The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : 25 p.c. of Muslim children don’t attend school: expert

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25 p.c. of Muslim children don’t attend school: expert

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: B.L. Mungekar, Chairman, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, and the former member of the Planning Commission, on Thursday said 25 per cent of children belonging to the Muslim community and in the age group of 6 to 14 have not attended school or are dropouts on account of various socio-economic factors.

In his address at the three-day Ninth Development Convention 2009-10 at the Institute for Social and Economic Change, here, Prof. Mungekar said there was adequate empirical evidence to prove that even higher economic growth rate could not raise the pace of decline in poverty.

The socio-economic conditions of Muslims were far from satisfactory and one out every 25 undergraduate and 50 postgraduate 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 Castes/Scheduled Tribes, 36 per cent Other Backward Classes, and 49 per cent Hindu “upper caste” workers, Prof. Mungekar said.

He said the incidence of poverty among marginalised groups such as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe has hardly declined in the new liberal regime. The Dalits were found to be lagging behind with respect to socio-economic indicators, life expectancy and employment, he said. Economist Patnaik said that despite a high economic growth rate, the liberal economic policies have not reduced the poverty and inequalities in India.

Prof. Patnaik said the liberal economic reforms have increased the productivity of labour following adoption of new technologies but policies have not solved the problem of unemployment and poverty.

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