19.5% Muslims qualify for civil services in five years

Story by  ATV | Posted by  Aasha Khosa • 2 Years ago
Muslim youth celebrating after school examination results (File pic)
Muslim youth celebrating after school examination results (File pic)

 

Daulat Rahman/Guwahati
 
Altogether 68 Muslim candidates have cracked the Combined Competitive Examination (CCE) held in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 & 2018. The CCE is conducted by the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) to select candidates for the Assam Civil Service (ACS) and Allied Services.
 
The APSC conducted the CCE in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018 to select candidates for 348 posts of ACS and Allied Services. The percentage of Muslims who qualified for the posts stands at 19.54.
 
In 2013 the number of Muslim candidates selected for the ACS was 7. While 4 candidates were selected for the Assam Police Service (APS), 4 selected for the Inspector of Excise, 2 for Assistant Employment Officer, and one Inspector of Taxes posts.
 
Fifteen Muslim candidates came out with flying colours in the CCE conducted by the APSC in 2014. While 6 candidates were selected for ACS, 4 for APS, 3 for Inspector of Taxes, and one each for District Transport Officer and Superintendent of Taxes.
 
Next year, only seven Muslim candidates could crack the examination. While five candidates were selected for ACS, two became Inspector of Taxes.

Students in a Muslim school in Assam
 
Altogether 14 Muslim candidates cleared the CCE-2016 of whom four were selected for ACS, 6 for Assam Land & Revenue Service, one each for Assistant Registrar of Co-Operative Societies and Inspector of Taxes, and 2 for Inspector of Excise.
 
In 2018 a total of 14 Muslim candidates cleared the examination. Out of successful candidates two qualified for ACS, 3 for Assam Land & Revenue Service (Junior Grade), 1 for Superintendent of Taxes, 4 each for Labour Inspector and Inspector of Taxes.
 
Noted educationist and social activist Sheikh Hedayetullah told Awaz-the Voice that the number of Muslim candidates selected for ACS and Allied Services would be more in the future provided quality education spreads among them. He said a majority of candidates who cleared the examination were indigenous Muslims from upper Assam, who received a quality education.
“Another point I like to highlight is that the APSC has to maintain absolute transparency in conducting the CCE and declaring the results. In the past, the APSC’s credibility in holding the CCE was at stake. There are reasons to believe that more meritorious Muslim candidates could not clear the exam due to unfair practices prevalent in the APSC before 2016,” Sheikh Hedayetullah says.
  
Former ACS officer AK Absar Hazarika, a former civil servant said quality education among Muslims is the only way to increase the community’s representation in the civil services. He said the Muslim community has to change its mentality of blaming others for its backwardness. “Muslims have be deserving for clearing competitive exams,” Hazarika said.
 
"The first word of holy Quran is “Iqra” which means read or study. Prophet Mohammad emphasized education. He even asked his followers to go to China to receive education,” Hazarika said.
 
On the other hand in the seven decades since 1951, a total of 411 (out of 11,569 Indian Administrative officers) were Muslims. This brings the share of Muslims in the civil services to 3.55 percent, according to a survey conducted by an independent research center in Haryana.
 
Nooruddin, a research scholar at IIT Roorkee, Uttarakhand, analyzed the research center's report to present these figures. According to his analysis, most of the Muslim IAS officers have been from Jammu and Kashmir. So far, 119 IAS Muslim officers in India have been from Jammu and Kashmir.
Among the other states, Bihar had 58, UP 48, Kerala 31, Karnataka 20, Madhya Pradesh 16, Maharashtra 12, Tamil Nadu 10, Andhra Pradesh 10, and Telangana 8 Muslim IAS officers.