From holding the lion’s share of government employment in the erstwhile rule of the Nizams, the share of Muslim employees in Telangana State has been found to be low at only 7.36 per cent against their population of 12.68 per cent.
The fact was revealed in the report of the Commission of Inquiry on Socio-Economic and Educational Conditions of Muslims in Telangana that was made public on Saturday. The report observed that “exclusion or under-representation of Muslims in the State government posts adversely impacts their role in decision-making and participation in the implementation process”.
Stating that proportionate representation of communities in government services is one of the major indicators of their inclusion, the report opines that Muslim community has been left behind in overall development and as a result their share in government services has dwindled.
Against the information sought from 208 State government departments and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), only 131 departments had sent data to the Commission. These 131 departments are organised in 23 Secretariat departments and at the aggregate level, the share of Muslim employees has been found to be 35,279 out of a total of 4,79,556.
“Under-representation of Muslims is acute in departments where there are large number of employees or the departments which are strategic in nature such as Administrative Services, Home, Education and Welfare Departments. These four sectors/departments are crucial for inclusive development of Muslims,” the report said.
The Commission has found that the share of Muslim employees is lower in the departments where the number of total employees is higher. The report said that the share of Muslim employees in welfare departments is only 3.37 per cent followed by Education Department (6.06 p.c.), Energy Department (6.53 p.c.) and Home Department (8.73 p.c.).
“It is important to note that these major departments are also socially crucial departments and the exclusion of Muslims from them will adversely impact their role in decision-making and participation in the process of implementation,” the report noted. The Commission report has also revealed that the share of Muslim communities in administrative services (All India Service) such as IAS, IPS and IFS at the State level is also very negligible. Of the sanctioned strength of 340 AIS posts in Telangana till April this year, the number of Muslims is only 10 (2.94 p.c.). Stating that Muslims in government employment are mostly last cadre employees and very few are gazetted officers, the Commission suggested the State government to make concerted efforts to fill the gap through special recruitments of employees from the Muslim community.
