A recent report titled “Rethinking Affirmative Action for Muslims in Contemporary India” has brought fresh attention to the issue of reservations for Muslims in India. Released on February 5 by the Centre for Development Policy and Practice (CDPP) in collaboration with the US-India Policy Institute, the report suggests significant policy shifts to ensure better socio-economic inclusion of the Muslim community.
Authored by Hilal Ahmed and Mohd. Sanjeer Alam, both Associate Professors at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), along with Associate Research Fellow Nazima Parveen from the Policy Perspective Foundation, the report critically examines existing affirmative action policies for Muslims. It presents a roadmap for policy changes aimed at addressing the community’s socio-economic marginalization.
One of the key recommendations is the sub-categorization of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation category to include Muslims in a more structured manner. The report also advocates for the inclusion of Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians within the Scheduled Caste (SC) category and proposes a re-evaluation of the Supreme Court-mandated 50% ceiling on reservations to accommodate more backward communities.
The report highlights that while some states, such as Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, already grant reservations to Muslims under the OBC category, there is a need for a nationwide, rational, and secular sub-categorization to ensure consistency and fairness. It further suggests that the Scheduled Caste category should be secularized to include Dalit Muslims and Sikhs, thereby addressing caste-based discrimination beyond religious boundaries.
One of the major points emphasized in the report is the demand from the Pasmanda Muslim community for inclusion in the SC category. It argues that caste-based exploitation is not confined to Hindu communities alone and needs to be recognized among Muslims as well.
The report also calls for a reconsideration of the Supreme Court’s 1992 ruling in the Indra Sawhney v. Union of India case, which capped reservations at 50%. It suggests that this ceiling should be reviewed in light of changing socio-economic realities to ensure adequate representation for backward Muslim communities.
Economic and educational disparities faced by Muslims are also underscored in the report. It points out that Muslims are predominantly employed in lower-income occupations and fare worse than Hindu Forward Castes (HFCs) and Hindu OBCs (HOBCs) across various economic indicators. In terms of education, Muslim students have the highest dropout rates in higher schooling levels. The Educational Participation Rate (EPR) for Muslims in the 14–17 age group is 13 percentage points lower than the national average, as per National Sample Survey data.
The report advocates a “space-centric affirmative action” approach, focusing on district-level socio-economic development. It suggests that targeted policies should be designed for regions with high concentrations of economically backward Muslim populations. Additionally, sector-specific policies should be implemented to improve the working conditions and economic stability of Muslims employed in certain industries.
The findings of the report resonate with the conclusions of the Sachar Committee Report (2006), which had earlier categorized Muslims as a marginalized community and recommended affirmative action for their upliftment. Despite past efforts, the current study highlights that Muslims continue to lag behind other socio-religious groups in terms of economic and educational progress.
The release of this report is expected to reignite discussions on the need for policy interventions aimed at improving the socio-economic status of Muslims in India. While political responses to such recommendations remain mixed, the report provides a crucial data-driven argument for the re-examination of affirmative action policies tailored to the community’s needs.
