New Delhi: Out of 829 candidates who cleared the Civil Services Exam – 2019 batch, 42 are Muslims. The number rose as compared to last year. 28 had cleared in 2018 batch.
However, in the 2016 batch, for the first time in history, 50 Muslims were selected through the UPSC, with 10 making it to the top 100. In the 2017 batch, too, 50 Muslims were selected through the exam.
In 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 batches, number of selected Muslims were 30, 34, 38 and 36, respectively.
One in top 100
Safna Nazarudeen, who ranked 45, has secured the highest rank among Muslim candidates. Safna is the only Muslim who is in top 100 this year.
“Since 2016, the percentage of Muslim candidates has remained around 5 per cent, which is a big feat, considering that, since Independence, this number was around 2.5 per cent,” said Zafar Mahmood of the Zakat Foundation, which grooms Muslim candidates for the UPSC.
“Out of the 42 candidates who have made it this year, 27 are from Zakat Foundation,” Mahmood said ti The Print.
Sachar Committee Report
“The realisation among the community to invest more in civil services came with the 2006 Sachar Committee Report, which documented the poor representation of Muslims in government jobs,” said Mahmood.
According to the report, at the time, just 3 per cent of IAS officers, 1.8 per cent of Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officers and 4 per cent of IPS officers were Muslims, even though the community comprised 13.4 per cent of the population at the time (2001 census), as reported by The Print.
“Since then, there has been a big change in the outlook of the community, and it has managed to bring the representation each year to 5 per cent,” Mahmood added. “However, considering the total percentage of Muslims in India is 15 per cent, we have to make three times the effort to bring the representation up,” he said.