Antulay and Lies of Sachar Report

Dear Mr. Editor,

I shall be grateful if you publish my following letter in your esteemed daily. Apropos the news 'Antulay picks and chooses his battles' (TOI 03-02-2009) may I point out the following facts on behalf of our Think-tank, Patriots'
Forum:

1. Sachar report is a document full of suppresio veri, suggestio falsi, many instances of which were pointed to Justice Sachar and Minister of Minority Affairs / PMO by us vide our letter dated 29-01-2007 to which no reply was ever received. We had invited Justice Sachar in that letter to join a public debate on his flawed findings, but he did not respond, nor joined a seminar on the subject held in the IIC in February 2007.

2. Muslims are far better placed than Hindus in 4 globally recognized Human Development Indices, namely, Infant Mortality, Child Mortality, Degree of Urbanization and Life Expectancy at Birth. These are documented facts. Thus it is the Hindus who are more disadvantaged, notMuslims.

3. A study by Centre for Developing Societies revealed that economically and educationally Muslims were not backward vis a vis Hindus, and that “the proportion of very poor people" was higher among Hindus than among Muslims.

4. In our two Memorandum to Sachar Committee (not considered by Justice Sachar for reasons best known to him) we had pointed out all these facts and also highlighted that in terms of Census 2001 the lower per capita income of Muslims was due to 2 factors: first, every Muslim woman is giving birth to at least one more child than her Hindu counterpart whichincreases burden on the household; and second, that the work participation of Muslim women was 50% less than that of Hindu Christian women which reduces the overall household income (percentages being 14.1% for Muslim women. 27.5% for Hindu women and 28% for Christian women).

Thus, Sachar Report is a fraud on the Indian people. That is why our Think-tank filed a PIL in Delhi High Court where it is pending. That surely makes it difficult for Shri Antulay, Minister for Minority Affairs, to continue denying the truth.

Yours Truly

R. K. Ohri

Secretary General, Patriots' Forum
D-6/13-D Vasant Vihar,
New Delhi - 110 057
Phones: 26142277 and Cell: 9810279264