By Mubasshir Mushtaq

MUMBAI, India

World-renowned economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said this week that Muslims in the Indian state of West Bengal were "disproportionately" poor and deprived.

While releasing a report entitled "Living Realities of Muslims in West Bengal", Sen said: "The fact that Muslims in West Bengal are disproportionately poorer and more deprived in terms of living conditions is an empirical recognition that gives this report an inescapable immediacy and practical urgency."

According to the report’s findings, 80 percent of West Bengal’s Muslims earn less than $75 a month -- a surprising figure for a community that constitutes more than a quarter of the state’s total population.

The 368-page report was prepared after surveys were conducted in 325 villages and 73 urban wards with sizeable Muslim populations in West Bengal.

The report examines various issues, including the state of public health, literacy, education and economic development among the state’s Muslim communities since Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee came to power in West Bengal in 2011.

The report was prepared by three NGOs, one of which -- the Pratichi Trust -- was founded by Sen.

"Nobel laureate Amartya Sen must be thanked for focusing on the poor condition of Muslims in West Bengal," Juzar Bandukwala, a retired professor, told Anadolu Agency on Monday.

Bandukwala went on to assert that improving the living conditions of the state’s Muslims required "a greater focus on quality education and wealth generation."

Five years ago, Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress Party came to power in West Bengal with the political backing of the state’s Muslim community.

Some critics blame Banerjee’s administration for the current plight of the Muslims of West Bengal, residents of which are expected to return to the polls later this year.