Part One
Mumtaz Alam | India Tomorrow
New Delhi, April 29— Of the 759 successful candidates in the Civil Services Exam 2018-19, results of which were declared on April 5, some 30 were from the Muslim community – around one and half dozen of them had got support from the Delhi-based Zakat Foundation of India (ZFI) at some level during their preparations for the coveted Civil Services Exam.
Started by retired civil servant Dr Syed Zafar Mahmood in 2007, ZFI’s Sir Syed Coaching and Guidance Centre for Civil Services has 121 successful minority candidates to its credit. In an interview with India Tomorrow, Dr. Mahmood, who served as OSD on the famous Sachar Committee, talks about the history and success of his institute, need for Muslims in civil services and empowerment of the community.
Excerpts from Interview:
Why and when did you start Civil Services coaching for minority youths?
Zakat Foundation came much later in my life. I joined civil services in 1977. After completing my training in Mussoourie and Nagpur, during all my postings in India I used to take leave on Sundays and go to Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia and collect boys in the hostels after lunch and speak to them and convince them that they must appear for civil services. As result of that, so many boys have got selected – and now many of them have retired. That I used to do it individually in my life. My efforts had very good success rate. But this all was individual effort. After I finished my tenure in the Sachar Committee, I realized that Muslims are lagging behind, as reported by the Sachar Committee, everybody else including the Scheduled Castes in every fields – social, economic and educational. Sachar Committee also pointed out very rightly that this is because of lack of proportionate representation of Muslims in the governance of the country. Then I realized that government will not do it and the community will have to do it itself. Though Zakat Foundation of India had come into being in 1997 but in 2007 we thought of creating Sir Syed Coaching and Guidance Centre for Civil Services as a unit of Zakat Foundation. Alhamdulillah, since then we have come a long way – 121 boys and girls have been selected and joined civil services.
Is success of a Muslim candidate in Civil Services empowerment of an individual or the community?
No, it’s not empowerment of an individual. Becoming a doctor, an engineer or a chartered accountant is the empowerment of the individual. But when you get government power in your hand you take decisions of the government. In India, there are 725 districts. In every district, in different departments of the government, thousands of decisions are taken every day on the files but not a single file is signed by any MLA or MP or anyone – all are done by civil servants. So you can imagine who are changing the country. More than 90% of India’s governance is done by civil services and they are just a few thousands of people who run. If you are part of that you are very powerful till the end of your tenure but actually in practice till your last breath.
Suppose Dr Zafar Mahmood is District Magistrate of Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh). How does it affect the minority community living in the district?
It’s a good question. In 1985-86, I was posted in Faizabad (Uttar Pradesh). I worked there for one and half years. It was my last day in office before moving to Jaipur as Additional Commissioner. Everybody knew that I was going. My staff told me that a person has come to meet me. He was a businessman of the city. He was in kurta- pajama with long beard. He told me he has come to thank me. I asked him why. I have never met you, I have not done anything for you then why do you want to thank me? He said I was not supposed to do anything for me. The day you joined this office your staff told me I will not get any difficulty in my work done. From that day till today, I did not face any difficulty which I was facing every year. The fact is I didn’t do anything for that person. But the very fact that I was sitting on this chair, most of the time it is sufficient for him to be assured that at least no injustice will happen.
Does it mean sitting of a Muslim DM practically minimizes bias against the community?
You are 100% right. Not only this, it minimizes injustice against the community. Actually there is so much dearth of Muslims in the civil services that one is hardly found. There has been tradition of discriminating against Muslims, but if a Muslim officer is sitting on top in any organization then that discrimination disappears. It’s natural because India is a land of hero-worship- idol worship. So the person who is sitting on the chair is god, so his subordinates will try to make him happy even if he is not asking for anything or any extra favour. What happens the minimum is that there no discrimination and there is restoration of justice, everything is fair, at least that much will happen. So I have got so many examples of that in my own lifetime and government job tenure, particularly during Sachar committee. You talk of civil service. There is a chain of decision taking in government, particularly in secretariat – from section officer to Cabinet secretary. In that chain there are usually 5-7 persons. If any one of them is Muslim, then the language and tenor of the noting and drafting changes. It’s very natural.
It has been observed that percentage of successful Muslim candidates has not crossed 5% in decades. Why is it so?
The past was much worse. Till three years ago, the percentage was stuck at 2.5. It was because of the efforts made by the community organizations in the last 10 years — I myself have addressed 38 orientation programs in civil services in different parts of India – that the percentage of success went above 5% last year and the year before. When I was in the service, the percentage was 2.5 but total intake was 400. The number has gone up over the years though around that percentage. Now this year it is at bit low. It is good as it will keep us moving, otherwise we would have sat with satisfaction. The percentage was taken up from 2.5 to 5. You are right we have to take it to 15%, only then we will have proportionate representation.
Do you think Muslim quota, as recommended by Sachar Committee and Ranganath Mishra Commission, will improve representation of the community in Civil Services?
Let me correct it. Sachar Committee did not recommend Muslim quota. Yes, it talked about three social-economic categories of Muslims – those in the lowest rung could be given affirmative actions. The committee did not mention even reservation. But Ranganath Mishra strongly advocated for Muslim quota. In some states there is reservation for Muslims. If that is on national level then definitely it will help the community. Community does deserve it, the Constitution also says that. Those which are found by the government as weaker section, for them there should extra effort in terms of reservation. Through that provision, Scheduled Castes got reservation, and Muslims can also be given quota from that provision. In Constitution, besides SC, the word weaker section has also been used. Weaker section can be of any religion.
The ground reality is that it will not happen. The UPA government tried to do it half-heartedly and it was struck down and got entangled in legal process. Therefore we should not depend upon that. Muslim community should not depend upon reservation. It should depend upon its own ability to rise and successfully compete with others. There is no dearth of talent in the community.
How does Zakat Foundation help Muslim Civil Services aspirants?
We have hired four buildings for boys hostels in Delhi. For girls, we have hired accommodation in a Christian hostel, which is very well protected and well equipped. We make the payments. From boys and girls we charge a very small amount of Rs 2000. They have to mage food themselves. Girls are given food from the hostel, that is also subsidized. Plus, we get them admitted in the most successful civil services coaching institutes of India, all of which are located in Delhi and most of them are placed near our hostels. We pay fee for them directly to the coaching institute. We have to spend about a couple of lakhs of rupees as fee for each candidate.
What is your selection procedure and do you get more meritorious candidates than your intake capacity?
Certainly. That goes without saying. Our application procedure is only online. The procedure begins in early January every year and it remains open till usually end of April (but this year because of Ramadan it will remain open till end of May). Our selection procedure consists of a written test followed by interview of those shortlisted based on the written test. It will take place in June this year. Although thousands appear we select 50. There are a large number of candidates who are meritorious, they must be given a chance but because of lack of resources with us we have not been able to take more candidates.
What’s your future plan for expansion of your coaching academy?
We have been working on a bigger project for the last 6-7 years so that we can add one zero to 50 and we could take care of 500 boys and girls under one roof in the NCR only. You will be happy to note that this has happened already. We are working in collaboration with Maulana Mahmood Madani saheb, who is the chairman of Shaikhul Hind Trust and also happens to be General Secretary of Jmaiat Ulama-I- Hind. In collaboration, they have given land and are helping in building .The academic bloc with lower ground floor and upper ground floor is built. Construction of hostel is beginning very soon. Insha Allah, it is expected that the batch that ZFI selects in 2020 will start living there.
Part Two
Part Three
