REPORT ON “POWER POINT PRESENTATION ON SACHAR COMMITTEE REPORT”

  (December 18,2006)

A Power Point Presentation on “Sachar Committee Report” was held at the Institute of Objective Studies on December 18,2006. Using power-point slides, Dr Ausaf Ahmed, Former Head of Special Assignment, IDB,Jeddah  discussed the Sachar Committee Report in detail.

He informed that the report was comprised of 12 chapters and 403 pages. The commission depended on the census of 2001, National Sample Survey, National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) and NFDC. He said the report showed that the death rate was lesser among Muslims than other communities, but the birth rate was continuously going down. Belying the popular belief, the report came to the conclusion that the size of the family and number of children was decided by both the spouses. Twenty-five percent of the children between the age group of 6 and 14 never went to a school. At middle, secondary and higher secondary level, the ratio of dropout was very high. On the contrary, the rate of dropout among people pursuing higher studies was less than other communities. Larger part of Muslim population was found to be rural-based. However, there was a marked tendency to move to urban areas. The number of Muslim students in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) in villages was very low. Dr Ausaf observed that Muslims should focus on quality education instead of demanding for Urdu schools.

Dr Abusaleh Shariff, member-secretary of the PM’s high level committee (on Muslim backwardness).said  “Justice Rajindar Sachar Committee Report is one of a kind. No other report like this has ever been formulated. It covers all the important aspects of Muslim society”.

An interaction between Dr Shariff and the audience followed. Making presidential remarks Chairman of the Institute Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam said he had reasons to be optimistic about some concrete initiatives of the Congress-led UPA government to empower Muslims.