- Only nine out of 132 Chief Justices were Muslims
- Only 79 Muslims among 1,085 High Court Judges
- There are 15 Muslims out of 751 SPs and ASPs
- Only 57 Muslims among 1,672 SDPOs and DSPs
- There are 11 Muslims out of 247 Labour officials
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – The number of Muslim officials in government and other domains is numerically unimpressive in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, according to Muslims in India – Ground Realities versus Fake Narratives.
The book offers interesting statistical insights about the community’s representation in the government and administration across the four states. These states are politically crucial but lag in economic growth, healthcare, education, and per capita income.
Over 41 per cent of India’s total population as per Census 2001 live in these states which were termed in the early 1980s as BIMARU (Hindi for sick or ill), an abbreviation for Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, by demographer Ashish Bose taking into account their poor economic, social, and demographic growth.
Three of the four BIMARU states were bifurcated in 2000 – Jharkhand was carved out from Bihar, Uttarakhand from Uttar Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh from Madhya Pradesh. The four states have high population growth rates, low literacy rates, high infant and maternal mortality rates, low per capita income, high poverty levels, and inadequate infrastructure. They also face highly pressing challenges like high corruption, rampant casteism, growing communalism, and on-and-off political instability.
Several studies by governmental and social scientists suggested that these states have remained in various stages of development at a pace that makes them unable to catch up with other states, especially the southern states, the pulsating engine of socio-economic growth. These states, over the past half a century, have remained at the bottom of the socio-economic development ladder with Bihar topping the chart, especially on the Multidimensional Poverty and Human Development indexes that use 10 indicators to measure various dimensions in education, health, living standards, poverty, nutrition and deprivations.
Muslims are poorly represented in police forces in the four states. Out of 59 SPs and ASPs in Bihar, only three are Muslims. SDPOs and DSPs numbered 148 including four Muslims. Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors (Law & Order and Crime) stand at 1,259 including 43 Muslims. In Uttar Pradesh, only six are Muslims among 305 SPs and ASPs. Twenty-seven among 736 are SDPOs and DSPs. Only 12 are Muslims among 1,631 Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors (Law and Order and Crime). Rajasthan has a total of 248 SPs and ASPs, including five Muslims. Twenty out of 550 are SDPOs and DSPs. Eighty-eight out of 2726 Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors (L&O and Crimes) are Muslims. Madhya Pradesh has only one Muslim among 139 SPs and ASPs while six among 238 are SDPOs and DSPs.
Twenty-five are Muslims among 1,376 Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors (L&O and Crimes). In the State Police Service, Bihar has 369 officers including 33 Muslims. Only seven are Muslims among 886 State Police Service officials in Madhya Pradesh. Only 35 are Muslims in Uttar Pradesh’s 1,057 State Police Service Officials. In the State Administrative Service, Bihar has 1,111 officials including 71 Muslims. Out of 114 officials in Madhya Pradesh, only 10 are Muslims. Uttar Pradesh counts 35 Muslims among 1,057 State Administrative Service officials. Rajasthan has 41 Muslims among its 933 State Administrative Service officials as per the Civil Lists of 2023.
Even the number of Muslims in the State Cabinets and CMOs is abysmally low. That includes deputy chief ministers, Cabinet ministers, ministers of state (independent charge) and ministers of state. Out of nine in Bihar, no Muslim is in Cabinet while the CMO office has one Muslim among 19 officials. There is one Muslim among the 56 ministers in Uttar Pradesh while there are no Muslims among 38 officials in CMO. Similarly, there is no Muslim in the Rajasthan Cabinet of 25 members while the CMO’s five officials have no Muslim. In the four states, the number of Muslims in the Drug Control and Inspection teams is only 15 out of 354 officials – Madhya Pradesh has no Muslims at all.
Similarly, the State Human Rights Commissions in the four states have no Muslims either as chairpersons or members, secretaries and registrars – all numbering 135. The scenario at the State Women’s Commissions is also no different. There are only 11 Muslims in the Labour Departments out of 247 officials in the four states. The Legal Services Authorities in the four states also have an unimpressive number of Muslims among their ranks. Of the 287 executive chairpersons, member-secretaries, members, and senior officials, only 17 are Muslims. Similarly, the panel of lawyers on honorarium and retainer totals 9,194 of which 853 are Muslims. Of the 3,442 officials in the management teams of Departments of Commercial Taxes in the four states, only 67 are Muslims – Madhya Pradesh has no Muslims at all. In the Revenue Departments, 184 officials are there in Bihar and Rajasthan, including 15 Muslims including one Special Secretary.
When it comes to the State Prosecution Departments, the situation is no better. Out of six heads of Prosecutions and Advocate Generals, none is a Muslim. Out of 217 Additional AGs, Government Pleaders, and Standing Counsels, only 19 are Muslims with none being in Rajasthan. Out of 999 officers in the Management and Inspection teams of the Excise/Prohibition Departments in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, only 36 are Muslims. Six are Muslims among 103 officials in the anti-corruption departments in Rajasthan, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh. In the Public Works Departments of four states, only 177 are Muslims out of a total of 3,948 officials.
The Management Teams and Senior Officials in Road Transport Corporations (RTCs) in Bihar, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh number 626 of which only 11 are Muslims. Muslim officials in senior management in the Forest Departments in the four states total 1,104 including 14 Muslims – Uttar Pradesh doesn’t have a single Muslim in the ranks.
The number of Ayurveda practitioners in the four states stands at 54,252, of which only 147 are Muslims. Similarly, out of 16,534 Unani doctors, 16,116 are Muslims. The number of homeopathy doctors is 58,120 including 20,366 Muslims. The number of MBBS doctors registered with Bihar Medical Council stood at 47,028 between 1953-2022 of which Muslims were 4,483. Madhya Pradesh had between 1960-2022 a total of 42,102 doctors including 1,922 Muslims. In Rajasthan, the number is 1,379 for Muslims out of a total of 49,242 doctors. Uttar Pradesh had a total of 5,640 Muslim doctors between 1960 and 2022 out of the total of 93,563.
Out of the 10 Lok Ayukta Bihar had so far, only one had been a Muslim. Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have one Muslim each as Upa Lok Ayukta while 24 of their staff have no representation of the community. Uttar Pradesh’s seven Lok Ayukta included one Muslim while it had not seen any Muslim as Upa Lok Ayukta or its senior officials. Only one of Bihar’s 23 chief ministers had been a Muslim – Abdul Ghafoor in 1973-1975. No Muslim had been either a chief minister or deputy chief minister in Madhya Pradesh out of the 29 in total. One of the 24 Rajasthan chief ministers had been a Muslim – Barkatullah Khan in 1971-1973 while no Muslims were among the five deputy chief ministers the state had. In Uttar Pradesh, no Muslims among the 33 chief ministers and six deputy chief ministers. In Bihar, four have been Muslims among 29 governors till now, while two were Muslims out of 19 in Madhya Pradesh. Rajasthan had one Muslim governor in 2007 out of 21 the state had seen till now. In Uttar Pradesh, two of the 20 governors had been Muslims, once in 1972 and 1985.
When it comes to police chiefs, only one had been a Muslim among Bihar’s 50 – Waris Hayat Khan in December 2003. Madhya Pradesh too had a Muslim – S Majeed Ullah in 1965-68 out of the total of 46. Rajasthan had no Muslim as a police chief out of 34 it had. Uttar Pradesh has seen three Muslims out of the total of 70 police chiefs – Islam Ahmed (1971), Rizwan Ahmad (2014) and S Javeed Ahmed (2016). Two of 37 Chief Justices of Allahabad High Court had been Muslims while 39 out of 445 judges came from the community. In Madhya Pradesh, three were Muslims out of the 26 Chief Justices while 10 out of 205 judges were Muslims. Patna High Court had seen three Muslims among the total 43 Chief Justices while 24 judges were Muslims out of 284. In Rajasthan, one of the 26 Chief Justices had been a Muslim while six out of 151 judges were Muslims.
Out of the 16 Speakers of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, none had been Muslim while three out of 18 Deputy Speakers had been Muslims. In Madhya Pradesh, one Muslim became Speaker in 1972 out of the total of 13 the state had till now along with six Deputy Speakers. Rajasthan had seen 17 Speakers with no Muslim on the list while one of the 19 Deputy Speaker had been a Muslim in 1981-82. Two of the 18 Speakers of Uttar Pradesh were Muslims in 1950-52 and 1985-90. Four of the 18 Deputy Speakers were Muslims, the last being in 2003-2004.
Out of the total 110 chairpersons of four State Public Service Commissions, five had been Muslims – two in Bihar and three in Rajasthan. Out of a total of 185 members, 16 were Muslims. Out of the 21 chiefs of Women’s Commissions in the four states, three had been Muslims while two were Muslims among 105 members.
Out of the 74 people who served as the chairpersons of Urdu Academy in the four states, 62 were Muslims. Similarly, 56 have been Muslims among 73 Secretaries/Registrars. Among the 91 chairpersons of Waqf Boards in the four states, 86 have been Muslims. When it comes to Secretaries/CEOs, all the 116 were Muslims.
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