MUSLIMS LAMENT LACK OF JOBS, EDUCATION IN WEST BENGAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 CALCUTTA 000541

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

PACOM FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/1/2016
TAGS: PREL IN BG PGOV PTER
SUBJECT: MUSLIMS LAMENT LACK OF JOBS, EDUCATION IN WEST BENGAL

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CLASSIFIED BY: Henry Jardine, Principal Officer, AMCONSUL ,
KOLKATA.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)



CLASSIFIED BY: Henry Jardine, Principal Officer, AMCONSUL ,
KOLKATA.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)



1. (C) SUMMARY: On November 8-9, Poloff visited the majority
Muslim district of Murshidabad along the West Bengal-Bangladesh
border to discuss socioeconomic and security concerns with
district officials, local politicians, and journalists.
Discussions echoed the findings of the Rajinder Sachar Committee
report on the socioeconomic condition of Indian Muslims that was
presented in the Lok Sabha on December 1. Our contacts
highlighted high unemployment and drop-out rates due to
government discrimination as the primary socioeconomic
challenges facing the Muslim community in Murshidabad and West
Bengal and downplayed the impact of illegal immigration from
Bangladesh. The district has seen a rise in the number of
religious schools (madrassas) in recent years, funded largely by
a few affluent members of the local community and some foreign
donors. The government says it has launched programs to support
the Muslim community, but NGOs working in the border region
report that these programs exist only on paper. Finally, our
contacts offered mixed views toward the US and US-India
relations. END SUMMARY.

GRIEVANCES CENTER ON DISCRIMINATION AND DEVELOPMENT

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2. (SBU) Murshidabad, a West Bengal district approximately 200
kilometers north of Kolkata, has a population of over 5.8
million and is one of the few districts in India where Muslims
constitute more than 60 percent of the population. The eastern
side of the district shares a 110-kilometer border with
Bangladesh largely demarcated by the Bhagirathi River. Poloff
met with district officials, local politicians, and journalists
to discuss issues affecting the border region.


3. (SBU) Politicians and journalists expressed grave concern
about the lack of economic and educational opportunities leading
to high unemployment and drop-out rates among Muslims. They
attributed this to government officials' discrimination in not
providing public sector jobs and higher education to Muslims.
The editor of the Murshidabad News, the district's main
vernacular paper, said that the problem arises because the
government views Muslim migrants from Bangladesh as illegal
immigrants but Hindu migrants as refugees. Just two percent of
the district's population holds a government job, and these jobs
are given to Hindus. He added that the district's literacy rate
was less than 50 percent and the unemployment rate among Muslims
was at least 80 percent. While some people are able to find
work in transport, the service sector, and a local thermal power
plant, the vast majority of the employed work in the
beedi-rolling (cigarette) industry. Separately, local political
party leaders, including district leaders from the ruling
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM),explained that it was a
difficult task to elevate the Muslim community in West Bengal
after the 1971 partition because only poor and uneducated
Muslims stayed in India, and they have had few opportunities to
establish themselves.


4. (SBU) Politicians and journalists explained that Muslims face
direct discrimination in higher education as well as indirect
discrimination in primary and secondary schools. Many Muslim
families cannot afford to send their children to primary and
secondary school because the opportunity cost, a day's wages of

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20 rupees, is prohibitive. (Note: 1 dollar = approximately 45
rupees. End note.) The drop-out rate among Muslim students in
primary and secondary school far exceeds that of Hindu students,
even those belonging to the poorer scheduled castes and tribes.


5. (SBU) Our discussions were consistent with the findings of
the Rajinder Sachar Committee report on the socioeconomic
condition of Indian Muslims that was presented in the Lok Sabha
on December 1. The report points out that Muslims constitute 25
percent of the population in West Bengal, but they hold just 4.2
percent of government jobs and are not represented at all in the
state's public sector units.

BANGLADESH BORDER PROBLEMS DOWNPLAYED

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6. (C) In Murshidabad, people were reluctant to talk about the
role of illegal immigration on the region's socioeconomic
status. Illegal immigration is a sensitive political issue in
West Bengal since many Muslims who immigrate illegally from
Bangladesh easily obtain voting cards and constitute a sizeable
vote bank for the ruling CPM. According to the Murshidabad
Superintendent of Police (SP),the Indian Border Security Force
(BSF) maintains a heavy presence in the district with
approximately 3,200 soldiers guarding against infiltration,
immigration, trafficking, and smuggling. The SP said that the
border was clearly demarcated in his district and downplayed any
threats. The SP admitted, however, that the central government
has increased pressure on the border districts to control
illegal border activity. He said that the GOI recently issued
instructions to all police chiefs in districts bordering
Bangladesh to keep extra vigil in the coming months and to
submit daily reports on border crossings. When asked about
reports that terrorists involved in the July 11 Mumbai attack
had infiltrated from Bangladesh, he said that all of the
investigations into terrorist attacks inside India had failed to
link attacks to infrastructure or individual in Murshidabad.


7. (C) All of our other contacts in Murshidabad agreed that it
was easy to cross the border but denied the existence of
infrastructure on the Indian side that could facilitate
infiltration. They explained that the Muslim community was very
frustrated, but their dissatisfaction was directed at the state
and federal government rather than the Hindu community.

GAINING INSIGHT INTO MADRASSA EDUCATION

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8. (SBU) Murshidabad, like other border districts, has seen a
growth in madrassas in recent years. Some of these schools are
privately funded by a few affluent Muslims in the community,
such as local beedi traders. Some schools limit coursework to
religious subjects, while others incorporate modern subjects
into the curriculum. When asked about job opportunities for
graduating students, the principal of a boys madrassa said that
most of his graduates become Imams at various mosques in West
Bengal. However, there are insufficient jobs within the
religious community for these graduates, and often a lack of
instruction in modern subjects makes them ill-equipped for other
work.


9. (SBU) During follow-up meetings in Kolkata, NGOs working in
the border region explained that the vast majority of students
still choose government schools over madrassas because they see
little future in a religious education. Nonetheless, the
drop-out rates are astronomical because of the economic
opportunity cost and the lack of English-medium instruction.
English is viewed as the best way to advance oneself, but
government schools do not provide English instruction until the

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fourth grade, and most students have dropped out by then.
Madrassa drop-out rates are slightly lower.

GOVERNMENT EFFORTS LACKING; NGOS TRYING TO FILL VOID

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10. (SBU) West Bengal has made some efforts to address these
socioeconomic discrepancies. The West Bengal Minority
Development Finance Corporation field supervisor for Murshidabad
said that the state government provides zero-interest loans to
minorities, stipends of 200 to 400 rupees per month to minority
university students, and discounted liquefied petroleum gas
(LPG) to minority villages.


11. (SBU) Unfortunately, NGOs report that most government
programs to support the minority community exist only on paper.
The government has run some effective programs-specifically, the
provision of drinking water and free polio vaccinations-but
efforts to improve agriculture, education, and public health are
almost nonexistent. Government efforts to mainstream madrassa
education by modernizing curriculum and recognizing
madrassa-issued degrees similarly have not progressed beyond the
planning phase.


12. (SBU) A mix of secular and religiously-affiliated NGOs is
trying to fill the void. Secular organizations primarily focus
on education, public health, and income generation, while Muslim
religious organizations mainly focus on education. A major push
for both groups is paying the marriage costs for girls so they
are less dependent on prostitution and exploitative labor. NGOs
report that raising awareness about public health remains their
biggest challenge, explaining that it took 30 years to raise
awareness about polio before the problem was adequately managed.


13. (SBU) One NGO contact explained that secular and
Muslim-affiliated organizations operating in Muslim-majority
areas are primarily funded by a few affluent patrons within the
Muslim community and some donors in Europe, the US, and the
Middle East. All organizations registered under the Foreign
Contribution Revolution Act (FCRA) are able to receive foreign
contributions without Indian government intervention. So far,
religious organizations, including madrassas, receive only
marginal support from "Muslims in Saudi Arabia and other
countries," although they could "easily obtain more if they
wished." Those madrassas recognized by the Government of West
Bengal also receive some funding from the state.

MIXED VIEWS TOWARD THE US

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14. (SBU) Our interlocutors held favorable views of Americans
and were mildly supportive of US-India ties, however, they
expressed strong reservations about asymmetry in the US-India
relationship. They were suspicious of alleged US plans to
"subjugate" India and control its foreign policy, a common
sentiment in CPM-dominated West Bengal, and they remained
severely critical of US policy in the Middle East. They were
frustrated by a perceived discrepancy in US policy toward the
Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs and underlined that
the Indian Muslim community was irate about the verdict in the
Saddam Hussein trial.


15. (SBU) Despite these reservations, community leaders welcomed
greater cultural exchanges and US outreach to Indian Muslims,
particularly in the areas of education and development. Our
contacts particularly were interested in the impact of September
11 on Muslims in the US. They were pleasantly surprised to hear
about US outreach programs and agreed that a significant gap
existed between local perceptions of US policy, based largely on
select media reports, and reality.

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COMMENT

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16. (SBU) The lack of employment and higher education
opportunities for Muslims in the border region has produced a
large minority community that is disproportionately unemployed
and illiterate. The problem often is exacerbated by the popular
view that it is a "waste of time" to send children to primary
and secondary school since they will have no chance to obtain
government jobs or higher education. While conceding the ease
with which one can cross the India-Bangladesh border, people
focus blame on Indian government discrimination and dismiss the
impact of illegal immigration for creating a preponderance of
Muslim poverty. This is a common view given the political
sensitivity of immigration, the cultural affinity shared by
Bengalis on both sides of the border, and the reluctance of
district officials responsible for securing the border to
disclose their shortcomings. With the continued inflow of
Bangladeshi migrants and the government's lack of progress in
elevating the socioeconomic status of the minority community, we
can expect the disparities and resulting minority discontent to
grow.


17. (SBU) Toward the US, Muslim views appear to be shaped by
suspicions about US intentions toward India and inaccurate
perceptions of US policy toward the Muslim world. However, the
receptiveness of our interlocutors toward cultural exchanges and
US outreach efforts is a positive sign and an opportunity to
bridge what appears to be a large communication gap.JARDINE