Kishanganj MP's Cry In The Dark Over Funds For AMU Centre

Since March 8, on every working day of the Parliament바카라�s ongoing budget session, Mohammad Jawed, Congress MP from Kishanganj in Bihar, has stood in protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi바카라�s statue within the Parliament complex. Jawed바카라�s silent protest has attracted neither raucous media attention nor loud expressions of solidarity from his Parliament colleagues barring occasional expressions of support from a handful of MPs such as Shashi Tharoor, Manickam Tagore, Saptagiri Ulaka, and a few others.

Jawed바카라�s protest is over an issue that rarely triggers political hysteria or that familiar cacophony by the media 바카라� education infrastructure. To be precise, Jawed has been demanding that the Centre release funds allotted by the UPA government in 2013-2014 for setting up a centre of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Kishanganj. The banner he holds up every day of his protest reads: 바카라�Release Funds Save AMU Centre Kishanganj바카라� 바카라� not exactly the kind of slogan that stirs up passions, unfortunately.

바카라�I represent 30 lakh people of Kishanganj in the Lok Sabha and I come from the most backward part of Bihar 바카라� Seemanchal (constituting districts of Kishanganj, Purnea, Araria and Katihar), that has a population of over a crore people but has no education infrastructure to cater to the needs of our youth. The UPA government바카라�s decision to open an AMU Centre in Kishanganj had come as a ray of hope for lakhs of our youth who want to study and make something of their life but seven years after it was proposed, the Kishanganj AMU Centre is on the verge of closure for lack of funds,바카라� Jawed tells Outlook. Jawed says there are only six government colleges in his constituency and in seven of Kishanganj바카라�s 11 blocks there isn바카라�t a single college.

Earlier this week, as the Lok Sabha discussed the demand for grants under control of the Ministry for Education, Jawed made an anguished appeal in the House, stating that he had repeatedly written to the Prime Minister and union ministers for home, finance and HRD seeking their help in getting the long due funds released but to no avail. 바카라�I come from a land that had Nalanda and Vikramshila, which imparted education to the world in ancient times, but today it is our misfortune that we don바카라�t have infrastructure to educate our own people,바카라� Jawed says.

The Kishanganj MP insists that his efforts to see a flourishing AMU Centre in his constituency must not be condensed into the divisive Hindu-Muslim binary. Yet, it is difficult to ignore the fact that Kishanganj has a near 60 per cent Muslim population while the community comprises an average 47 per cent of the population of the four Seemanchal districts (Bihar바카라�s statewide average Muslim population is 17 per cent) 바카라� and that the institution in question is a branch of the Aligarh Muslim University. 바카라�If the AMU Centre begins operations and fulfils its mandate, it won바카라�t just cater to Muslims, will it? People from other religions will study there too. If it바카라�s the name that is a problem, I urge the government to open any other educational institution 바카라� open a centre of the Benaras Hindu University (BHU) but please give our youth a chance at good higher education,바카라� Jawed says.

There are ample reasons why the Kishanganj MP바카라�s demands must force affirmative action, urgently so. A 2017 study titled 바카라�Status of Muslim Youth in Bihar, Quantitative and Qualitative Assessment바카라�, sponsored by the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF), Bihar Office, had highlighted some grim facts about the state of education and its direct correlation with other human resource and welfare indices. The study, that also analysed official data from the Census, 2011, found a substantial difference in the literacy rates of rural and urban Bihar 바카라� 54.3 per cent and 69.1 per cent respectively.

The study pointed out that the literacy rate among Muslims in the backward Seemanchal districts was among the lowest in the state. It said the literacy rate among Muslims in Araria and Purnea was 48.3 per cent and 43.1 per cent respectively while Kishanganj registered 53.1 per cent and Katihar 45.6 per cent. Conversely, this data set would suggest that the 바카라�illiteracy바카라� rate in these four districts was considerably higher than the average pan-India illiteracy rate even among Muslims, which the Census 2011 pegged at 42.7 per cent; the highest among all religious communities in India. India바카라�s national literacy rate is 74.4 per cent as per Census 2011 or an even greater 77.7 per cent according to the National Statistical Commission survey of 2018.

The 2017 study, which based its conclusions in part on field surveys that involved interaction with Bihari youth in the 15 to 29 years age bracket, also pointed at another interesting facet; something that further buttresses the need for more educational institutions in the state, particularly in the Seemanchal districts. The study highlighted a major disparity that often gets ignored due to the umbrella concept of literacy 바카라� the actual break-up of 바카라�literate바카라� Muslims in Bihar as per their level of education. It nuanced the Census 2011 data to show how educational qualifications among Bihar바카라�s Muslims remained largely confined to school education and that only a meagre 2.4 per cent of Bihar바카라�s Muslims accounted for 바카라�graduate and above바카라� while another 0.9 per cent were diploma holders.

That just 2.4 per cent of Bihar바카라�s Muslim youth could get enrolled in 바카라�graduate and above바카라� courses must also be read with an older, albeit relevant, finding of a 2004 study conducted by the Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI). The ADRI report titled 바카라�Socio-economic and Educational Status of Muslims in Bihar바카라� had suggested a strong desire among Bihar바카라�s Muslims to send their children for higher education; even if this aspiration appeared modest, ripe with gender disparity, and also lower compared to other religious communities. The 2004 survey had pegged aspirational literacy rate for college education at 37.4 per cent for boys and 13.6 per cent for girls among Muslim households in rural Bihar and 54.5 per cent for boys against 36.1 per cent for girls in Muslim families in urban Bihar.

Jawed바카라�s argument that the Seemanchal districts are in desperate need for better education infrastructure and avenues for higher education are supported by fact. The 2017 study said, 바카라�there are 769 degree colleges in Bihar (276 of them being government/constituent colleges) for 196 towns and 593 blocks. This means, on an average, there is hardly one college in a block.바카라�

The story of the AMU Kishanganj centre also highlights how poorly thought out central schemes can be, possibly more so when they are meant for rural areas or ostensibly for benefitting religious minorities that have been left behind in India바카라�s skewed development model. The UPA government바카라�s belated realisation for setting up the Kishanganj centre had come in the last year of its second consecutive term in office and only after much public outcry over the delay in implementing recommendations of the famous Sachar Committee report that highlighted various causes for immediate action to uplift religious minorities. The UPA government had approved a fund of Rs. 136 crore for the Kishanganj Centre 바카라� another four AMU Centres were proposed for Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bengal and Kerala 바카라� while releasing the first instalment of Rs. 10 crore.

The Bihar government, after delays and protests by people of Seemanchal, awarded 224.02 acres of land in Kishanganj for the centre. In 2018, the land allotted got embroiled in legal disputes with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) as it was located near the Mahananda River. Thus, the centre has been functioning out of a rented dilapidated building, awaiting disposal of the petition by the NGT against the earmarked land. Besides, the Kishanganj AMU Centre had initially started out by offering MBA and B.Ed courses but in 2018 the B. Ed course was halted following objections by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).

Last year바카라�s Bihar assembly polls saw the Kishanganj AMU centre becoming a political issue in the Seemanchal region with Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi바카라�s AIMIM declaring that if its candidates from the region were elected, they would ensure quick remedies for the problems facing the institution. The AIMIM made impressive gains in Seemanchal; its candidates won four of the six assembly segments that fall within the Kishanganj Lok Sabha constituency at the cost of the Congress and RJD. There바카라�s been complete silence on the issue since then by the AIMIM legislators in Bihar though Owaisi has raised the issue of problems at the Kishanganj AMU Centre in the Lok Sabha, even if he hasn바카라�t joined Jawed바카라�s protest.

Outlook reached out to all four AIMIM legislators from Kishanganj 바카라� Amour MLA Akhtarul Iman, Bahadurganj MLA Anzar Nayeemi, Kochadhaman MLA Izhar Asfi and Baisi MLA Ruknuddin Ahmed 바카라� to enquire their efforts on the issue but received no response. Jawed says he doesn바카라�t wish to go into 바카라�why the AIMIM MLAs have now abandoned their commitment towards the fight for AMU Kishanganj바카라� because he feels the 바카라�issue of education must not be seen through the prism of politics바카라�. Jawed has now started a petition on social platform Change.Org seeking public support for his campaign and has received over 10000 endorsements so far. 바카라�My campaign for a flourishing AMU Centre in Kishanganj and against the problems and disparities that the youth of Seemanchal face due to poor education infrastructure will continue,바카라� Jawed says, adding 바카라�the Prime Minister talks about Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas but can this ever be achieved without Sabka Education바카라�?

The smorgasbord of problems and challenges facing the Kishangarh AMU centre may just as well be extended in varying degrees to other minority institutions in the country and, as in Seemanchal; these too may suggest similar correlations with welfare indices in the regions that these education centres are meant to serve. But then, no one seems to be listening.