Educational inequality begins early as the Muslim children in India have lower reading and arithmetic skills than others, says a survey. “It is same with the Dalit and Adivasi children who fall in the same category as of Muslim children,” the survey further adds.

“Three out of ten Muslims in the country are below poverty line living on less than Rs 550 a month,” according to the Human Development in India survey released on Friday by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and University of Maryland of the US.

The survey also points out that the Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims have also fewer networks than other social and religious groups. As India continues to progress ahead but the survey stated that it has much to do on achieving social objectives as nearly as 50 percent of Adivasis falls under the poverty line while the Dalits and Muslims with poverty rates of 32 per cent and 31 per cent.

The survey mentioned that there is yawning gap between men and women’s earnings. "For every rupee earned by a man, a rural woman earns 54 paise and an urban woman earns 68 paise... only 18 per cent women have their names in family bank accounts," which could only add to India’s woes for achieving the target of Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

The survey also found why there is masculine sex ratio in India. Despite the claims that India has banned pre-natal sex determination, the survey underlines the fact, “25-30 percent of the women respondents acknowledge receiving an ultrasound or amniocentesis during their pregnancy.”  

The survey also highlighted that 60 percent of women still marry before the legal age of 18. “This survey is unique as it was designed to measure different dimensions of human development, with a particular emphasis on understanding social inequalities,” said Sonalde B. Desai, co-author of the survey.