'Apathy of Muslims largely responsible for present plight'

Apathy of the community itself is largely responsible for the present plight of Muslims, especially in the field of education, a senior government official has said.
National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Chairman retired Justice M S A Siddiqui said that the Muslim community in the country was not serious in improving its social and educational backwardness.
Addressing a seminar on Social and Educational Empowerment of Indian Muslims organised by a group of social bodies, Siddiqui said the apathy of the community was largely responsible for its present plight, especially in the field of education.
He said its sad that though the government had introduced a large number of schemes for the minorities but they were being squandered away in absence of an organised infrastructure within the community.

Siddiqui also said that there were virtually no Muslim NGOs in north India, which were seriously committed to the cause of the social uplift and those existing are only for namesake.
The chairman said that Aligarh was supposed to be an educational hub for the Muslims in northern India, and he found that there was a very lacklustre response to different social and educational schemes at the grassroots level in the city too.