FIROZ.

KT
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR & HEAD,DEPARTMENT OF WEST ASIAN STUDIES,
EMEA COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCE,(AFFILIATED TO UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT)
KONDOTY.MALAPPURAM, KERALA, INDIA
 “minorities” means “group held together by
ties of common descent, language or
religious faith and feeling different in these
respects from the inhabitants of a given
political entity”.
 Hindus [82.41%]
 Muslims [11.67%]
 Christians [2.32%]
 Sikhs [2%]
 Buddhists [0.77%]
 Jains [0.41%]
 Hindus constitute the majority
 Rest of the religious communities come
under what is known as “religious minorities”.
 Qualitative descriptive method
 Inquiry develops from conversations and
interviews
 with administrators, organizers,
 Two selected districts in Kerala Malappuram
and Calicut
 field study method
 open ended questionnaire, and interviews
 Indian Constitution talks about only two
kinds of ‘minorities’ i.e. Religious and
linguistic minorities.
 India is a land of diversity consisting of
different religions with Hindus as majority.
 Constitution of India has afforded protection
to the minorities in the country.
 In India, the safeguards for minorities under
the constitution of India are in form of
fundamental rights
 Article 29. Protection of interests of
minorities.-
 Article 30. Right of minorities to establish
and administer educational institutions
 Problem of Providing Protection
 Problem of Communal Tensions and Riots.
 Problem of Lack of Representation in Civil
Service and Politics
 Problem of Separatism
 Failure to Stick on Strictly to Secularism
 Problem Related to the Introduction of
Common Civil Code:
 one-third of the villages concentrated with
Muslim population ,no kind of educational
institutions.
 insufficiency in the field of health care
 infrastructure facilities are quite inadequate
in the Muslim areas
 compared to other religious categories there
exists poverty among Muslims in large scale.
 In the employees, in Government- Public
Sector, Muslims are only in small proportion.
 Muslims in Kerala stand far behind than the
other Communities in the social, economic
and educational fields.
 Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
 Table
 State Population
 Kerala  3,33,10,388
 Hindu  18,2,82472 -54.88%
 Muslim  88,73472 -26.63 %
 Christian  61,41269 -18.43 %
 Others
 13155 - 0.039 %

(Source- Census of india

2011)
 Table 2
 General Education
 No chance is getting for education including
primary education in the coastal and hilly areas
 the lack of educational infrastructure with hostel
facilities
 employment field, the role of Muslim women is
very pathetic.
 case of Arts and Science Colleges there is
considerable difference between
Thiruvananthapuram-Kochi areas and erstwhile
Malabar areas
 Malabar areas, there are no colleges, courses
and sufficient seats available
 so as to enable the Muslim students continue
their education after the completion of Plus
Two
 Problem of Lack of Representation in Civil
Service
 Lack of necessary training and the
backwardness in personality development
 The dwelling houses and connected facilities
of Muslim workers in the coastal, hilly and
plantation sectors are totally inadequate
 Drinking water problem of those who are
living in the coastal areas, in connection with
fishing, is too severe.
 The existing slums in the urban areas and in
some special centers of coastal areas are the
centers of misery and procreation centers of
contagious diseases
 The Muslim population in Kerala is
approximately more than 26 percentage
 But in the Kerala Government Services, the
Muslim representation is merely 11
percentage only.
 There exists an apprehension that reservation
principle is not fully maintained in the
appointments to public sector institutions,
Universities and quasi Government
institutions.
 Reservation principle should also be observed
in temporary appointments, on contract basis
and on daily wages basis.
 There are complaints that hindrances are
there in availing loans from financial
institutions for agriculture and self-
employment endeavors.
 Less Muslim women participation is given in
the poverty eradication programmes and in
the small scale production enterprises
conducted by the Kudumbasree in the State.
 In the Police Force and in the Intelligence
Department the Muslims representation is
very less.
 Majority of the coastal fishermen in northern
districts are Muslims.
 No suitable roads for transportation
connecting the dwelling places of the
fishermen in the coastal areas from Thrissur
district to kasargode District.
 Lack of pure drinking water facilities in
coastal areas
 Lack of health care centers in coastal areas
 Lack of house holds
 Non-implementation of existing safeguards
 Non active movements
 Lack of programs specifically targeted to
Muslim community development
 Lack of monitoring of development programs
 Lack of support from the police force
 The existing and the forthcoming
mechanisms to safeguard minority rights
should be implemented at the earliest so that
the attention of the civil society can be drawn
thereby their present condition will be
improved.