RTI Application on Status of Muslims
23 ministries, all states asked to provide information
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 25
In what could probably be the most exhaustive use of the Right to Information Act, 2005, a single application wanting to know the status of Muslims in the country has virtually “moved” the entire government machinery across the country.

The application filed by a Delhi resident has 101 questions that relate to a whopping 23 ministries or departments of the government and also to all states and union territories across the country.

The union ministry of home affairs has already forwarded the application to all states and UTs. Separately, the ministry of minority affairs has asked 23 central ministries and departments for information that is to be provided to Mohd Zabeeh Afaque of Delhi. The information will be provided directly to the applicant and could run into a few thousand pages.

Afaque in his questionnaire has raised issues that are pertinent for the growth of Muslims and tracking the work done at the ground-level, especially for Muslim women. For example, in case of health he wants to know how many hospitals are there in the 90 districts that have been termed as “minority concentration” by the government last year and how many Muslim women are employed in hospitals across the country, what is their designation and how many were hired after 2001.

For the banking sector, the questions go like this: “How many banks have special cells for regulation of credit for minorities?” and another one is “ Out of the total employees in all registered banks, how many are Muslims?”.

Another important question that could underline the status of women is that how many Muslim students received the merit-cum-means scholarship and how many of them are girl students.

The applicant also wants to know the number of “madrasas” in India and how many of these were established after 2001 and what is the ratio of girl students. How many Muslim girls dropped out of school each year; how many of them graduated; how many Muslim children never attended school; how many Muslim women enrolled in PhD; what is the literacy rate in India and especially in Muslim concentration areas, Afaque goes on to ask.

On ownership of homes, the application seeks details on what is the per cent of Muslims who own land; how many Muslim women own land in the country and how many shopping malls, commercial property is owned by Muslims.

The applicant has probably gone a step ahead of the much publicised Sachar Committee Report that studied Muslim demography in India, and gone on to ask how many FIRs were lodged in 2007 across India and how many were filed by Muslims.

In another question, the applicant asks how many Hindus and Muslims were displaced in riots in India since 1947. It goes to ask the number of advocates in India and how many of them were Muslims. Other questions range from the number of Muslim employees in the IAS, IPS, defence services, scientists in the Indian Space Research Organisation to seeking details on the average per capita income of Muslims.