Minorities at the Margins

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Editors: Zoya Hasan and Mushirul Hasan

About

The debate around social development in India has heightened with the arrival of neoliberalism.  It is argued that the gap between growth and well-being, income and wealth distribution, and the rich and the poor has widened. The progress in the improvement of living standards has been slow, and the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, women, and religious minorities face deprivation and exclusion the most.

The India: Social Development Report 2012 evaluates the life conditions of Indian citizens by assessing social development indicators  — political, social and cultural.  It combines empirical studies and critical analyses to explain the impact of policy interventions on social development and the challenges that remain. Concentrating on the minorities with respect to the key indicators of education, income, food security, and health, this Report addresses the relationship between the country’s developmental process and social policy discourse in contemporary India. It:

  • Focusses on the flaws in the Right to Education Act and how school-going children belonging to the poor and vulnerable social groups are affected due to this.
  • Examines the conditions of the large number of people who are poor even by the most modest standards of living.
  • Highlights the need to link food security with other policies for infrastructural and technological development.
  • Reveals the need for adequate provision and expenditure in health care services.
  • Includes a Social Development Index which, with its useful set of statistical indicators, attempts to assess the level of development among various groups on lines of caste, religion, and gender.
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Contents

Foreword by Muchkund Dubey
Introduction Zoya Hasan and Mushirul Hasan

PART I

Social Development and the Marginalised

  1. Social Development: Some Conceptual Considerations: Jayati Ghosh
  2. Recent Trends in Poverty and Inequality in India: Himanshu
  3. Free and Compulsory Elementary Education: Still a Long Distance for Indian Children: Muchkund Dubey
  4. Employment and Unemployment in Contemporary India: Context and Prospects: Praveen Jha and Ananindra Nath Thakur
  5. India’s Health: Not Shining: Mohan Rao and Oommen C. Kurian
  6. Gendering Social Analysis, Contextualising Gender: Women in Neoliberal India: Indu Agnihotri
  7. Regional Dimensions of Inequalities: P.M. Kulkarni and Himanshu
  8. Challenges of Food Security in India: Tajamul Haque
  9. Social Security in India: A Note: Praveen Jha, R. Ramakumar, and Nilachala Acharya

PART II

Minorities  

  1. How Social Structure Impacts the Gross Domestic Product? Role of Education and Diversity in India: Abusaleh Shariff , Khursheed Anwar Siddiqui, Amit Sharma, and Prabir Kumar Ghosh
  2. Muslims in India: A Study of Socio-economic and Educational Levels in Four Focus States: Tanweer Fasal and Rajeev Kumar
  3. Education and Exclusion of Muslims: Mohammed Sanjeer Alam
  4. Madrasas and Educational Conditions of Muslims in India: Arshad Alam
  5. Rural Power Structure, State Initiatives, and the Muslims: Divergent Experiences in Four States: Prashant K. Trivedi
  6. Assessing UPA Government’s Response to Muslim Deprivation:  Soya Hasan and Mushirul Hasan
  7. Government’s Commitment towards Development of Muslims: A Post-Sachar Assessment 1: Jawed Alam Khan and Pooja Parvati
  8. Social Development of the Christian Community in India:  Savio Abreu and Rowena Robinson
  9. Social Development Index 2012: Surajit Deb
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