India, Nov. 18 -- Muslims are the second-largest demographic of India, with nearly 14 per cent of the country's population or roughly 172 million people, but they are so marginalised that their presence in important public spheres is almost invisible. Muslims continue to suffer great economic deprivation. Their situation is so dire that, for them, economic reforms need precedence over all other amelioration policies. In fact, improvement in social and educational conditions as also the much-talked-about gender reforms can automatically follow as a byproduct of economic redemption. On almost every measure of success - the number of Muslims in the IAS, the police and the Army; the number of Muslim-owned companies in the top 500 Indian firms...