Beyond Discrimination: Aspirations for Self-employment Among Muslim Youth in Delhi

While it is argued that Muslims are concentrated in self-employment activities, apart from noting discrimination in salaried work resulting in a push into self-employment, research has not explored additional reasons contributing to this choice. This paper employs a mixed-methods approach and through an empirically grounded work, explores the reasons given by Muslim male and female youth, primarily living in the segregated neighbourhood of Jamia Nagar in New Delhi, India, for the choice of self-employment among Muslim youth. The paper notes that while discrimination in salaried work featured as a significant reason for the choice of self-employment, it was not the overwhelming one. The choice for self-employment, rather, was attributed to a number of reasons, the salient ones being the presence of social networks in self-employment in Jamia Nagar, and the social respect earned through ownership of self-employment (apna kaam). In the narratives of the women youth, safety and respectability offered by self-employment in Jamia Nagar were highlighted as critical reasons attracting them to such occupations.