Literacy and employment - two crucial indicators of socioeconomic well-being - are critically low in Muslim communities of Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, two of India's largest states.

According to a new report brought out by Abusaleh Shariff, member secretary, Sachar committee, “The literacy level of Muslim OBCs in urban areas in Andhra Pradesh, has not increased at the matric level, as well as at the level of higher education.” The reason he gave for such low levels of literacy in AP, “was the absence of schools in the pockets and clusters where they live.”

The condition is pretty much the same in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India where, according to Shariff’s estimate, “The proportion of Muslim population declines in the total population of the state as educational level goes up.”

Bundelkhand is an exception in the state. “Muslims enjoy better education level only in Bundelkhand region, where they are found in small proportion and numbers,” said Shariff in his report  ‘Post Sachar Education and Employment: Is there a reason to cheer?’

Employment, given their poor education, is also very low.

According to census data (2011), Muslims are the largest minority group (about 19 percent) in Uttar Pradesh. But they have no propportional participation in the centre's flagship programmes like MNREGS.

The percentage of Muslims that have got job in MNREGS in UP is just 8.6 percent followed by SC/STs (53.5 percent), OBCs (33.9 percent), upper caste (4.1 percent).

Andhra Pradesh, Shariff reports, has lost its status as a model state in upliftment of the community. “Both employment and  literacy levels have  declined," he notes. With a population of 78 lakh, the community forms 9.2 percent of the state's population.

In his report, Shariff highlights the dismal condition of Muslims in AP. “The percentage of Muslims from urban AP in the formal sector is just 4.2 percent where as in the public sector it is 6.1. The same numbers in private and informal sectors come to 14.5 and 14.9.” Even in the Telangana region, employment opportunites for the Muslims has gone down. The report says Muslims and OBCs have suffered the highest loss (of Rs 41.50) in rural per capita income between 1993-94 and 2004-05. 

The rural areas in the state are no better with Muslims constituting only 4.5 percent of the formal sector, 5.9 percent of informal sector, 5.8 per cent of private sector and 5.1 per cent of public sector.

His report on AP was presented to the chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.