Civil society group begins own survey on Muslims’ condition

“Earlier,the Left Front government had promised to bring out a detail report on the status of the minorities in the state,which will be prepared by the Indian Statistical Institute. But RTI queries have revealed that no such study was ever commissioned by the previous government,said social activist Sabir Ahmed,who is involved with the study,in Kolkata on Sunday.

“Moreover the new government has also not taken any initiative to bring out such report. We hope that a comprehensive picture would emerge after the study is completed in the next six months,” added Ahmed,who was speaking on the sidelines of the consultative meeting of the group where they chalked out the plan of action.

The new study will look into issue of economy and employment condition of the Muslims,their expenditure pattern,the state of education in the community and the health care scenario. Moreover,the study will also look into other aspects such as infrastructure,transport and communication,credit,status of women and social security benefits extended to the minorities in the state.

“Although there has been a lot of talk about the marginalisation of Muslims in West Bengal,there has been no household-level survey of the community in the state. The survey will try to ascertain the complexities of the community along with the dynamics of the population,” said Kumar Rana,Project Direct Pratichi Trust set up by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. Rana,who is a key member behind the initiative,said the assessment will be done in a scientific manner with professors from the Institute of Development Studies and Centre for Social Studies chipping in.

P P Ghosh,director of Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) in Patna,said the study will involve at least 5,000 Muslim households in the state.

“Sachar Commission did not use any primary data and it was based on all secondary data. Statistically,the report will have a similar procedure to the process adopted in Bihar where primary data collected from the survey will be used,” said Ghosh,who also prepared a report on the status of Muslims in Bihar.