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RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL CALCUTTA 1589

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 CALCUTTA 000541 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PACOM FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  12/1/2016 
TAGS: PREL IN BG PGOV PTER
SUBJECT: MUSLIMS LAMENT LACK OF JOBS, EDUCATION IN WEST BENGAL 
 
CALCUTTA 00000541  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Henry Jardine, Principal Officer, AMCONSUL , 
KOLKATA. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Henry Jardine, Principal Officer, AMCONSUL , 
KOLKATA. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: On November 8-9, Poloff visited the majority 
Muslim district of Murshidabad along the West Bengal-Bangladesh 
border to discuss socioeconomic and security concerns with 
district officials, local politicians, and journalists. 
Discussions echoed the findings of the Rajinder Sachar Committee 
report on the socioeconomic condition of Indian Muslims that was 
presented in the Lok Sabha on December 1.  Our contacts 
highlighted high unemployment and drop-out rates due to 
government discrimination as the primary socioeconomic 
challenges facing the Muslim community in Murshidabad and West 
Bengal and downplayed the impact of illegal immigration from 
Bangladesh.  The district has seen a rise in the number of 
religious schools (madrassas) in recent years, funded largely by 
a few affluent members of the local community and some foreign 
donors.  The government says it has launched programs to support 
the Muslim community, but NGOs working in the border region 
report that these programs exist only on paper.  Finally, our 
contacts offered mixed views toward the US and US-India 
relations.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 GRIEVANCES CENTER ON DISCRIMINATION AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
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¶2. (SBU) Murshidabad, a West Bengal district approximately 200 
kilometers north of Kolkata, has a population of over 5.8 
million and is one of the few districts in India where Muslims 
constitute more than 60 percent of the population.  The eastern 
side of the district shares a 110-kilometer border with 
Bangladesh largely demarcated by the Bhagirathi River.  Poloff 
met with district officials, local politicians, and journalists 
to discuss issues affecting the border region. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Politicians and journalists expressed grave concern 
about the lack of economic and educational opportunities leading 
to high unemployment and drop-out rates among Muslims.  They 
attributed this to government officials' discrimination in not 
providing public sector jobs and higher education to Muslims. 
The editor of the Murshidabad News, the district's main 
vernacular paper, said that the problem arises because the 
government views Muslim migrants from Bangladesh as illegal 
immigrants but Hindu migrants as refugees.  Just two percent of 
the district's population holds a government job, and these jobs 
are given to Hindus.  He added that the district's literacy rate 
was less than 50 percent and the unemployment rate among Muslims 
was at least 80 percent.  While some people are able to find 
work in transport, the service sector, and a local thermal power 
plant, the vast majority of the employed work in the 
beedi-rolling (cigarette) industry.  Separately, local political 
party leaders, including district leaders from the ruling 
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), explained that it was a 
difficult task to elevate the Muslim community in West Bengal 
after the 1971 partition because only poor and uneducated 
Muslims stayed in India, and they have had few opportunities to 
establish themselves. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Politicians and journalists explained that Muslims face 
direct discrimination in higher education as well as indirect 
discrimination in primary and secondary schools.  Many Muslim 
families cannot afford to send their children to primary and 
secondary school because the opportunity cost, a day's wages of 
 
CALCUTTA 00000541  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
20 rupees, is prohibitive.  (Note: 1 dollar = approximately 45 
rupees.  End note.)  The drop-out rate among Muslim students in 
primary and secondary school far exceeds that of Hindu students, 
even those belonging to the poorer scheduled castes and tribes. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Our discussions were consistent with the findings of 
the Rajinder Sachar Committee report on the socioeconomic 
condition of Indian Muslims that was presented in the Lok Sabha 
on December 1.  The report points out that Muslims constitute 25 
percent of the population in West Bengal, but they hold just 4.2 
percent of government jobs and are not represented at all in the 
state's public sector units. 
 
BANGLADESH BORDER PROBLEMS DOWNPLAYED 
 
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----------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) In Murshidabad, people were reluctant to talk about the 
role of illegal immigration on the region's socioeconomic 
status.  Illegal immigration is a sensitive political issue in 
West Bengal since many Muslims who immigrate illegally from 
Bangladesh easily obtain voting cards and constitute a sizeable 
vote bank for the ruling CPM.  According to the Murshidabad 
Superintendent of Police (SP), the Indian Border Security Force 
(BSF) maintains a heavy presence in the district with 
approximately 3,200 soldiers guarding against infiltration, 
immigration, trafficking, and smuggling.  The SP said that the 
border was clearly demarcated in his district and downplayed any 
threats.  The SP admitted, however, that the central government 
has increased pressure on the border districts to control 
illegal border activity.  He said that the GOI recently issued 
instructions to all police chiefs in districts bordering 
Bangladesh to keep extra vigil in the coming months and to 
submit daily reports on border crossings.  When asked about 
reports that terrorists involved in the July 11 Mumbai attack 
had infiltrated from Bangladesh, he said that all of the 
investigations into terrorist attacks inside India had failed to 
link attacks to infrastructure or individual in Murshidabad. 
 
¶7. (C) All of our other contacts in Murshidabad agreed that it 
was easy to cross the border but denied the existence of 
infrastructure on the Indian side that could facilitate 
infiltration.  They explained that the Muslim community was very 
frustrated, but their dissatisfaction was directed at the state 
and federal government rather than the Hindu community. 
 
GAINING INSIGHT INTO MADRASSA EDUCATION 
 
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------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Murshidabad, like other border districts, has seen a 
growth in madrassas in recent years.  Some of these schools are 
privately funded by a few affluent Muslims in the community, 
such as local beedi traders.  Some schools limit coursework to 
religious subjects, while others incorporate modern subjects 
into the curriculum.  When asked about job opportunities for 
graduating students, the principal of a boys madrassa said that 
most of his graduates become Imams at various mosques in West 
Bengal.  However, there are insufficient jobs within the 
religious community for these graduates, and often a lack of 
instruction in modern subjects makes them ill-equipped for other 
work. 
 
¶9. (SBU) During follow-up meetings in Kolkata, NGOs working in 
the border region explained that the vast majority of students 
still choose government schools over madrassas because they see 
little future in a religious education.  Nonetheless, the 
drop-out rates are astronomical because of the economic 
opportunity cost and the lack of English-medium instruction. 
English is viewed as the best way to advance oneself, but 
government schools do not provide English instruction until the 
 
CALCUTTA 00000541  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
fourth grade, and most students have dropped out by then. 
Madrassa drop-out rates are slightly lower. 
 
GOVERNMENT EFFORTS LACKING; NGOS TRYING TO FILL VOID 
 
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¶10. (SBU) West Bengal has made some efforts to address these 
socioeconomic discrepancies.  The West Bengal Minority 
Development Finance Corporation field supervisor for Murshidabad 
said that the state government provides zero-interest loans to 
minorities, stipends of 200 to 400 rupees per month to minority 
university students, and discounted liquefied petroleum gas 
(LPG) to minority villages. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Unfortunately, NGOs report that most government 
programs to support the minority community exist only on paper. 
The government has run some effective programs-specifically, the 
provision of drinking water and free polio vaccinations-but 
efforts to improve agriculture, education, and public health are 
almost nonexistent.  Government efforts to mainstream madrassa 
education by modernizing curriculum and recognizing 
madrassa-issued degrees similarly have not progressed beyond the 
planning phase. 
 
¶12. (SBU) A mix of secular and religiously-affiliated NGOs is 
trying to fill the void. Secular organizations primarily focus 
on education, public health, and income generation, while Muslim 
religious organizations mainly focus on education.  A major push 
for both groups is paying the marriage costs for girls so they 
are less dependent on prostitution and exploitative labor.  NGOs 
report that raising awareness about public health remains their 
biggest challenge, explaining that it took 30 years to raise 
awareness about polio before the problem was adequately managed. 
 
¶13. (SBU) One NGO contact explained that secular and 
Muslim-affiliated organizations operating in Muslim-majority 
areas are primarily funded by a few affluent patrons within the 
Muslim community and some donors in Europe, the US, and the 
Middle East.  All organizations registered under the Foreign 
Contribution Revolution Act (FCRA) are able to receive foreign 
contributions without Indian government intervention.  So far, 
religious organizations, including madrassas, receive only 
marginal support from "Muslims in Saudi Arabia and other 
countries," although they could "easily obtain more if they 
wished."  Those madrassas recognized by the Government of West 
Bengal also receive some funding from the state. 
 
MIXED VIEWS TOWARD THE US 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶14. (SBU) Our interlocutors held favorable views of Americans 
and were mildly supportive of US-India ties, however, they 
expressed strong reservations about asymmetry in the US-India 
relationship.  They were suspicious of alleged US plans to 
"subjugate" India and control its foreign policy, a common 
sentiment in CPM-dominated West Bengal, and they remained 
severely critical of US policy in the Middle East.  They were 
frustrated by a perceived discrepancy in US policy toward the 
Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs and underlined that 
the Indian Muslim community was irate about the verdict in the 
Saddam Hussein trial. 
 
¶15. (SBU) Despite these reservations, community leaders welcomed 
greater cultural exchanges and US outreach to Indian Muslims, 
particularly in the areas of education and development.  Our 
contacts particularly were interested in the impact of September 
11 on Muslims in the US.  They were pleasantly surprised to hear 
about US outreach programs and agreed that a significant gap 
existed between local perceptions of US policy, based largely on 
select media reports, and reality. 
 
CALCUTTA 00000541  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
 
COMMENT 
 
------------------ 
 
¶16. (SBU) The lack of employment and higher education 
opportunities for Muslims in the border region has produced a 
large minority community that is disproportionately unemployed 
and illiterate.  The problem often is exacerbated by the popular 
view that it is a "waste of time" to send children to primary 
and secondary school since they will have no chance to obtain 
government jobs or higher education.  While conceding the ease 
with which one can cross the India-Bangladesh border, people 
focus blame on Indian government discrimination and dismiss the 
impact of illegal immigration for creating a preponderance of 
Muslim poverty.  This is a common view given the political 
sensitivity of immigration, the cultural affinity shared by 
Bengalis on both sides of the border, and the reluctance of 
district officials responsible for securing the border to 
disclose their shortcomings.  With the continued inflow of 
Bangladeshi migrants and the government's lack of progress in 
elevating the socioeconomic status of the minority community, we 
can expect the disparities and resulting minority discontent to 
grow. 
 
¶17. (SBU) Toward the US, Muslim views appear to be shaped by 
suspicions about US intentions toward India and inaccurate 
perceptions of US policy toward the Muslim world.  However, the 
receptiveness of our interlocutors toward cultural exchanges and 
US outreach efforts is a positive sign and an opportunity to 
bridge what appears to be a large communication gap.JARDINE