Socio-religious Groups Research Articles

Revisiting Earnings Differentials across Socio-religious Groups in the Regular Salaried Employment in India

In India, the differences in a range of development indicators, including wages and earnings, along the spatial, caste, religious and ethnicity lines have been a serious concern. This article revisits the wage disparities and discrimination among regular salaried male workers across five categories of socio-religious groups. Using nationally representative Periodic Labour Force Survey (2018–2019) data, we examine the pattern of disparity and the associated endowment and institutional factors leading to unequal labour market outcomes. Our findings suggest that all the groups—Scheduled Tribes (STs), Scheduled Castes (SCs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Muslims continue to earn significantly lower wages than ‘Others’—the non-ST/SC/OBC/Muslim group. On decomposing the wage gap using the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition method, we observe that the share of unexplained components reflecting discriminatory treatment continues to be significant. While the wage gap is highest for Muslims and SCs, discrimination is high against SCs and OBCs and lowest against Muslims. Higher education and institutional factors explain a significant proportion of the wage gap for these groups. For STs, urban location and higher education explain most of the differences. In addition, quantile regression results indicate a wider gap at the bottom and a narrower gap at the top of the wage distribution, signalling a ‘sticky-floor’ phenomenon for ST, SC and OBC workers. JEL Codes: E24, J71, J49

הסתגלות של הרוחניות היהודיות הצפון-אמריקנית בישראל

This paper focuses on the cultural translation and adaptation of North American Jewish spirituality (JS) in Israel. JS emerged in North America in the late sixties and early seventies and absorbed the universalistic, open and inclusive approach typical of the counterculture and of the subsequent New Age forms of spirituality. When JS entered the Jewish Israeli scene in the late nineties it was adapted by two different socio-religious groups: secular New Age Israelis and the National-Religious public. As adopted by secular Jews who belong to the New Age spiritual milieu it retains (most) of the universal values that characterize the North American JS. At the same time, it reconstructs Jewish rituals in accordance with Israeli New Age aesthetics. When it is absorbed by Religious-Zionist Jews, its Jewish particularistic affinities are accentuated and the universal-cosmopolitan aspects are blurred, or even, in cases like that of R. Yitzchak Ginsburg, obliterated, creating a nationalistic version of JS.

Christian Monastic Life in Early Islam

Christian Monastic Life in Early Islam

Conflict Resolution between Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah Congregations in Tumpak Rejo Hamlet, Ponorogo Regency

The two largest and most powerful socio-religious groups in Indonesia are Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah. They have members from all over the country and have different religious views regarding some religious rituals aspect. These differences often give rise to friction in the realm of social life. This study aims to describe the conflict resolution between NU and Muhammadiyah in Tumpak Rejo Hamlet, Tambang Village, Pudak District, Ponorogo Regency. This study used a qualitative approach, and the data were obtained from interviews and observations with the residents of Tumpak Rejo Hamlet. This study shows that the conflict between NU and Muhammadiyah members also stems from differences in views about religious practices that take place in society. The role of the village government and community leaders succeeded in producing conflict resolution between the two community groups and, at the same time, creating tolerance and mutual respect between the two. This study concludes that cultivating an attitude of tolerance, a sense of togetherness, and mutual respect between communities is a resolution model that can overcome religious conflicts in society.

Revisiting the Pasmanda Political Discourse: Feasibility, Failure and the Way Forward

This article attempts to revisit the Pasmanda political discourse (PPD) which is grounded on the premise that there exist a number of backward and dalit Muslims who remain under-represented and whose demands remain unheard in contemporary India. In recognising this reality, this article tries to understand the PPD from three perspectives. First, the feasibility and importance of the PPD in the context of the resounding victory of the National Democratic Alliance which has indicated that the present dispensation managed to dismantle caste-based politics in the last 2019 general elections. Second, it tries to explain the reasons for the failure of Pasmanda politics which could not make a headway in the Muslim community in general and Pasmanda Muslims in particular and also in other socio-religious groups and political parties, despite it being a century-old political discourse. Third, it seeks to articulate the way forward to strengthen and rejuvenate the idea of Pasmanda in India today which is witnessing a domination of majoritarian politics.

Inclusiveness of Poverty Reduction: A Study of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

This study examines the inclusiveness of poverty reduction among the newly formed states of undivided Andhra Pradesh by looking into the poverty among the different socio-religious groups both in the rural and urban regions during the 2000’s. The major proposition that has highlighted in this study: which socio-religious groups are more poverty ridden in the undivided Andhra Pradesh and its bifurcated states (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana)? The National Sample Survey Organisation unit level data (61st and 68th rounds) on Consumption Expenditure Survey have been used for the analysis. The result reveals that Telangana is having lower poverty level than Andhra Pradesh and records a faster reduction in poverty during 2004–2005 to 2011–2012. Andhra Pradesh constitutes around 70% of the total poor of the undivided Andhra Pradesh. This study found that most of the Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes among the social groups and Muslims among the religious groups are more vulnerable and having higher head count ratio than the state average. Although several welfare programmes and schemes have already been implemented to eradicate poverty and inequality, still it is not effective in the ground level. Based on this argument, our study suggests that the schemes should focus on different sections of the people irrespective of rural and urban sectors in both the recently bifurcated states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. JEL Codes: I 32, D 63, P 25

When Abangan Embraces Sufism: Religious Phenomenology to Counter Radicalism in Contemporary Java

Abangan is one of the socio-religious groups regarded as a marginal community among the trichotomy of santri and priayi. It has been known that abangan were not religious Muslim, and they are poor farmers as well as workers, backward and less educated people. Meanwhile, santri are more religious and priayi among Javanese society are middle-class people practising syncretic Islam. The thesis on “The Religion of Java,” by Clifford Geertz, was more than a half-century indicated religious and social classification in Javanese society. In the midst of political polarization of Indonesian reformation, transnational Islamic groups began to establish their movement widely. Transnational Islamic groups that promote radicalism and violent extremism clearly avoid local wisdom and mysticism. As a result, abangan has experienced dramatic religious and social change. This study aims to see how to face radicalism after reformation in the social and religious transformation of abangan in Java. Previous studies have shown that the phenomenon of radicalism affects religious intolerance addressed to minority groups like abangan. This research paper aims to examine how abangan reacts to radicalism and engages with Sufism and their devotion to tarekat. Abangan recently appears to convert and join the tarekat movement as an alternative discourse to encounter modernism and religious radicalism.

Deradikalisasi Pemahaman Keagamaan di Indonesia: Mempertimbangkan Wacana Islam Moderat dan Islam Nusantara

Islam normatively teaches harmony and peace, in reality, religious understanding is not always synonymous with coherence. So far, there have been various radical religious understandings that have worsened the image of Islam. Furthermore, several discourses on Islamic understanding emerged as an effort to reduce radical Islamic understanding. This article seeks to discuss the de-radicalization of religious understanding in Indonesia that is offered through the discourse of moderate Islam and Nusantara Islam. To elaborate on these two discourses, this article conducts a literature review using the discourse analysis method. In conclusion, Moderate Islam is understood as an intermediate Islamic understanding that lies between two extremes, fundamentalism and liberalism. Meanwhile, Islam Nusantara is an interpretation of the understanding of Islam based on Indonesian culture and locality, such as being tolerant, polite, friendly in a diverse frame. These two discourses are theoretically quite important as an effort to radicalize religious understanding, but at the practical level these two discourses are difficult to accept among socio-religious groups that are vulnerable to radicalism

Occupational Segregation in the Indian Labor Market: A Socio-religious Perspective

This paper is an attempt to understand the occupational segregation among socio-religious groups in India. Using Employment and Unemployment Survey 2011–2012, the paper builds index of dissimilarity and Hutchens square root index to measure the segregation. The paper has found that segregation in general is higher in urban areas than in rural areas and among females than males. The highest segregation is, however, recorded between Hindu STs/SCs and Muslim OBC in urban areas, followed by Hindu others and Muslim others. The value of segregation index is the least in the case of Muslim OBC and Muslim others, confirming the almost similar pattern of occupations between them. Regular employment seems to emerge as driver of occupational segregation for males, while both regular employment and self-employment drive segregation among females. On the other hand, rising education levels raise segregation among males of all socio-religious groups. We also found that Muslim-populous states have low segregation, while Muslim-sparse states have high segregation between Hindu and Muslim. The occupations in which Muslims and Hindu STs/SCs are concentrated, have poor indicators of work decency.

Educational and Social Inclusion of Children Admitted Under RTE Quota: A Survey of Private Schools of Bhopal

Status of growth and development of a society is measured by various social indices which depend on upon the equitable opportunities provided by the government in the form of access, participation, and transformation. Surveys in the last one decade, present to us glaring inequalities in social-economic and educational indicators of different socio-religious groups. Whenever policies and programmes do not benefit citizens, the government makes special provisions so that it would benefit them. The Right to Education Act (RTE) and within it 25% Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota was one such major intervention. The provision of 25% quota for EWS and disadvantaged children is mentioned in the RTE act section 12(1) (C). Thus, section 12(1)(C) of the RTE acts as a level-playing field for the children who were not able to afford quality education being offered in private schools. In Madhya Pradesh (MP), the RTE act came into effect from 2011. Bhopal the capital of MP had 2258 recognized schools and merely 223 have been covered under the RTE quota. Around 8162 EWS and disadvantaged students are studying in age appropriate classes. The present study was a small project work carried out in 10 schools of Bhopal (urban) covered under the RTE quota. The results indicated that though there is a social and educational inclusion of children in private schools but as per teachers' the ride is not a smooth one based on the responses of the students. Moreover, teachers still have a biased and unfavourable attitude towards these children. The gravity of the problem is not as big in the elite schools as they are not offering the EWS quota.

Decomposing the Gaps in Access to LPG across Socio-Religious Groups in Rural India

This article investigates the patterns of household cooking fuel choice and its determining factors for various socio-religious groups in rural India using NSS 68th Consumption Expenditure round. The article also studies how the inter-household gaps result in many levels of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) access for households belonging to various socio-religious groups. In this regard, the application of a logistic model for the considered socio-religious groups highlights the importance of income and the education level of different members of the households. Further, the differences in the probability of access to LPG among various socio-religious groups, with respect to upper caste Hindus, are decomposed using Fairlie decomposition method. The gap in income determines a major proportion of the gap, followed by the education level of the members. We also find that the Scheduled Tribes (STs) face the problem of availability of LPG, while other socio-religious groups, when compared to upper caste Hindus, either face affordability issues or possess a taste for traditional fuel.

A study on knowledge, attitude and practice of family planning and determinants of fertility among different socio religious groups in a southern city: a cross sectional study

Background: The present study was conducted to assess knowledge, attitude, the practice of family planning and to study the determinants of fertility in different socio religious population in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India.Methods: The present cross-sectional study was carried out among 150 study subjects using a self-administered questionnaire. The data was collected and analyzed with Epi info version 7.Results: Only 144 participants actively participated and given their consent. Majority of them have knowledge about any one method of contraception. An average of both Muslim and Hindu religion have known about the natural contraceptive methods, oral contraceptive pills and IUCD was equal and an average of 11-12% of the participant were aware about side effects of oral contraceptive pills. The objections to contraceptive preventing women from using contraceptives coming from husbands and mother-in-law were strongly agreed/agreed in Hindu and Muslim population almost similar. The religious believes were strongly agreed/agreed in Muslim women than Hindu. Even though most of the participants visited or consulted with health care professionals in health center for family planning and 3/4th of them were using contraception. While comparing the four proximate determinants of fertility, index of contraception had greater impact on fertility than others.Conclusions: The present study highlighted that most of the women have not practised and have less knowledge about modern contraceptive methods. Innovative approaches have to be planned, tested and implemented to ensure their access to information, contraceptive methods and family planning services.

Reflections of Wage Discrimination on Poverty: Assessment of Indian Rural Labour Market

In this research paper, we have tried to probe the effect or reflections of wage discrimination on poverty. It is found that the differences in the wage determination process in the public and private sectors may result in earning differentials across socio-religious groups. Many of the research community have been given data about discrimination in the labour market. In this particular paper, we have given the results of data interpretation for wage discrimination and its direct or indirect relation with poverty. The analysis has been presented for mainly three types of work; regular, casual and self-employed work. For the query of wage discrimination and its effect on poverty, we had divided the households into two parts, the first type of households whose household’s MPCE is below the poverty line and second whose household’s MPCE is higher the poverty line. The findings of the study make clear that the average daily wage for all type work of lower caste is less than the upper caste. The results also show that the poor household has found higher in lower caste in comparison to upper caste. The differences in the average wage-earning among the social groups for the same types of work may be the case of discrimination and poverty. The result argued to policymakers that they should frame an appropriate plan to address this issue and work for indiscrimination in the labour market and job creation in the rural areas.

Right to Education Act: Universalisation or Entrenched Exclusion?

Right to Education (RTE) Act is intended to provide free and compulsory elementary education to all children aged 6–14 years. This article examines key constituents of elementary education in view of the RTE Act such as current attendance rate, types of institutions, medium of instruction, neighbourhood schools, Monthly per capita expenditure on elementary education (MPCEE)and incentives during pre- and post-RTE period using National Sample Survey Organisation’s 64th (2007–2008) and 71st (2014) round of unit level data. The result shows that far from the universalisation, exclusion is getting entrenched across gender, sector, and socio-religious and economic groups. Female children, children from deprived socio-religious groups, rural areas and from the bottom MPCE quintile have not only fared lower in most of the studied parameters during the pre-RTE period, but the gap from their counterpart has widened immensely during the post-RTE period. Free education has declined and monthly per capita expenditure on elementary education has increased sharply. Children are moving out of the government to private schools. The findings raise serious questions on the intention of the government to fulfil its mandate under RTE.

Multi-group segregation for nominal and ordinal categorical data: An application to socio-religious groups in India

This study is an attempt to construct some summary measures of multi-group segregation for nominal and ordinal categorical data. These measures are developed by taking into account the association between identity groups and unordered or ordered categories of the well-being indicator and also the disproportionate representation of the populations of the identity groups across the unordered or ordered categories of the well-being indicator. The newly developed measures are characterized and applied to assess the disparities in education and occupational status among the socio-religious groups in India. Empirical findings reveal the existence of between-group inequality in education and occupation in India, and some relevant policies to reduce these inequalities are also suggested.

Wealth Ownership and Inequality in India: A Socio-religious Analysis

This article analyses wealth inequality across socio-religious groups in the country and across the states based on the All India Debt and Investment Survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Office in 2013. The result shows that one-fourth of the total wealth is concentrated in the hands of the top 1 per cent households, whereas 75 per cent of the total wealth is concentrated in the top 20 per cent households. On the contrary, a very small proportion of the assets, that is, 3.4 per cent, are owned by the bottom 40 per cent households. The Hindu high castes (HHCs) have the highest ownership of wealth as compared to any other socio-religious group with respect to the share of wealth and average household wealth ownership. Interestingly, HHCs also have the highest inequality as compared to any other group.

Extent and Intensity of Poverty in Maharashtra: Evidence from NSSO Data

This study estimated household poverty among socio-religious groups in Maharashtra by using unit level household consumption expenditure data of 61st (2004 - 05) and 68th (2011-12) rounds surveyed by National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO). Poverty was measured by making use of the Head - Count Ratio (HCR) at six administrative divisions in the state by making use of the Tendulkar Methodology, according to which poverty line in Maharashtra was ` 485 and ` 632 for 61st round (2004 - 05) and ` 967 and ` 1126 for 68th round for both rural and urban sectors. The results indicated that the incidence of poverty among the social groups was reduced by 13.7% among Scheduled Tribes followed by 33.15% in Scheduled Castes, 24.62% in OBC, and 16.83% in Others (non ST, SC, & OBC); among the religious groups, poverty reduced by 20.62% in Hindu and 9.45% in Muslim community households during the study period of 61st round (2004 - 05) and 68th round (2011-12).

Poverty and Inequality in Maharashtra: Inter-group Differentials and Its Determinants

This article examines the inequality and poverty across socio-religious groups in Maharashtra. It also examines the relative strength of factors affecting inequality and poverty and decomposes the differences in income between scheduled castes (SCs) and Hindu high castes (HHCs) based on the 68th National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) survey on consumption expenditure. The results show that consumption expenditure is substantially low among marginalised communities leading to high inter-group inequality. The relative strength of the factors affecting earnings across socio-religious groups shows that the overall inter-group disparities are due to inter-caste differences in the rates of return on assets, asset ownership and caste identity. Also, poverty reducing factors, such as ownership of agricultural land, non-farm enterprises/business and education, impact differently in reducing poverty, their relative impact in reducing poverty being less for schedule tribes (ST) and SC compared to OBC and high caste. Due to high education and greater ownership of capital assets by high caste, they have significant higher income and low poverty levels compared to Hindu other backward castes (HOBC), SC and ST and Muslim.

Higher Education in India from 1983 to 2014: Participation, Access and Labour Market Outcomes across Socio-religious Groups

This article uses National Sample Survey (NSS) data to analyse the trends in India’s higher education in terms of participation, access and institutional preferences during the last three decades between 1983 and 2014. It documents a remarkable participation growth in higher education across socio-religious groups since the early 1980s; the number of higher educated persons has doubled in each decade especially among the younger age cohort. The increase in participation of the socially disadvantaged groups (SDGs) in higher education, however, was not on a par with the participation levels of advantageous groups; rural females among the disadvantaged groups are particularly lagging. The share of enrolment in government institutions (GIs) has declined while in private institutions it has considerably increased from across social groups, albeit in varying degrees and from top quintile groups. The labour market outcomes show declining workforce participation rates among the higher educated, especially the female graduates who end up in domestic work. The greater wage premium for higher education has, however, not bridged the gap between social groups. Instead, the outcomes within the same education group vary, witnessed in the low real wage for the disadvantaged and declining wage ratio between the disadvantaged and the advantageous groups.

Regular Salaried Employment Opportunities in India: Nature, Access and Inclusiveness

Decent work for poverty reduction and overall well-being has long been recognised by International Labour Organisation (ILO). However, ensuring it still remains a challenge in several countries across the globe. Treating regular employment as a form of decent work may be a misconception as a large number of regular salaried employment opportunities are devoid of any tenurial and social security benefits to workers, making them vulnerable, which is a crucial indicator of ILO’s notion of decent employment. Based on unit record data of large rounds of National Sample Survey on Employment and Unemployment, this paper disaggregates regular employment across public, private and informal enterprises and finds unequal access to quality employment opportunities to various socio-religious groups. It attempts to understand determinants of access to regular wage employment opportunities with a focus on quality jobs. Finally, the paper suggests measures to improve the availability and access to quality jobs to workers and promote inclusiveness in such job opportunities with a special focus on marginalised social groups in India.