Low Representation in Govt. Employment

Q: Sir, Could you please reply my question?
Muslim representation in Government departments, semi-Government institutions and in corporate sector is negligible. According to Sachar Committee, the community’s representation in Civil services is three per cent and in the Railways 4.5 per cent, though Muslims are 14 per cent of India’s population.
Are the Muslims incompetent, inefficient or the recruiting personnel prejudiced against hiring and promoting Muslims?
Is there any discrimination? What remedial steps are required to be taken?

A: It is very easy to point fingers at others and very difficult to introspect and engage in self-scrutiny. It is Muslims alone who shy away from competitive exams for Government services. Awareness regarding opportunities in Government is very low in the community. Those who compete and enter these services are afraid of transfers and quit the services at the hint of inconvenience. Sachar Committee had provided three yardsticks for measurement of educational status of Muslims, firstly GER or General Enrolment Ratio i.e., how many Muslim children enter the school. In several states, this is even higher than Hindus. Second was MYS or Mean Years of Schooling or how many years of schooling Muslim children have. It was found that a sizeable majority of Muslim children leave schools after 7th standard. This leaves them fit for nothing. Even a peon’s job in the Government requires one to be SSLC (10th Standard) pass. Third, attainments or how do the Muslims fare in matters of attaining degrees. This was found to be pretty low. This means that there are fewer Muslims who have requisite qualification or degrees to enter the government employment.
The tragedy does not end here. Most Muslim students are either unaware of opportunities in Government or are unwilling to take competitive exams. Some even presume that prejudice would ultimately bar their entry. In most of the southern Indian states, Muslims have reservation quotas. But the quota remains unclaimed by the community. Kerala has 12% seats reserved for Muslims, Karnataka offers 4% reservation and Tamil Nadu 3.5%. Muslim engineers and doctors mostly look Gulfwards when it comes to choosing a job. Similar is apathy towards jobs in banking, the Railways, armed services and security forces, universities, and public sector enterprises.
We often look for Muslim names in the list of successful candidates for Civil Services exam but forget to ask as to how many Muslims appeared. The number of those appearing for these competitive exams does not go beyond 5%. So participation is low and success is still lower.
It all leads to the conclusion that the community needs to inculcate the spirit of competition among its youth. Nothing comes easy. A large army of educated and overqualified youth are chasing very few jobs in India. Government employment being the most stable and secure way of employment, the desire to compete among other communities is high. We need to match that spirit. Prejudice may have some play, but difficult to be quantified.