Muslims constitute large proportion of poor in Bengal: Amartya

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, who released a report on how more than a third of rural Muslim families in West Bengal have to survive within Rs 2,500 a month, has said the community constitutes a large proportion of the poor in the state.
About 80 per cent of the Muslim households in rural West Bengal report income of Rs 5,000 or less per month, which is close to the cut-off level of income for poverty line for a family of five, according to the study 'Living Reality of Muslims in West Bengal'.
"What is remarkable is the fact that Muslims constitute a very much larger proportion of the poor and the deprived in West Bengal," Sen said releasing the report at a function here yesterday.

"The fact that Muslims in West Bengal are disproportionately poorer and more deprived in terms of living condition is an empirical recognition that gives this report an inescapable immediacy and practical urgency," he said.
The study said "What is even more striking is that 38.3 per cent Muslim households in rural West Bengal earn Rs 2,500 or less per month, which is one-half of the cut-off level of income for the population below the poverty line."
The survey report, prepared by SNAP, Guidance Guild and Pratichi Trust, which is chaired by Sen himself, was carried out in 325 villages and 73 urban wards from a sample of 81 community development blocks and 30 municipal bodies across Bengal.

At the other end of the spectrum, it said only 3.8 per cent Muslim households reported earning Rs 15,000 and above per month.