscommunity and across region. According to Marxian theoryeconomy is an important factor which influence on the other factorand education is one of them. Education is both an indicators and aninstrument of development. Education plays a crucial role inincreasing labour productivity in both urban and rural areas.Economic returns to investment in education are typically high hasbeen documented by Human Capital School (Schultz, 1961).Muslims economic backwardness has profound impact on theireducation. Whereas, West Bengal occupies third position amongvarious states and union territories of the country in terms ofpercentage of Muslim population (i.e. 25 per cent) after Jammu &Kashmir (67 per cent) and Assam (30 per cent). Instead of this largenumber of Muslim population in West Bengal they areeducationally most backward, economically poor and politicallya powerless community (Mainuddin, 2008). This social,economic and educational backwardness of Muslims is not merelyconfirmed by the individual researchers and surveys of voluntaryorganizations but also by Committees of Government. The HighPower Panel under the chairmanship of Dr. Gopal Singh, set up bythe Ministry of Home Affairs in the early 1980 to enquire into socialand economic conditions of the Indian minorities, they foundMuslims are backward (GOI, 1983). After 25 years, again this is

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evident from the findings of the Prime Minister’s High LevelCommittee under the chairmanship of Justice Rajinder Sachar,constituted to enquire into socio-economic and educational status ofMuslims (Sachar, 2006). Even where Muslims constitute more thanhalf of the district population, they are educationally most backwardcommunity. The reports also identified the failure of the state toprovide adequate educational infrastructure in Muslim dominatedareas as a supply side constraint to improving educational status ofMuslims.

ObjectivesThe main focus of the study is on West Bengal, India, since

(a) West Bengal is the third largest Muslim majority states in thecountry, (b) Politically a secular state is maintained by the Left FrontGovernment from last more than 3 decades with its electoralmanifesto emphasizes upliftment of excluded section of thepopulation. The main objectives of the study are

i) examine the trend of Muslim population growth and relateddebate

ii) estimate distribution of Muslim population in the districts andacross the residence

iii) to measure the literacy rate in Muslim concentration districtsiv) calculate district wise literacy rate and educational attainment

Data and MethodologyThe paper used only the districts and state religious data of

census of India 2001. Standard statistical techniques have been usedto analyze the secondary information obtained from census of India2001 and other available sources. Simple percentage method hasbeen used to show decennial growth rate of population and share ofcommunity wise population in the study area. Literacy rate andeducational attainment is also calculated. To show the relationbetween population concentration and literacy rate of SubstantialMuslim Population (SMP) districts has been sorted.

Census of India 2001, reports 80, 22,171 million populationand area of 88, 752 sq. km of West Bengal. Thus the populationdensity in the state is 904 persons per sq. km. Out of its totalpopulation 41,465,985 (51.72%) million are male and 38,710,212(48.28%) are female. Hence the average sex ratio of the state is 934,one point more than national average. West Bengal is predominantly

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a state of villages since 57,748,946 (71.98%) million population isliving in rural areas whereas remaining dwell in cities and towns.

Religion Wise Distribution of Population in West BengalOut of the total state population 5,81,04,835 (72.47%) million areHindus; While Muslims constitutes 2,02,40,543 (25.24%) millionpopulation of the state. Hence, remaining population of 18,30,819(2.28%) million is constituted by other religious communities likeChristians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Others and Religion not stated.

Population Growth: Myth and RealityThe census has generally enjoyed an excellent reputation because forthe first time census of India 2001 provides religion data in post-independent India. But they did an elementary mistake in computinggrowth rates across religious communities generated a bit flutter inpolitical arena. The debate centered on Hindu-Muslim populationgrowth in relative terms is misleading without using the religioncrudely as an explanatory variable across religion (Jeffery & Jeffery,2000). Whereas this was the crisis for the one community many ofthe communal political leaders and communal organisation take theissue to make their right vote bank and use the issue to instigate theideology of communal hatredness which is undemocratic in thelargest democracy of the world. Communal violence is sometime isthe result of retaining this type of ideology. In a press release ofcensus data on religion on September 6, 2004, it was reported veryhigh growth rate among Muslims for the decade 1991-2001. Use ofthe 1991 population figures, without Jammu and Kashmir, where the1991 census was not conducted, in conjunction with the 2001population figures for the entire country, including Jammu andKashmir, created an impression of an unusually high growth, 36 percent, among Muslims, against 20.3 per cent for Hindus, as shown inthe census tables (Registrar General 2004: statement 1a).Correspondingly, the percentage share of the Hindu populationappeared to have declined sharply through the decade, from 82 percent in 1991 to 80.5 per cent in 2001 and that of the Muslimpopulation to have risen from 12.1 per cent to 13.4 per cent. Thecensus organisation soon presented ‘adjusted’ figures after excludingAssam (where the 1981 Census was not conducted) and Jammu andKashmir, and these showed that the growth for Muslims was 29.3 percent and not 36 per cent. In this regard, Kulkarni and Premicalculated the data and reported that in India the 1991-2001 growth

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for Muslims was 29.5 per cent (and not 36 per cent) and for Hindus,19.9 per cent. They further added that the share of Muslims increasedby less than one percentage point, 12.6 per cent of total population to13.4 per cent. Clearly, though the growth rate of the Muslimpopulation has been higher than that of the Hindu (as well asaverage) population, the gap is not as large as initially noted…amongthe major communities, Muslims have been growing at a higher ratethan average and, especially since 1971, the growth rate of theMuslim population has been higher than that of all other majorreligions of India (Kulkarni & Manoj, 2005, Premi, 2004).

It is evident that population growth is higher for Muslims inIndia. But this growth becomes a problem of a community if thecommunity is already socio- economically backward. This trend ofpopulation growth pushes the community in more poverty and bringsmany other problems. But rate of population growth is declining inthe intervening period gives some relief to the community as itprevents majority to appease the Muslims. One of the remarkablefeatures of the census figures in West Bengal for 2001 is the widelyvarying population growth rate over the past decade.

Table-1: Religion Wise Population growth Rate in West Bengal

Source: Census of India 2001Note: Computed by the author

Censusyear

TotalPopulation Buddhist Christian Hindu Jain Muslim Sikh Other

Religion

2001 80176197 243364 515150 58104835 55223 20240543 66391 895796

1991 68077965 203578 383477 50866624 34355 16075836 55392 452403

1981 54580647 156296 319670 42007159 38663 11743259 49054 263414

1971 44312011 121504 251752 34611864 32203 9064338 35084 194126

1961 34926279 112253 204530 27523358 26940 6985287 34184 38610

1951 24810308 81576 175021 19462706 19116 4925496 29864 114910

Decadal Growth Rate2001 17.77 19.54 34.34 14.23 60.74 25.91 19.86 98.011991 24.73 30.25 19.96 21.09 -11.14 36.89 12.92 71.75

1981 23.17 28.63 26.98 21.37 20.06 29.55 39.82 35.691971 26.87 8.24 23.09 25.75 19.54 29.76 2.63 402.79

1961 40.77 37.61 16.86 41.42 40.93 41.82 14.47 -66.401951 - - - - - - - -

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Table 1 gives religion wise population growth from 1951 to2001. In the year 1991-2001, the highest population growth is foundamong the Jains (60.74%) and lowest among Hindus (14.23%).Among the Muslims the population growth rate is 25.91% in the year1991-2001 but the interesting fact is that the trend is declining ascompare to the Muslim population growth in between 1981-1991 thatwas 36.86%. This important finding denies the allegations of highpopulation growth among Muslims as a whole. In West Bengalthough it is relatively high but the trend of population growth isdeclining. In many other states also Muslim population growth rate isdeclining. Moreover, Premi found that the ‘decline is evident in largenumber of states. It is noteworthy that it was below 20 per cent inAndhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu during the 1990s. It seemsthat this has been largely due to adoption of family planningmeasures. The growth rate has, however, been high in Bihar,Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. This might bedue to large-scale migration of Muslims to these areas. Thishypothesis needs detailed probing especially with district levelmigration data. With Muslim growth rate of more than 80 per centduring the past 20 years in Delhi, one has to look at the possibility oflarge- scale Bangladeshi migration into the capital’ (Premi, 2004:4299). In summary the above study attribute that in many Indianstate Muslim population growth is declining especially in SouthIndia. The study also finds the use of contraception and adoption ofthe family planning among the Muslims at large.

Population growth of the community is not always the resultof their intention to have a larger family size rather it is the result ofpoor socio-economic condition, poverty, illiteracy etc. Orthodoxreligious faith not to use contraceptive as a birth control measure inthe society some time leads to high fertility. In addition, the existingpoverty within the community results in higher population growthnot only within the Muslim community but also among the othercommunities in India. Education is another determining factor ofpopulation growth. As education level increases the family sizedecreases, there is inverse relationship between education and familysize. In other words as the education level increases the fertility ratedecreases. As education among Muslim women is low hence thefamily size increases. Another argument is that most of the Muslimsliving in rural areas in West Bengal as well as in India and it is areason for low level of family planning acceptors. But recently there

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is positive change in the morphology of family planning as there isincrease in the contraceptive use. Low level of autonomy amongMuslim women is one of the most important obstacles to access thefamily planning methods but the scenario is changing in past fewdecades. Among all the states in India, West Bengal ranks secondonly to Himachal Pradesh in contraceptive use (NFHS-3, 2005-06,p7). Of course being a largest minority (25%) group in the state,Muslims role in achieving this rank could not be neglected. In WestBengal ‘contraceptive prevalence in urban areas (76%) is 6percentage points higher than in rural areas (70%). Muslim womenare less likely to use contraception (61%) than Hindu women (75%).Although contraceptive use varies little by education, it increaseswith wealth from 65 percent among women in the lowest wealthquintile to 78 percent among women in the highest wealth quintile(NFHS-3, 2005-06: 7-8). NFHS data proves that education andwealth are important determinant of frequency of contraceptive use.While both education and wealth among Muslim women in WestBengal is low. Instead of these odds Muslims population growthshows declining trend in the state. In addition to it they are largelyrural community in West Bengal unlike their counterparts in rest ofthe country. The above set of factors justifies less use ofcontraception among the Muslims.

Distribution of Muslim PopulationWest Bengal occupies third position among various states and

union territories of the country in terms of percentage of Muslimpopulation. The largest percentage of Muslim population is found inJammu and Kashmir (67%) followed by Assam (30%). However,Muslims are not evenly distributed in all the districts of the state.There are ten districts of state in which Muslims have million pluspopulation. Districts of the state are arranged in descending order interms of the percentage of Muslim population. This is presented inthe following table 2.

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Table-2: Districts are arranged in Terms of Descending Order ofMuslim PopulationS.No Districts Total Population Muslim Per cent (%)

West Bengal 80176197 2021171 25.231 Murshidabad 5866569 3735380 63.672 Maldah 3290468 1636171 49.723 Uttar Dinajpur 2441794 1156503 47.364 Birbhum 3015422 1057861 35.085 South 24 parganas 6906689 2295967 33.246 Nadia 4604827 1170282 25.417 Haora 4273099 1044383 24.448 Koch Bihar 2479155 600911 24.239 Noth 24 parganas 8934286 2164058 24.2210 Dakshin Dinajpur 1503178 361047 23.9311 Kolkata 4572876 926769 20.0512 Bardhaman 6895514 1364133 19.7813 Hugli 5041976 763471 15.1414 Medinipur 9610788 1088618 11.3515 Jalpaiguri 3401173 369195 10.8516 Bankura 3192695 239722 7.517 Purulia 2536516 180694 7.1218 Darjeeling 1609172 85378 5.3

Source: Census of India, 2001Note: Calculated by author

It is evident from the above table that the highestconcentration of Muslim population is found in the district ofMurshidabad and their lowest percentage in the district of Darjeeling.Out of 18 districts (19th district was created after census of India 2001i.e., Mednipur was divided into two districts East Mednipur and WestMednipur) there are six districts in which percentage of Muslimpopulation is more than the state average (25.24%). These districtsare Murshidabad, Malda, Uttar Dinajpur, Birbhum, South 24Parganas and Nadia. In rest of the districts where Muslims form 5%or more but less than the state average are Haora, Kuch Bihar, North24 Parganas, Dakshin Dinajpur, Kolkata, Bardhaman, Hugli,Mednipur, Jalpaiguri, Bankura, Purilia and Darjeeling. The tablealso indicates that there are three districts namely Murshidabad,Malda and Uttar Dinajpur may be called ‘Muslim ConcentrationDistrict’ as they constitute about half of the Muslim population of thedistricts. This data give us the impression that Muslims are unevenlydistributed in various districts of the state.

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Rural-Urban Population

Unlike other parts of the country percentage of Muslimpopulation in the state is more in villages than towns and cities. Ofthe total Muslim population in the state 83.22% are living in villages.If we compare percentage of rural Muslims with that of Hindus in thestate we find Hindus are more urbanized or less rural than Muslimsbecause of 67.82% Hindu population of the state are living in ruralareas.

Distribution of rural-urban Muslim population in the districtof W.B is presented in the following table 3.

Table-3: District Wise Distribution of Rural/Urban Muslimpopulation in West Bengal

Sl.No

State/Districts

Rural % Urban % Total

West Bengal 16845034 83.22 3395509 16.78 202405431 Darjeeling 59808 70.05 25570 29.95 853782 Jalpaiguri 337324 91.37 31871 8.63 3691953 Koch Bihar 580777 96.65 20134 3.35 600911

4UttarDinajpur 1132025 97.88 24478 2.12 1156503

5DakshinDinajpur 359482 99.57 1565 0.43 361047

6 Malda 1609596 98.38 26575 1.62 16361717 Murshidabad 3424659 91.68 310721 8.32 37353808 Birbhum 1012468 95.71 45393 4.29 10578619 Bardhaman 1019138 74.71 344995 25.29 136413310 Nadia 1124308 96.07 45974 3.93 1170282

11North 24Parganas 1711861 79.1 452197 20.9 2164058

12 Hugli 582518 76.3 180953 23.7 76347113 Bankura 228827 95.46 10895 4.54 23972214 Purulia 154137 85.3 26557 14.7 18069415 Mednipur 964441 88.59 124177 11.41 108861816 Haora 549687 52.63 494696 47.37 104438317 kolkata 0 0 926769 100 926769

18South 24Parganas 1993978 86.85 301989 13.15 2295967

Source: Census of India, 2001Note: Computed by the author

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The above table reveals that there are nine districts where thehighest concentration of rural Muslim is found and its percentage liesin between 90-100%. These districts are Jalpaiguri, Koch Bihar,Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Birbhum,Nadia and Bankura. Out of remaining 9 districts, there are threedistricts having rural Muslim population in between 80-90% andthese districts are South 24 Parganas, Mednipur and Purulia. Anotherfour districts where the rural population constitutes in rangesbetween 70-80% and these districts are Darjeeling, Bardhaman,North 24 Parganas and Hugli. In Haora the percentage of ruralMuslim population is 52% is lowest among all the districts. Whereasthe percentage of rural population in Kolkata is 0% as it is ametropolitan city of the state.

Of the total Muslim population, 33,95,509 lakh or 16.78%lives in urban areas. While 18,697,851 lakh or 32.18% Hindus areliving in urban areas. It is also evident from the above table that outof 18 districts they have not significant urban population in any oneof these districts. In all districts their urban percentage is less than30%. The highest urban concentration of Muslims is in the district ofKolkata i.e. 100% and lowest in Dakshin Dinajpur i.e. 0.43%. Thereare four districts in which their percentage lies in between 20-30%and these districts are Darjeeling, Bardhaman, Norh 24 Parganas andHugli. In remaining twelve districts their urban population is lessthan 20% and these districts are Jalpaiguri, Koch Bihar, UttarDinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Birbhum, Nadia, Bankura, Purulia,Mednipur and South 24 Parganas.

Though Muslims constitute 16% population in urban areas ofWest Bengal they are largely concentrated in slums areas andengaged in menial works. In this regard M.K.A. Siddiqui notes that“a comparatively higher percentage of Muslims in urban areas maybe explained on the basis of their culture allowing mobility and lessinhibited contact as also the ‘push’ factor, but despite the fact thatthey constitute the back bone of urban economy, their share inprosperity remains marginal” (Siddiqui, 1998: 1).

This is not at all a positive indicator for the properpresentation of rural-urban Muslims in West Bengal. It can beinferred from the preceding discussion that urbanization rate ofMuslims in West Bengal is very low. This is contrary to the trend

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which is found among Muslims in other parts of the country. Sincethe rural areas of West Bengal are not properly developed, socio-economic condition of Muslims in West Bengal is bound to be poor.Hence, Muslims in West Bengal are largely engaged in agriculturalactivities and they did not found education for their children fruitfulbecause their poor socio-economic condition.

Educational StatusThe educational lag among Indian Muslims is well

documented in various research studies and government reports.Muslims in India are educationally backward instead of theprovisions to impart education among citizen of India across ethno-religious lines as enshrined in the land of law. National HumanDevelopment Report 2001 spells out importance of education. Itstates that “Education, in the present day context, is perhaps thesingle most important means for individuals to improve personalendowments, build capability levels, overcome constraints and, in theprocess, enlarge their available set of opportunities and choices for asustained improvement in well-being. It is not only a means toenhance human capital, productivity and, hence, the compensation tolabour, but it is equally important for enabling the process ofacquisition, assimilation and communication of information andknowledge, all of which augments a person’s quality of life.Education is important not merely as means to other ends, but it is anattribute that is valued in itself, by most individuals. Moreimportantly, it is a critical invasive instrument for bringing aboutsocial, economic and political inclusion and a durable integration ofpeople, particularly those ‘excluded’, from the mainstream of anysociety” (NHDR 2001: 48).

The educational level among the people of all segments in thesociety is not equal. There is a remarkable gap in education amongvarious groups in Indian society. Muslims of India is mosteducationally backward community and it has been analyzed byvarious commission formed by the government of India from time totime. In 1980s a high powered panel headed by Dr. Gopal Singh wasappointed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India,reported that two of the religious groups of the country i.e. Muslimsand Neo-Buddhists are found most educationally backward atnational level (GOI, 1983). After 25 years, Muslims are again foundto be the most educationally backward community of the country by

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the Prime Minister’s High Level Committee under the chairmanshipof Justice Rajinder Sachar. Few findings of the Committee are worthimportant to be quoted here:

“Muslims are at a double disadvantage with low levels ofeducation combined with low quality education; theirdeprivation increases manifold as the level of education rises.In some instances the relative share for Muslims is lower thaneven the SCs who are victims of a long standing caste system.Such relative deprivation calls for a significant policy shift, inthe recognition of the problem and in devising correctivemeasures, as well as in the allocation of resources” (Sachar,2006: 50-51).

Out of the several indicators used to see the level ofeducational development of any area or any group of population, theliteracy rate (the Census measures literacy rates in terms of thepercentage of persons aged 7 years and above, who can read andwrite) is the most basic indicator. Since religion wise data on anyother educational indicator are not available, so it is the literacy ratethat has been widely used to see the level of educational level ofMuslims and other religious community in India.

The percentage of literates belonging to all religiouscommunities is 64.85% as per census 2001 at national level. Theliteracy level is higher for males i.e. 75.3% as compare to females i.e.53.7%. In urban areas also literacy level is higher than rural areas i.e.79.9% against 58.7%. After more than 60 years of independence ofIndia still we can’t minimize the gap across gender and rural andurban areas. These gaps are still constant at national level as well asin state level. In this regard various hypotheses have been putforward by various scholars. Zaidi (2007) analyzed literacy figures ofCensus 2001 and reached to conclusion that in most of the districtsand states Muslims are educationally most backward. Also it variesfrom one state to another and from one district to another with fewexceptions. He found Muslims are educationally most backward inHaryana, Punjab and Assam. However Muslims’ literacy is a seriousconcern in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir andBihar. Hussain (2005: 137p) studied Muslims of Kolkata and foundthat ‘situation is especially piquant as less than 200 years ago,Muslims constituted a politically, economically and culturallydominant section of India’s population. Yet, within the intervening

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period, they have gradually fallen behind the rest of society. A lowlevel of education is both a cause and a manifestation of thisbackwardness, especially among low income Muslims. In suchgroups, lack of education and overall socio-economic backwardnesshas combined to reduce their capability set; this has resulted invulnerability and a tendency towards antisocial and criminalactivities. Hence a study of the low incidence of education amongstMuslims is important in understanding the reasons for thebackwardness of Muslim society’.

Literacy in West BengalLiteracy rate in West Bengal is not so bad and it is higher than thenational average. Moreover, according to 2001 census West Bengalranked 12th position in literacy rate among various states in India.The literacy rate in West Bengal is 68.64% against the nationalaverage 64.85%. Male literacy rate is 77.02% against nationalaverage 76% and female literacy rate is 51.61% against nationalaverage 54%. There is also inter-religious inequality in literacy level.Hence, it would be apt to examine where the different minority groupstand in terms of literacy (Waheed, 2007 & Jawaid, 2007). Thefollowing table 4 presented literacy rate of various religiouscommunities in West Bengal.

TABLE: 4 Literacy Rate among the various Religious communities in West BengalReligious

CommunitiesPersons Male Female

All Religions 68.64 77.02 51.61Hindus 72.44 81.12 63.09Muslims 57.47 64.61 49.75Christians 69.72 77.20 62.30Sikhs 87.19 91.37 81.98Buddhists 74.73 83.09 66.22Jains 92.81 96.46 88.87Others 51.53 68.63 34.24Religion not stated63.75 71.52 54.82Source: Census of India 2001

The data presented in table 4 shows that the literacy rate ofMuslims is the lowest (i.e. 57.47%) among the six religious groups inWest Bengal while that of the Jains the highest i.e. 92.81%. Sikhsoccupy the second position with literacy rate of 87.19% and third

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position by Buddhists with literacy rate of 74.73%. While theHindus, the largest religious group occupies fourth position with72.44% literacy rate. Christians occupy the fifth position withliteracy rate of 69.72%, more than state average. From the abovediscussion it is very clear that Muslims are the most educationallybackward community in the state. Another dimension of the literacyrate of Muslims must be mentioned here. The gap in literacy levelbetween males and females is lowest among Muslims than among theHindus where the gap is sizeable. This very fact denies the commonperception that Muslims women were discouraged for education bytheir male counterpart.

Literacy rate among Muslims differs from one district toanother. The following table 5 presented the district wise literacy rateof Muslims in West Bengal in descending order.

TABLE-5: District Wise Literacy Rate of Muslims in W.BS.No Districts Literacy Rate (%)

W.B 57.471 Hugli 73.502 Bardhaman 68.793 Kolkata 68.064 Haora 67.805 Dakshin Dinajpur 67.216 Noth 24 parganas 65.057 Medinipur 64.978 Bankura 59.919 Birbhum 59.8610 South 24 parganas 59.8311 Koch Bihar 56.0712 Jalpaiguri 55.3413 Purulia 53.4414 Darjeeling 50.3815 Nadia 49.4116 Murshidabad 48.6317 Maldah 45.3018 Uttar Dinajpur 36.04

Source: Census of India 2001

The above table 5 shows that Muslims have lower literacyrate than the state average in most of the districts. In Hugli there ishighest level of literacy rate i.e. 73.50% and lowest literacy rate is

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found in the district of Uttar Dinajpur i.e 36.04%. While Bardhamanoccupies the second highest position in terms of literacy rate. In boththe districts Hugli and Bardhaman the Muslims literacy rate is higherthan the state average. In remaining districts the literacy rate ofMuslims is less than the state average 68.64%.

The districts like Kolkata, Haora, Dakshin Dinajpur, North 24Parganas and Mednipur have literacy rate less than state average butmore than 60%. In above mentioned districts the literacy rate ofMuslims is though more than 60% but the important dimension isthat in Hugli which have the highest literacy rate of Muslimsconstitute only 15.08% of Muslim population and Haora with24.34% of Muslim population show literacy rate little less than stateaverage. While in rest of the districts the literacy rate is not so goodand these districts are Bankura, Birbhum, South 24 Parganas, KochBihar, Jalpaiguri, Purulia, and Darjeeling, with literacy rate inbetween 50-60%. The literacy rate in three districts namely Nadia,Murshidabad and Malda is low and it lies between 40% to 50%.While Uttar Dinajpur occupies third position with 47% MuslimPopulation in the district, only 36.04% Muslims are literate. Out ofthese four districts three districts that is Murshidabad and Maldaconstituted more than 50% and Uttar Dinajpur about 50% Muslimpopulation but lowest literacy rate. It is because of this uniquecombination (of high Muslims population and low Muslims literacyrate), we can conclude that as the concentration of Muslimpopulation increases in the districts, the literacy rate decreases. Thisis one of the negative capabilities for the socio-economicdevelopment of any community as emphasized in HumanDevelopment Report, 2004 (Human Development Report 2004: 127;Barthwal 2006: 170).

Literacy Rate in SMP DistrictsHaving examined the 2001 census data on the distribution ofpopulation by religious communities in all the 18 districts of thestate, 5 districts have been sorted out where the Muslim population ismore than 30 per cent of the total district population. These districtsare called as SMP districts to denote ‘Substantial Muslim population’(Bose, 2005). The table 6 gives the distribution of Muslim populationand literacy rate in SMP districts of the state.

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Table-6: Literacy rate in SMP districtsSl.No Districts Total

Population Muslim Percent Literacy

1 Murshidabad 5866569 3735380 63.67 48.63

2 Maldah 3290468 1636171 49.72 45.3

3 Uttar Dinajpur 2441794 1156503 47.36 36.04

4 Birbhum 3015422 1057861 35.08 59.86

5 South 24 parganas 6906689 2295967 33.24 59.83

Source: Census of India 2001

The data gives us the impression that the districts with moreMuslim population having the low literacy rate and those districtswith lower percentage of Muslim population shows better literacyrate. In other words, we can say that as we move towards the districtswith higher concentration of Muslim population the literacydecreases sharply. For example, in Murshidabad Muslims constitute63.67% of the district population and 48.63% of literacy rate, whileSouth 24 Parganas constitute 33.24 % of population but 59.83 % ofliteracy rate among all 5 SMP districts. As far as Hindus areconcerned their population in the entire district is more than 30%,and their literacy rate is higher than Muslims in all districts exceptDakshin Dinajpur. The data reveals that as the concentration ofMuslims in the district increases their literacy rate decreases. It canbe inferred from the above fact that the infrastructure of education isnot well established in these Muslims dominated districts and hencethey are alienated from the educational right. This situation needsmore in depth study to come out with rationale of this situation.

Educational LevelEducational level of a society or a community within a

society cannot be judge from its literacy rate, though it is importantindicator for making a distinction between literate and non-literate. Aliterate person is not define on the basis of his/her educationalattainment but only on the basis of knowledge of reading or writingany of the language. Observed Prime Minister High LevelCommittee “External evaluations indicate that many so-calledliterates did not have the ability to apply their reading and writingskills to real-life situations, and often a substantial proportionreverted to illiteracy within 4-5 years after leaving school”. Thisaspect is not taken into account by the census definition. In contrast,the definition of the National Literacy Mission focuses on acquiring

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the skills of reading, writing and arithmetic and the ability to applythem to one’s day-to-day life” (Sachar, 2006: 50-51).

Thus, it is important to analyze educational attainment ofpopulation. Educational attainment refers to acquiring education in asystematic way through formal and informal education. There arevarious levels of education like below primary, Primary, Middle,Matric, Higher secondary, Technical, Non-Technical, Graduate andabove.

Though census of India 2001 for the first time afterIndependence provides age wise educational level data of religiouscommunities, educational level has been analysed in the age group 7and above. For example, percentage of below primary leveleducation is computed with total population of the state or acommunity. This is presented in the following table 7.

It must be noted here that total population of the state in theage group of 7 and above is 6,87,61,975. Hindus comprises5,07,29,812 crore while Muslims constitute 1,64,64,543 crore.

Table-7: Distribution of Literates by Educational Level, ReligiousCommunity

Religion Belowprimary

Primary Middle Matric/Secondary

HigherSecondary

Graduate&

above

Non-TechnicalDiploma

TechnicalDiploma

Total** 16347698 11449999 8050643 4859685 2287115 3186374 5196 95799Hindus 11470789 8719791 6671953 4181271 2048622 2932968 3435 90024Muslims 4541597 2494842 1198591 570473 192216 195192 1628 4145Percentage to total populationTotal** 23.77 16.65 11.71 7.07 3.33 4.63 0.01 0.14Hindus 22.61 17.19 13.15 8.24 3.53 5.05 0.01 0.18Muslims 27.58 15.15 7.28 3.46 1.17 1.19 0.01 0.03

Note: *Literate includes unclassified educational levels**Total (All religious communities) includes 'Religion not stated'.Source: Census of India, 2001

It is evident from the above table 7 that the average statepercentage of people who have attained below primary leveleducation is 23.77% and Hindus having 1 percentage points less thanstate level. While Muslims show 27.58% share in this category whichis higher than state and Hindus. In below primary school educationMuslims’s share is not higher only in West Bengal. Many studies

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reveal that in this category Madrasa and Maktabs are included andMuslims are used to prefer to send their children in these institutions.This does not mean they are not interested to send their children inmodern schools but most of the time due to poverty or unavailabilityof schools in the neighbourhood.

At primary level the state average is 16.65% and Hindusshow more proportion than the state level with 17.19% share. WhileMuslims (15.15%) are less than Hindus. At middle level, the stateaverage is 11.71% and Hindus having 13.15% which is more thanstate level. Muslims share in middle level education is 7.28% whichis just half of Hindus.

At matric level, state average is 7.07%. Comparing to statelevel Hindus having higher percentage i.e.8.24%. Muslims showmuch lower percentage with only 3.46% in this category.

At higher secondary level the state average is 3.33%. Herealso Hindus share is 3.53% which is higher than state average. WhileMuslims show poor share with only 1.17%.

In graduate level, the state average is 4.63 per cent. Hindushaving 5.05% which is more than state level and also 4 percentagepoints higher than Muslims (1.19%).

The proportion of non- technical graduates is insignificant inthe state. While technical graduates is important as it indicates thestock of technical skills available in the community or in any nation.While the pool of technical graduates is even lower with only about0.14%, the performance of Muslims (0.03%) is worse than Hindus(0.18%), with a sharp differential existing between them. From theabove discussion it is clear that as the education level increases theeducational attainment of Muslims decreases. While Hindus havehigher educational achievement as compare to state as well asMuslims in all educational level except below primary level. Theabove data do point out the disparate level in educationalattainment of Muslims as compare to other groups. Differencesin educational attainment across various sections of society isbecause of their differing level of socio-economic status, whichin turn impacts the (social) demand for education across social

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classes (Alam & Raju, 2007). This lead to conclude that it isevident that Muslims of West Bengal are socio-economicallymarginalized hence the demand of education among them islow.

It is pertinent to note here that Muslims are educationallymost excluded community in West Bengal and far behind the otherreligious group. This empirical finding of Muslims educationalalienation was supported in pre-independent India (1857-1947) bySir Syed Ahmed Khan and other protagonists found thateducationally Muslims sharply lag behind the other community.Later on, “Revisionist scholarship on education in colonial India hasdemonstrated that Muslims did not lag behind other communities assharply as was maintained by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and otherprotagonists of Aligarh movement. In the light of quantitative andqualitative data gathered by scholars like Anil Seal, Aparna Basu,Paul Brass, David Lelyved, and Hafiz Malik it can be generalizedthat the Muslim student population in modern high school wasgenerally proportionate to the Muslim numerical strength in theprovinces of India, except Bengal”. This means that in pre-independence period, Muslims were educationally backward inBengal. This was also supported by an important work aboutMuslims by William Wilson Hunter’s famous work, The IndianMusalmans, published in 1871 whose findings about Muslimseducational lag was true only for Bengal (Khalidi, 1995).

After 62 years of independence by the various researchstudies and government reports from time to time reported theireducational backwardness. For example, the notably feature of theBengal Muslim educational problem is their abnormally low share athigher levels of education. The higher the education the rare is theshare of Muslims (Mondal, 1994). There are various factors those areresponsible for Muslims educational backwardness in West Bengal.Generally, Very high rural poverty and high concentration ofMuslims in rural areas is an important factor in the low educationalstatus of Muslims. The situation has been exacerbated with thesteady decline of industry in West Bengal, but continued migrationinto it from east UP and Bihar. Thus, Muslims are almost totallydependent on the state for education, and this has made for someunexpected and poignant outcomes (Hasan & Menon, 2005).

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Conclusion:Muslims are most educationally backward community as

compare to other religious communities in the state as well as inIndia. Though they constitute more than 25% of state populationtheir literacy rate are 57% which is 11 percentage points less thanstate average (68.64%). Though, population growth rate is relativelyhigh but not highest across all the religious communities. It is a myththat Muslims population growth rate is highest and increasing as awhole. Rather the above discussion shows that in some statesincluding West Bengal the population growth is declining and atnational level it is also follows the downward graph. Prevalence oflow education level and wealth among Muslim women is largelyresponsible for the high fertility rate and ultimately leads to highpopulation growth. Here, is the need of the policies to educate thecommunity as a whole and minimize the influence of those factorsresponsible for high growth rate. Moreover, the Muslims are notuniformly distributed in all the districts in the state. In some districtstheir population size is small. Unequal distribution of Muslimpopulation encourages discrimination in implementing variousgovernmental plans and programmes. But the major concern is thatthese districts are economically under developed. The analysed datareveals that Muslims are largely rural community as 83% Muslimslive in the country and don’t have access to education and other basicamenities. The data also shows that literacy rate of Muslims aredecreasing as concentration of Muslims increase in the districts. Thedata also reveals that in SMP districts Muslims literacy is very low.As the population concentration is increases in the district theMuslim literacy rate is decreases. It needs further empirical researchto find out such type of anomaly. With regard to educationalachievement, the condition of Muslims is one of grave concern. Thedata clearly indicates that while the overall levels of education inWest Bengal measured through various indicators, is still belowuniversally acceptable standards, the educational status of theMuslim community in particular is a matter of great concern.Furthermore we can say that as the level of education increases therate of participation of Muslims in education decreases sharply.Educational condition of Muslims has not improved in comparison toother minority groups.

The study finds that Muslims are educationally alienated evenin those districts where their concentration is more than the majority

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community (Hindus). This needs to further elaborate study to findout why there is an anomaly exists in the state as well as in thedistricts.

The broad conclusions have important policy implications foreffectively managing issues arising out of religious diversity in thecountry. It is hoped that the findings related to Muslims populationgrowth, population distribution and educational status in this paperwill contribute debates in this regard objectively. I also hoped thatthis paper will stimulate research towards states specific studiesseeking to explain reasons underlying declining trend of fertilitygrowth, unequal distribution of Muslim population and loweducational status in Muslim concentrated areas.

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