25 pc of Muslim children drops out from school - Expert

Bangalore, 22 January 2010 (Bhatkallys News): B. L. Mungekar, Chairman, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, and former member of the Planning Commission, has said that the socio-economic conditions of Muslims were far from satisfactory and nearly 25 per cent of children in the age group of 6-14 years and belonging to the Muslim community have not attended school or are dropped out from the school on account of poverty and other socio-economic factors.

He was speaking at the Ninth Development Convention 2009-10 at Institute for Social and Economic Change, here. He said out of every 25 undergraduates and 50 post-graduates students in premier colleges was a Muslim; only 25 per cent Muslim women in rural areas participate in the workforce as against 70 per cent Hindu women; and only about 27 per cent of Muslim workers in urban areas were engaged in regular work as against 40 per cent Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe, 36 per cent other backward classes, and 49 per cent Hindu upper caste workers.

The SC/ST people were found to be lagging behind the compared to other sections of the population with respect to socio-economic indicators, life expectancy and employment, he said.

The professor noted some of the findings in the Sachhar Committee which submitted wide range of recommendations to the Centre, a few years ago, to improve the living standards of the Muslims in India.

Economist and Kerala Planning Board Deputy Chairman Prabhat Patnaik said that despite a high economic growth rate, the liberal economic policies have not reduced the poverty and inequalities in India and other developing economies of the world.

Prof. Patnaik said the liberal economic reforms have increased the productivity of labour on account of adoption of frontier technologies but have not solved the problem of unemployment, poverty and inequalities. The poverty and inequalities remained on account of surplus production and less domestic consumption. “The growth rate in the employment is not large compared to labour reserve in India and other developing economies,” he said.

Noting that expansion of the domestic economy could not be sustained without substantial growth in the agricultural sector, Prof Patnaik, who authored several books in economics, said the real economic growth would always boost domestic consumption and eliminate poverty and income inequalities among the people.

ISEC Director R S Deshpande made initial remarks and set the tone for the three-day seminar which would conclude on Saturday. Several economists, including C T Kurien, are participating in the event.

(source: mangalorean.com)