Muslims in India - Needs for Empowerment

Muslims in India - Needs for Empowerment

UN COMMISION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
SUB-COMMISSION ON THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
FIFTY FIFTH SESSION
WORKING GROUP ON MINORITIES
NINTH SESSION
12th to 16th May 2003
GENEVA
|M.H.ZAWAHIRULLAH
PRESIDENT
TAMILNADUMUSLIM MUNNETRA KAZHAGAM
7 VADA MARAICOIR STREET,
CHENNAI 600 001 INDIA
TEL 91 44 25233884
FAX 91 44 25223868

Email tmmkpresident@desertmail.com

| |

Agenda Item No. 3 b

SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF MUSLIM MINORITY COMMUNITY IN INDIA

Mr. Chairman,

I thank you for giving me an opportunity to take the floor once again. I am M.H.Zawahirullah representing the TamilNadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, a mass based democratic, secular and advocacy organisation of the Muslims in India.

In my intervention I would like to address item 3 (b) of the agenda relating to the possible solutions to problems involving minorities including the promotion of mutual understanding between and among Minorities and Governments. I would like to put forward certain solutions for solving the socio-economic deprivation of the Muslim minority community in India.

At the outset, I would like to refer to Article 2.2 of the UN Declaration of Minority Rights which states that persons belonging to minorities have the right to participate effectively in cultural, religious, social, economic and public life. I would also like to refer to Article 4.5 of the UN Declaration of Minority Rights which declares that 'states should consider appropriate measures so that persons belonging to Minorities may participate fully in the economic progress and development in their country.'

The Minority Muslim Community in India suffers from substantially greater socio- economic deprivation than the majority community. The 55th round country wide survey conducted in 1999-2000 by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), the autonomous body of the Ministry of Statistic and Programme implementation, Government of India reveals explicitly the socio-economical...

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