It is also evident that identity, security and equity related concerns are not identical across all minorities and SRCs. In the same vein, in a differentiated society, many of these issues are not specific to any SRC and segments of the majority community may also have to grapple with them. Given this broad perspective, it is useful to distinguish between three types of overlapping issues, that cut across the categories described above, faced by the Muslim community in India: (1) Issues that are common for all poor people (Muslims are largely poor); (2) Issues that are common to all minorities and, (3) Issues that are specific to Muslims.

For example, as one can argue, many employment and education-specific concerns of Muslims may fall in the first category. Similarly, some aspects of identity and security may be common across minorities while some others may be specific to Muslims.

It needs to be recognised at the outset that these sets of issues are intricately linked in complex ways and many of these linkages may be empirically intractable. Since the mandate given to the Committee relates to ‘equity’; while recognizing the linkages across issues, the report focuses mostly on equity-related concerns.

The Committee has been fairly eclectic and innovative in its use of data. It has collected data from various government departments and institutions at the Centre and the State levels. Besides, Banks, Financial Institutions, Educational Institutions and Public Sector Undertakings also shared their data. The Report also analysis the Indian Census and large scale survey data; prominently NSSO. Data from special surveys of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) are also used. It is important to recognise this intrinsic value of data and not attribute political and ideological motives to the Committee’s struggle to find appropriate data to analyse the condition of Muslims.

... contd.