Arguing that the Committee’s recommendations were made on an irrational basis, he claimed that the Sachar Committee itself had said that in nine states the Muslims were educationally more advanced than other communities.

Patriots’ Forum Secretary General R K Ohri told The Indian Express that the Forum had sent two written representations to the Sachar panel in October 2005 and May 18, 2006, but got no response. He said that the panel had ignored four “globally accepted human development indicators — infant mortality, child mortality, degree of urbanisation, and life expectancy at birth — where Muslims were better off than Hindus”. “Muslims’ lower per capita income is because of higher population growth rate and lower work participation rates among their women,” he claimed. The next hearing has been fixed for February.