'Muslims aren't most unemployed'

New Delhi: A controversy on who are the most backward religious communities in India may begin again.

The Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee has said that Muslims are the most backward, particularly when it comes to employment opportunities. Another government survey disagrees.

The National Sample Survey Organisation’s (NSSO) data says Christians, the most educated religious community, top the list of the unemployed in the country.

The NSSO survey for 2004-05 says that in urban areas more than 8 per cent of Christians are unemployed. The corresponding figure for Hindus is 4.4 per cent and for Muslims it’s 4.1 per cent.

"In rural areas, the unemployment rates were higher among the Christians (4.4 per cent) as compared to those among the Hindus (1.5 per cent) or Muslims (2.3 per cent)," said the NSSO survey.

The Sachar committe's report said unemployment rate in urban areas was 8.1 per cent among both Hindus and Muslims, and only 6.8 per cent among upper-caste Hindus. It said in rural areas, 8.4 per cent Muslims were unemployed–compared to 8 per cent Hindus and 6 per cent upper-caste Hindus.

According to the NSSO survey on employment and unemployment situation among major religious groups in India for 2004-05, Christians also had the lowest illiteracy rate for both rural (20 per cent for men and 31 per cent women) and urban areas (6 per cent for men and 11 per cent for women).

The survey covered 7,999 villages and 1,24,680 sample households.

Except for rural women, the proportion of literates among the Hindus was higher as compared to Muslims.

The worker population ratio (WPR) among men in rural area was highest among Christians (56 per cent), followed by Hindus (55 per cent) and Muslims (50 per cent). For women, the ratio was 36 per cent for Christians, 34 per cent for Hindus and 18 per cent for Muslims.

The WPR among men in urban areas was highest for Hindus at 56 per cent followed by Muslims (53 per cent) and Christians (51 per cent). In case of women, the WPR was highest for Christians at 24 per cent, followed by Hindus (17 per cent) and Muslims (12 per cent).

The survey said nearly 49 per cent of Muslim households in urban areas were self-employed as against 36 per cent Hindu households and 27 per cent Christians.