Bhiwandi East MLA Rais Shaikh demands new study group for Maharashtra Muslim survey

Bhiwandi East MLA Rais Shaikh has urged Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Minority Development Sunetra Pawar to establish a new study group to revive a long-pending socio-economic and educational survey of the Muslim community. The survey, aimed at assessing the community's living standards and access to welfare, has remained stalled for the past 15 years.

In a letter addressed to the Deputy Chief Minister, the Samajwadi Party legislator proposed that the new study group be named in honour of the late Ajit Dada Pawar. Shaikh highlighted that the veteran Nationalist Congress Party leader had consistently championed Muslim community issues, crediting him with establishing the Minority Research and Training Institute (MRTI) and the Minority Commissionerate.

The push for the survey follows a series of stalled initiatives. Shaikh pointed out that the Dr Mehmood ur Rahman Study Group, formed by the state government in 2013, had originally recommended a comprehensive survey. In 2022, the state government entrusted the task to the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and issued a Government Resolution on September 21, 2022. However, the exercise was never carried out following a subsequent change in government.

According to Shaikh, a detailed assessment is crucial to understanding the community's current socio-economic and educational conditions. The data would provide a realistic picture of living standards, access to financial assistance, infrastructure, healthcare facilities, and the implementation of government welfare schemes.

Shaikh argued that this data would allow the state government to formulate region-specific policies to bring the community into the mainstream of development. He noted that no comprehensive study of the community's status has been conducted since the Sachar Committee Report was published in 2006.

Muslims constitute 11.54 per cent of Maharashtra's population, making them the second-largest religious community in the state. Maharashtra also contains 56 Muslim-majority towns. Shaikh suggested that the proposed survey could be conducted through outsourced agencies using limited financial resources and manpower, noting that similar surveys have been successfully completed for other communities.