The percentage of the successful Muslim candidates in the recently announced results of the 2013 civil services examinations has crossed the barrier of 3 percent success rate as there are as many as 32 Muslim students out of 840 recommended for various services. Interestingly enough,8 of them belong to Jammu & Kashmir State which reeled under subversion and terrorism for more than two decades. There are only three Aligarians in the list of the successful candidates in the coveted examinations. Annual reports of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) carry detailed profiles of candidates belonging to the scheduled castes (SCs), scheduled tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and the general category, but no separate data is available for Muslims.

In such a poor representation of Muslims in Civil Services, the ‘secular’ politicians and academicians often allege a sinister design for depriving the largest minority community of a fair share in the corridors of power. The Muslim political leadership revels in the opportunity to demand community-based reservations in education and employment in the government jobs on the lines of reservation for scheduled castes and tribes on the basis of their share in the population of the country. The Rajinder Sachar Committee to look into the affairs of the Muslim community too favoured reservation for Muslims on the basis of their population. Some States such as Andhra Pradesh (Before its bifurcation) made 4 per cent reservations for Muslims in educational institutions and government jobs. But the politically expeditious move was held invalid by the Supreme Court. Even then political leaders from ‘secular’ parties often make a clamor for reservation for Muslims.

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Courtesy: The Indian Republic