R E L I RELIGION, COMMUNITY G I O & DEVELOPMENT N & Changing Contours of Politics and Policy in India C I T I Editors Z Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:14 09 May 2016 E Gurpreet Mahajan N S Surinder S. Jodhka H I P Religion, Communities and Development Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:14 09 May 2016 ii ± Religion, Communities and Development Religion and Citizenship Series Editor: Surinder S. Jodhka Professor of Sociology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Social science research and popular discourse on ‘religion and public life’ have gradually moved away from binaries such as communal– secular, tradition–modern, or community–individual. It is now widely recognised that religion and cultural traditions do not simply disappear from public life with economic development. In countries like India, this shift has also been reinforced by the emerging social and political trends where issues relating to citizenship are raised through identity movements of historically deprived categories such as the Dalits, Adivasis, and religious minorities such as the Muslims, for inclusive and just development. This ‘positive’ view of religion parallels changing attitudes in other parts of the world as well where there is growing interest in religious communities and faith-based organisations and their potential role in enhancing development and service delivery. While this has led to a renewed interest in the study of religion, rigorous social science research on ‘religion and citizenship’ is still at a nascent stage. This series attempts to fi ll the gap by bringing together scholarly writing on this important and rapidly expanding area of research in Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:14 09 May 2016 the social sciences. Religion, Communities and Development Changing Contours of Politics and Policy in India Editors Gurpreet Mahajan Surinder S. Jodhka Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:14 09 May 2016 LONDON NEW YORK NEW DELHI First published 2010 by Routledge 912–915 Tolstoy House, 15–17 Tolstoy Marg, New Delhi 110 001 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2010 Gurpreet Mahajan and Surinder S. Jodhka Typeset by Star Compugraphics Private Limited D–156, Second Floor Sector 7, Noida 201 301 Printed and bound in India by Sanat Printers 312, EPIP, Kundli Sonepat 131 028, Haryana All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publishers. Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:14 09 May 2016 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-0-415-58566-8 Contents List of Tables vii List of Figures ix Preface and Acknowledgements xi 1. Religion, Community and Development 1 Gurpreet Mahajan 2. Political Communalisation of Religions and the Crisis of Secularism 36 D.L. Sheth 3. The Sachar Committee Report and Multiculturalism in India: Questions of Group Equality and the Public Sphere 65 Amir Ali 4. Hindutva’s Discourse on Development 83 Pralay Kanungo 5. Seva, Sangathanas and Gurus: Service and the Making of the Hindu Nation 102 Sujata Patel 6. Development as Liberation: An Indian Christian Perspective 129 Rudolf C. Heredia Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:14 09 May 2016 7. Indian Christians: Trajectories of Development 151 Rowena Robinson 8. Sikhs Today: Development, Disparity and Difference 173 Surinder S. Jodhka 9. Contemporary Muslim Situation in India: A Long-Term View 203 Javeed Alam vi ± Religion, Communities and Development 10. Between Identity and Equity: An Agenda for Affi rmative Action for Muslims 228 Tanweer Fazal 11. Struggle for the Margin or from the Margin 248 Gopal Guru 12. Literacy, Education and Gender Gap among Socio-religious Communities 263 Ravinder Kaur 13. Cultural Rights of Minorities during Constitution-making: A Re-reading 282 Rochana Bajpai 14. The Goan Muslim: Presence through Invisibility 301 V. SriRanjani About the Editors 319 Notes on Contributors 320 Index 323 Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:14 09 May 2016 List of Tables 7.1 Proportion and Growth Rate of Population by Religious Communities, 1961–2001 158–59 7.2 State-wise Socio-economic Indicators for the Christian Community 162–63 7.3 Percentage Distribution of Persons by Household Type (Occupation) and Religion: Urban India 166 7.4 Percentage Distribution of Persons by Household Type (Occupation) and Religion: Rural India 166 7.5 Percentage of Households Owning Assets and Amenities 167 7.6 Percentage of Households Owning Land, Draught Animals and Milch Animals 168 7.7 Source-wise Percentage Distribution of Household Income 169 8.1 Changing Religious Geography of Punjab 176 8.2 Rural–Urban Distribution of the Population of Punjab in 1981, by Religious Community (Percentage) 178 8.3 Rural–Urban Distribution of Sikh Population in Indian Punjab in 2001 (Percentage) 179 8.4 Proportion of Sikh Population engaged in Agriculture (Percentage) 181 8.5 Levels of Poverty across Religious Communities (Percentage) 182 Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:14 09 May 2016 8.6 Land-holding Patterns across Religious Communities (Rural) 183 8.7 Caste Groups among Sikhs 194 8.8 Land Ownership among Sikhs according to Caste 194 12.1 Literacy and Education in India, 1983–2005 269 12.2 Caste, Religion and Literacy for Youth, Ages 8–24 years 271 12.3 Caste, Religion and Education for Youth, Ages 8–24 years 272 viii ± Religion, Communities and Development Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:14 09 May 2016 List of Figures 7.1 Percentage Distribution of Population by Religious Communities, 2001 157 7.2 Decadel Growth Rate of Religious Communities, 1981–2001 160 7.3 Sex Ratio by Religious Community, 2001 161 7.4 Percentage Distribution of Religious Communities by Residence, 2001 164 7.5 Percentage Distribution of Population by Religion and Residence, 2001 165 12.1 Change in Literacy in India, 1983 to 2004–05 (Percentage points) 270 12.2 Growth in Female Literacy and Education, 1983 to 2004–05 275 12.3 Change in Female Literacy and Educational Achievements (Relative to Males), 1983 to 2004–05 276 Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:14 09 May 2016 x ± Religion, Communities and Development Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:14 09 May 2016 Preface and Acknowledgements he post-colonial Indian state visualised economic development to Tbe a modernising process. Development and secularisation were to go together — one strengthening the other. In keeping with the clas- sical theories of ‘modernisation’ of the post-War period, secularisation was considered an essential part of the process of economic devel- opment. ‘Traditional’ societies like India were to consciously work to get rid of their ‘old’ ascription-based hierarchical structures and identities, in order to facilitate the process of modernisation and economic development. Once ‘taken off’ the process of economic development was also to facilitate the creation of conditions for the emergence of a modern secular society, where religion would slowly be privatised and would lose its hold over the public sphere. As it presumably happened in Western Europe, the citizens of modern and democratic India would draw their identities from their individual worth and not from the status of the caste and religious community into which they were born. Even though they recognised the historical specifi cities of South Asia and the enduring hold that religious faith had over the people of the region, the mainstream political leadership of independent India aspired for a modern and developed nation with a scientifi c and secular outlook. India’s experience of the last six decades of economic development and democratic governance has completely defi ed this expectation. While the country has witnessed steady economic development and the social and political institutions of the country have become more Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:14 09 May 2016 participatory, the presence of religion in the public sphere has also expanded. Democratic political processes have not only provided new modes of articulating development aspirations, they have given life and legitimacy to many ‘old’ identities. In fact, these ‘old’ communitarian identities are often mobilised for effective participation in the competitive political space for a fair share of development goods. Over the years, the democratic/development state also appears to be changing its attitude on this subject of religion and development. A good example of this was the appointment of a High Level Committee xii ± Religion, Communities and Development (the Sachar Committee) by the prime minister of India to look into the ‘development defi cit’ among Indian Muslims. The articles presented in this volume refl ect upon these changes in Indian politics and policy. Most of them were fi rst discussed at a seminar organised in March 2007 at the Jawaharlal Nehru University as a part of the initial activities of the DFID/University of Birmingham- supported research programme on Religions and Development. The Sachar Committee Report (SCR), submitted to the Government of India in November 2006, offered a meaningful entry-point for the research programme on religions and development in India. While the SCR has focused on the Muslims of India, we invited our contributors to also look at the development experience of other religious groups and communities. Apart from looking at the subject from a comparative perspective, we requested some of our colleagues to also refl ect on the larger theoretical and political implications of the SCR. They were asked to critically examine the policy shifts that could take place because of changing the categories used to classify populations for the identifi cation of development defi cits and the impact this would have on the larger discourse of development in India.