THE employment status of the non-Muslim minorities displays diverse characteristics. The Scheduled Caste Buddhists are predominantly dependent on the worst forms of casual work, while the majority of Sikhs and Christians are self-employed.¹ While the concentration of workers in the self-employed category is higher among Sikh males, both in villages and urban towns and cities, among Christians it is more so only in rural areas. Urban Christians, both male and female, are found to be employed as regular workers. What is striking is that the share of female regular workers in urban areas surpasses the share of male regular employees among the Sikhs and Christians.

The minorities in India are certainly not a homogenous category, except maybe in their share in the population. The non-Muslim Notified Minority Communities (NMCs) amount to only 5% of the population, a total of 51.32 million persons. Being spread out across the country, the NMCs constitute a small share in the state/UT population in most cases, except where they are concentrated.²

All minorities in the country, except Sikhs, have a relatively higher urbanization rate. It appears that the lack or inadequacy of initial endowment in terms of land and resources, together with poor levels of economic development of rural areas which has been facing a crisis of employment generation, pushes the minority communities towards urban cities and towns. Such a flight from the areas where traditional forms of discrimination operate can, however, be beneficial in terms of better returns for these communities, if only their endowment positions improve together with human capital development.

The non-Muslim minorities have a relatively higher literacy rate³ than the all India average as per the Census of India, 2001. This was noted in the Sachar Committee Report⁴ as well, which highlighted the gravely low educational status of the Muslims as a whole, and even as compared to all the other minorities. Of course, the distinctions across rural-urban areas and across girls and boys remain. Christians have a literacy rate of 80, while for Buddhists it is 73 and 69 for Sikhs. The general female literacy rates are found to be lower than those of their male counterparts, which is also true for these NMCs. The female literacy rate for Christians, Sikhs and Buddhists are 76, 63, and 62 respectively. The male-female gap is comparatively wider in the rural areas. The low literacy rate in the rural areas and particularly among females is the national pattern and the situation of the minority communities is no different. The worst gender gaps in literacy rates are reported among the Buddhists, both in rural (24 points) and urban (17 points) areas.

 

Does the advantageous educational position of the NMCs remain so even among the graduates and above category and how does this vary across income classes?⁵ What implications does this have on the work participation and employment status of men and women of the Christians, Buddhists and Sikhs?

Usually it has been found that the percentage of self-employed and regular workers increases from the poorer to the better-off sections of the population for India as a whole, whereas the percentage of casual workers declines as one moves to the higher strata of society. However, the notified minority communities deviate from this pattern.

The proportions of self employ-ed and casually employed males as well as females in rural areas are higher than in urban areas for all the notified minority communities. However, a contrasting picture has been observed in the case of regular workers in urban areas where, for both males and females, the proportion of urban workers was relatively higher than in the rural areas in 2004-05. This pattern, however, is akin to that of the all India scenario. The differences emerge when each NMC is observed individually.

Self-employment is a major source of livelihood for rural Indians in general – with nearly one half or more working persons across quintile groups being thus employed. The Sikhs are predominantly self-employed, both in villages as well as urban areas. They report the highest proportion of self-employed compared to the other non-Muslim minorities, followed by Christians. Given the lower poverty levels among the Sikhs (5%) and Christians (11%), the employment statuses of these NMCs are relatively better, with the proportion of casual workers being lower. However, among the Sikhs there is an increase in the share of self-employed as one moves from the poorer sections to the better-off sections.

 

While the Christians are seen to be self-employed irrespective of quintile groups both in the rural and urban areas, they display substantial differences across locations, with the self-employed being 61% among rural Christians and only 33% in urban areas. Among the Buddhists, it is only the relatively better-off sections who are self-employed entrepreneurs. Even this is the lowest across all NMCs. The survival kind of residual activity in self-employment expected among the poorer section is minimal among the lowest quintile of the Buddhists. Being Scheduled Caste Dalits, with relatively higher levels of poverty, the Buddhists seem to need paid avenues of work given limited ability to take risks on the one hand and probably also their poorer access to credit avenues constraining their entrepreneurship.

Casual employment is relatively high among all the non-Muslim NMCs in urban areas compared to the villages, which corroborates the higher urban poverty levels noted for the NMCs. However, a comparatively larger proportion of Buddhists is involved in this form of employment. This is true both in rural and urban areas and identifies the proportion of Buddhists as casual workers to be way beyond the all India averages and, of course, as compared to all the other notified minorities. They are largely found to be employed in casual labour, especially among the relatively poorer quintiles.

While between 60 to 80% of the poorer quintiles among Buddhists are working on casual wages in rural areas, there is a relative decline as one moves up along the quintile groups, so much so that among the relatively better-off sections in the rural areas, the share of casual workers is 18%, both among the Buddhists and Christians. In the urban areas too this variation is notable, with more than one half of all workers among the two poorer quintiles of Buddhists being casual workers, while very insignificant proportion of the NMCs work as casual workers in the better-off segment. However, among the urban Christians, nearly 4% of the better-off are recorded as casual workers, which is the highest across NMCs for that category.

 

Given the fact that the urban employment scenario of Christians differs quite significantly, with more than one half of them working as regular employees, it is possible that even this small segment of the casual employment among the well-to-do refers to the opportunities availed by professionals and consultants. Among the Sikhs, regular workers have a smaller share given their concentration in self-employment. Note that this self-employment activity is not predominantly in agriculture.⁶ The shift of Sikhs into trading related activities replacing the Hindu baniyas who moved out of Punjab after the Khalistan movement in the eighties,⁷ may be one of the explanations for this concentration.

 

Regular workers among the Sikhs constitute a mere 44% even in urban areas. The Christians’ engagement in regular work is relatively high both in urban and rural areas compared to the Buddhists and Sikhs. This is explained by their higher levels of educational attainments, both in terms of literacy as also vocational and higher education. Interestingly, among the Christians, the relatively better educational situation is noted across the proxy class quintile groups, unlike other NMCs where there is a strong association with better-off households being more highly educated.

Regular employment, especially in the rural areas, is observed more among the higher quintiles in general. Relatively, among the non-Muslim minority households who are better-off, the rural Christians and Buddhists share of regular workers is similar. The topmost quintile – Q5 – records 18% regular employment in rural areas for Christians, while it is 17% for Buddhists. However, in all the other lower quintiles, the rural Buddhists range from 4% to 7% regular workers. In other words, the rural profile of regular workers is comparatively better among the Christians across quintile groups.

Regular employment in urban areas forms the most significant share for the better-off sections of all NMCs, with the Buddhists and Christians reporting 71% and 68% regular workers among the Q5 segment. The Sikhs, on the other hand, seem to find themselves in regular employment irrespective of the quintile groups – ranging from 35% to 49%. Even the poorest Sikhs (Q1) record 45% regular employment, while for the Buddhists and Christians, less than one-fourth of the Q1 group find such secure and steady employment avenues.

 

To highlight some of the noteworthy points emerging from the analysis of employment profiles of the rural-urban NMCs: rural Buddhists, rural and urban Christians and urban Sikhs are particularly interesting. The three points regarding the rural Buddhists refer to their low self-employment, and high casual work and female work participation levels. Unlike most of the NMCs, especially in rural areas, while self-employment predominates, among the Buddhists, the lower proportion of workers as self-employed sticks out, especially among the poor. In comparison to other NMCs, avenues for entrepreneurship do not seem to be easily available to the predominantly Dalit Buddhists. Casual work predominates among them. An increase in the share of casual workers among the rural poor Buddhists seems to have occurred over time.

Rural worker participation rates of Buddhist females are the highest across the NMCs⁸ and the male-female gap in WPR is the lowest. This in fact pushes up the overall worker participation rate of Buddhists compared to the other NMCs in villages. In spite of caste based quotas in public sector employment, their actual representation remains lower than stipulated. A large proportion of the SCs remain class-D employees within the formal government sector jobs, primarily due to the over representation in sweeping and cleaning jobs.⁹

The comparative picture of the Christians in rural areas is in drastic contrast to that of the Buddhists and more akin to the all India scenario, with 60% self-employed workers in 2004-05. The share of regular workers is one half of the share of casual workers among rural Christians. However, compared to the share of women regular workers across the non-Muslim minorities, both in rural and urban areas, it is the Christian women who record the highest shares.

 

In fact, in urban areas, the Christian women’s share of regular workers surpasses that of their male counterparts as well. While 61% of all Christian women are regular workers, the male share is only 48%. A large part of this difference is accounted for by casual employment. Since the share of male casual workers (18%) among Christians is double the share of women casual workers (9%).

The role of missionaries in the education of Christians and the importance attributed to schooling is visible from the relatively higher literacy rates among them. The lower male- female literacy gaps among Christians compared to the Sikhs and Buddhists are an indication of the significance attributed to female education as well. The support from missionaries and government policies alike further aid the pursuance of female education, which at the higher levels facilitates their improved participation in the labour markets even in the rural areas. Christian women appear to be relatively more in favour of undertaking work, especially in urban areas. Of course, both the proportion of highly educated women and regular employment in rural and urban areas is way higher among the economically better-off Christians.

 

A similar scenario is witnessed among Sikh women but much more prominently in urban areas. It appears that the relative prosperity, together with higher self-employment, not only in rural but also in urban areas, delimits the male participation in higher education and regular workforce. Therefore, as against the usual norm observed among most communities wherein the graduates and highly educated persons are more among the males compared to females, among urban Sikhs the share of women graduates exceeds that of their male counterparts. This advantage is expectedly concentrated among the better-off Sikh households.

The pursuit of education especially at the higher levels is often associated with the age at marriage as well. Both the Christians and Sikhs report a much lower incidence of child marriages, with around 17% women in each case reported as married before the age of 18 years.¹⁰ As per the 2001 Census, the incidence of child marriage remains quite high, with 43% of the married females being below the ages of 18 years. The incidence of child marriage is high in India, especially in the villages. But for the Sikhs and even the Christians the incidence of early marriages among women is lower and similar irrespective of rural or urban areas.

 

Interestingly, however, the incidence of early marriage of males by the age of 21 years¹¹ among Sikhs (38%) is quite high. It is possible that the self-employed activities of the household attracts or demands the labour of male children, distracting them from education and even resulting in their dropping out from schooling due to disinterest. This may also be partly a reason for early marriages among males. What is striking is that a far lower proportion of Sikh females get married before the legal age of 18 years. While the incidence of early marriage, that is before the legal age, is noted in less than one-fifth of all Christian males and females, the situation is very different among the Buddhists. Quite expectedly, the Buddhists report a higher incidence of early marriage among both males (39%) and females (41%).

The relatively better situation of the Sikhs with higher levels of regular and self-employment are clearly associated with their income position, while the reverse is true for the Buddhists, who are predominantly casual workers. The Christians have benefited from better educational levels. Visible much more in the urban context, but even in the village scenario, the Christians comparatively have a higher regular workforce than other non-Muslim minorities.

This analysis across the rural and urban areas reveals a very varied pattern of education and employment among the non-Muslim minorities, which can be explained only partly by the socio-economic parameters. To what extent are these variations in choices exercised within the labour markets governed or influenced by individual or community level cultural perspectives is a question which remains. In some cases, as in the instance of Scheduled Caste Buddhists, the minimal participation in self-employment and enterprises has been noted by other researchers as well who have worked on Dalit issues.¹²

 

The research work on labour market access by Harris, Kannan and Rodgers,¹³ also substantiated by Damodaran,¹⁴ highlights the mechanisms through which caste based institutions operate as barriers to easy entry for others. Some progressive measures as initiated by the Madhya Pradesh state government by introducing reservations for Dalits in enterprise development schemes through provision of credit facilities and other support is one such instance. Only field survey based studies can elicit further details to shed light on these dimensions. However, to have secondary data based profiles on the NMCs is a major contribution in terms of understanding some of the socio-economic aspects that highlight community specific insights as presented here.

 

Footnotes:

1. Based on the NSS 61st round (2004-05) employment and unemployment unit level data calculations for the report Socio-economic Status of the Notified Minority Communities undertaken by the Institute for Human Development (IHD) and submitted to National Commission for Minorities (NCM) after the Sachar Committee report, in which Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs and Parsis were covered, See Rustagi, et al., 2008. This paper compares only three of the notified minority communities, excluding Muslims and Parsis.

2. Preet Rustagi, Abhay Kumar, Balwant Singh Mehta, Sunil Kumar Mishra and Payel Dutta Mazumdar, Socio-economic Status of the Notified Minority Communities (Other than Muslims), Report submitted to National Commission for Minorities (NCM), Institute for Human Development (IHD), New Delhi, March 2008.

3. Based on the basic literacy indicator of being able to read and write in any language.

4. GOI, Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India, Report of the Prime Minister’s High Level (Sachar) Committee, Government of India, New Delhi, 2006.

5. The proxy for income classes is the NSS data based monthly per capita consumption expenditure divided into five quintiles indicative of different rungs from the poorest (Q1) to the relatively well-to-do (Q5).

6. Surinder S. Jodhka, ‘Sikhs in Contemporary Times: Religious Identities and Discourses of Development’, Sikh Formations 5(1), 2009, pp. 1-22.

7. Gurpreet Bal, ‘Violence, Migration and Entrepreneurship: Punjab During the Khalistan Movement’, Economic and Political Weekly, 3 September 2008.

8. Except Parsi women, who constitute an exception with high levels of urbanization, non-existent poverty, near universal literacy and higher educational levels as well as work participation rates.

9. GOI, Report of the Expert Group on Diversity Index, Ministry of Minority Affairs, New Delhi, 2008.

10. Preet Rustagi et al., 2008, op cit.

11. This calculation includes men of 21 years age as well, although the legal marriageable age for men is 21 years.

12. Barbara Harris-White, India Working – Essays on Society and Economy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003; Barbara Harris-White, ‘India’s Socially Regulated Economy’, The Indian Journal of Labour Economics 47(1), 2004, pp.49-68.

13. J. Harriss, K.P. Kannan and G. Rodgers, Urban Labour Market Structure and Job Access in India: A Study of Coimbatore, International Labour Organisation, Geneva, 1990.

14. Harish Damodaran, India’s New Capitalists: Caste, Business and Industry in a Modern Nation-State, Permanent Black and Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.