Why this “Kolaveri” of Muslim Employment…

By: SYED JAVEED BASHA

Why this “Kolaveri” of Muslim Employment…

My friend was packing himself to saudi arabia he has got a job over there paying him 3000 riyals which is around 50,000 Indian rupees, this is decent pay package for a fresher engineer. But,  Last night was a pensive moment to both of us; my friend was a big man with strong heart and usually sheds tears with great austerity and not for simple reasons but don’t know suddenly he broke out, tears started rolling down over his cheeks akin to water gushing out from a broken weir. I have never ever seen him weeping like a child so much from the very time I knew him and suddenly the big man before me looked like a kid wiping his eyes.

I tried to calm him down and said to him

“Hey brother! Chill man u got nice package 50000 per month that too free of tax! Aren’t you lucky??”

He replied

“Who is lucky to leave the Mother Land?? And who is lucky to live away from friends and family??”

Then why did you wish to move out of the country?

He said

“If we have enough opportunity here in India why will any men wish to go out?? Where are jobs over here? Even if there are some, we Muslims will never be able to get into them because we do not have the equal opportunity as competition is among equals and not among unequal. You just show me a job and I owe you I would tear this passport into thousand pieces right now right here.”

That night I did not have even a bit of nap, each time my eye lids try to rest and each time his tears woke me up with their shower.  My heart started questioning me what’s next?? Yesterday it was he who flew away and tomorrow it may be you. I decided to find answers to those questions, aren’t there really any opportunities for Muslims?? Why is this Kolaveri?? Why is this prejudice??

Basically as I hail from the state of Andhra Pradesh my quest was circled around it. I started finding out the ways for employment, their means, their types, their recruitment process and I found some shocking facts raising my eyebrows making my heart beat faster.

The issue of Muslim reservation was like a Bread placed too far to reach and too hard to eat. Each time the elections come and each time the political class make fake promises of reservation and it was only in the year 2005 that Muslim reservation started implementing in the educational institutions and in recruitment by APPSC. However this incomplete and half complete task was achieved amidst huge uproar by the right wing groups as if their bellies were filled with burning charcoal or their skins were peeled up due to reservation. The reservation allotted after this episode was only 4% like a well measured coffin that too excluding few groups like syeds, pathans etc and I could equate this to the poetic verses of the Urdu poet Dr Ahmed Deobandi.

Ke jinpar luta chuka tha main dunya ki doulatein

Ke jinpar luta chuka tha main dunya ki doulatein

Un waarison ne mujhko kafan naap ke diya.

The Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission is the body conducting recruitment drives on behalf of the government of A.P, there has been several notifications issued by it department wise and cadre wise. The share of Muslims in those jobs is meagre and there are few posts where even the 4% are unfilled because there are no suitable candidates available indicating how disgraceful the literacy rate we Muslims possess with.

While I was searching through the notifications of APPSC I came across the notification of the Endowments department which was specifically for Hindus and the department deals with protection of temple lands, preservation of ancient temples and their management. The immediate thought my mind clicked was that there must have been a similar notification with regards to the Wakf board which is the principle protector of wakf lands and management of few dargahs and mosques and I started my search to find how the recruitment was being done in this board. I googled it for several hours changing different search words but to my pity not even a single notification was discovered. I thought to myself what a pity we Muslims have at?? Immediately I decided to visit the WAKF office and seek information under the RTI Act of 2005 and accordingly I submitted my application with 6 questionnaires like detailed list of vacancy position held in wakf board, number of recruitment notifications issued by wakf board since the year 2000 etc on 21-11-2013 however I received the information in the first week of January 2014. (original letters attached)

Shockingly the response was alarming, not even a single recruitment drive was conducted by the wakf board and only “one” notification was issued since the year 2000. We have a department like endowment conducting regular recruitment drives there by helping in the protection of temple lands and there is also a board like the wakf which did not conduct a single direct recruitment and how can it justify the protection of over 4.5lakh acres of wakf land?? 

The unemployment among the Muslim community is very high and only the opportunities from the Middle East come to their rescue what could have been the status of Muslims if there were no jobs in gulf?? Just start thinking about it and I promise that we would have sleepless nights.  Different political parties come to power and go but the result is same for Muslims “no employment”. No one till now effectively questioned the governments of jobs for Muslims. I was surprised to think if at all there is any accountability of government towards the Muslims community? Why is there no direct notifications conducted for Muslims especially in wakf board or in the minority welfare department. The whole administration of wakf board is running either through the employees deputed from other departments or through the contractual labour.

If there is a regular recruitment drives in wakf board then at least few Muslims youth would stay in their home land with their family and friends and there would be a reduced amount of tears shedding from the eyes of Muslim youths. Until and unless we start questioning our governments regarding the burning issues of Muslims, we can never expect them to work for our welfare. The demand of complete and full-fledged reservations according to the population ratio would only be helpful for the upliftment of the Muslim community both socially, economically and educationally.  So Aspire, Awake, Act Ummah, Let’s roar together in this election season in one voice for our rights for the betterment of our children’s  future and then I could Hope someday Muslims may have plenty of job opportunity here in India and my friend would come and settle back here tearing his passport.