Muslims on par with others in UPSC exams

The abysmally low number of Muslim candidates, appearing in the civil services examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, hides the fact that their success rate in the competitive examinations was equal to that of candidates belonging to other communities.

The fact has been brought out in the report of Sachar Committee, set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to study the social, economic and educational status of the minority community in the country.

Though the share of Muslims in the direct recruits to the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service and the Indian Police Service was low at 2.4 per cent, 1.9 per cent and 1.23 per cent respectively, it was also found out by the committee that they had not been attempting for the civil services examinations in numbers proportionate to their share in the population.

"In all, Muslims constituted only 4.9 per cent of the candidates who appeared in the written examinations of civil services of 2003 and 2004. This is far below the 13.4 per cent share of the community in the population. However, the success

rate of the Muslims is almost the same as of other candidates," the report said.

The small number of Muslim participation in the UPSC competitive examinations may be due the perception among them that they were unlikely to find regular jobs even when they get higher education, it added.

The report found out that they got high returns from higher education, but still their participation remained very low. While small number of Muslim candidates appearing in the written examinations of the civil services was a cause of concern, success rates similar to that of candidates belonging to other socio-religious categories was reassuring, the report said.

It also said that the overall presence of Muslims in other Central government departments and agencies was very disappointing. Their share increases marginally for lower jobs and even in group 'D' employment, which requires a low level of education, their share is only about five per cent.

The deficit exists in all departments and at all levels but is particularly high at the higher levels in public sector undertakings and banks, the report said.