Sachar Committee

The Rajinder Sachar Committee was commissioned in 2005 by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to prepare a report on the latest social, economic, and educational conditions of the Muslim community of India. The committee was headed by former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court Rajinder Sachar, as well as six other members. The committee prepared a 403 page report and presented it to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament, on 30 November 2006, 20 months after obtaining the terms of reference from the Prime Minister's Office. This report highlighted issues facing the Muslim community and their representation in Indian public life, but it has faced criticism for some of its recommendations and methodology. The Sachar Committee Report estimated that the Muslim proportion will stabilise at between 17% and 21% of the Indian population by 2100.

The committee was composed of seven members, four of whom were Muslim, and was headed by former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court Rajinder Sachar. The other members of the committee were Sayyid Hamid, T.K. Oomen, M.A. Basith, Akhtar Majeed, Abu Saleh Shariff, and Rakesh Basant. The Prime Minister also appointed Syed Zafar Mahmood to serve as Officer on Special Duty to the Committee.

The committee did not include any female members, although it did meet with women's groups and activists.

The Sachar Committee highlighted and presented its suggestions on how to remove impediments preventing Indian Muslims from fully participating in the economic, political, and social mainstream of Indian life. The report was the first of its kind to reveal the "backwardness" (a term used in Indian academic and legal discourse for historically dispossessed or economically vulnerable communities, not meant to be pejorative) of Indian Muslims. An issue highlighted was that while Muslims constitute 14% of the Indian population, they only comprise 2.5% of the Indian bureaucracy. The Sachar Committee concluded that the conditions facing Indian Muslims was below that of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

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