Farhan Abedi
Research Scholar, Department of Sociology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Email: farhanabedi.amu@gmail.com
Volume VII, Number 2, 2017 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.25274/bcjms.v7n2.v7n2sc02
Abstract
Social exclusion broadly refers to lack of participation in social life. It is a powerful form of discriminatory practice. In course of human development, exclusion has taken the form of segregating a group of people from the social, political, economic, cultural, educational domains of societal life. Giddens defines social exclusion as “it is not about gradations of inequality, but about mechanism that act to detach groups of people from the social mainstream”. Muslim in India remains far below the national average in almost all aspect of life. Sacchar committee estimates that the situation of Muslims in India is that of a deprived community which is above that of SCs and STs but below that of Hindu general, Hindu OBCs and other socio-religious category in almost all indicators of development. The due representation of Muslims in parliament, state legislature and Panchayati raj institution is crucial for the country because this is the only way in which this excluded community can keep pace with other communities in development. Other scholars estimate that the situation of Muslims in India is that of an excluded community in economic, educational and political terms. This paper examines the literature on Muslim exclusion in India and suggests some measures for formulating an inclusion policy for them.
Keywords: Exclusion, Development, Muslim Empowerment.