Socio - Economic Status Of The Muslim Minority In Tripura

Tripura, one of the eight sister states of northeast region, is a virgin land for scholars to study, specially, on the Muslims. Not only Tripura, but also the entire northeast is very little known to the people of mainland India, mainly because of its backwardness in development and communication. The Muslim population of the region is 88, 50,940 out of total population 3, 83, 16,918 i.e. 23.10 percent. The Muslims of Tripura constitute 8.00 percent of the total state population and 2.8 percent of the regional Muslim population (Census: 2001). Though the process of modernization in India started in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, the Muslim community of India did not start till the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when Anglo-Oriental College was founded at Aligarh by Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898) in 1877. However, these waves of modernization did not start in Tripura's Muslim till today. Their socio-economic positions remain far from the main stream of development of national scenario. This is evident in the findings of the Prime Minister's High Level committee report 2006, headed by Justice (Rtd.) Rajindar Sachar, which has explored a pathetic picture about the status of Muslims in all over India. In the state of Tripura, situation remains almost the same especially in the field of education, employment and economic and political development. Demographic change in the Muslim population is one of the causes for their socio-economic position to be at the bottom of social heap. Moreover, poor implementation of the suggestions of Sachar Committee, Prime Minister's 15-points and Chief Ministers (Tripura) 8-points development Programs for the religious minorities also leads the situation to be almost stagnant.