Segregation of Muslims: A Reflection on Urban Living Environments and Infrastructure Conditions in Hyderabad

Abstract

The recent decades have seen how Indian Muslims have been pushed to the receiving end, and consequently, they have been referred to as a minority at the margin. The sphere of marginalization is not merely symbolic but also manifested by examining the socio-economic indicators to understand the life of Muslims today. With a few exceptions, Muslims can also perform well if their living environment and infrastructure are improved. The paper examines the multitudes of discrimination being faced in the everyday life of the Muslim community, and the misery increases day by day with the kind of residential segregation that cities witness today. The gravity of the problem is examined by focusing on the availability of basic amenities and infrastructure in Muslim concentrated areas in the city of Hyderabad and Sangareddy Town Telangana. A sizeable Muslim population lives in Hyderabad and Sangareddy towns, comprising around 35–40% of the total population. Both the towns offer interesting cases of ‘urban deprivation’, and more specifically, ‘multiple deprivations’. Given continuous segregation and exclusion of Muslims, the paper also finds an interesting fact that how reservation given to Muslims in the state has proved to be a boon to the Muslim community that has been reflected in the empirical data in the area of employment and educational attainment. This paper also analyses the needs of people and how the outreach of these policies can be further improved and expanded to include vulnerable Muslim groups.