A hearing is going on in the Supreme Court that States can give Hindus Minority Status. There are 9 states in which states can give Hindus Minority Status. If seen all over India, the number of Hindus is in the majority. But there are some areas where the number of Hindus is in the minority. And in those states, there is a demand for several days that Hindus should be given minority status so that the Hindus can get the benefit of all the provisions for the minority in the Constitution.
What happened in the event States Can Give Hindus Minority Status Says Centre?
The Center has told the Supreme Court that states can consider granting Hindus the ‘ minority ‘ status, if the community is not in a majority within their jurisdictions, To enable them to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice, in keeping with the rights guaranteed to minorities by the Constitution.
WHO HAS THE POWER, CENTER OR STATE?
The Center has so far declared Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, and Jains as minorities in the country. However, responding to a PIL, the Union government in an affidavit has said that since the subject of identification of minority communities is in the Concurrent List of the Constitution, Both the Center and the states have the power to legislate to confer minority status on certain religious or linguistic communities which are in minority in the country or a particular state .”
For instance, the government of Maharashtra has notified ‘ Jews ‘ as a minority community within the state. The government of Karnataka has notified Urdu, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Tulu, Lamani ( Lambadi ), Hindi, Konkani, and Gujarati languages as minority languages within the state, ” the Center said.
WHAT IS THIS CASE? This means which reason States Can Give Hindus Minority Status Says Centre.
The petition by Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay has contended that the 2011 census showed that Hindus have become a minority in Lakshadweep ( 2.5 % ), Mizoram ( 2.75 % ), Nagaland ( 8.75 % ), Meghalaya ( 11.53 % ), J & K ( 28.44% ), Arunachal Pradesh ( 29 % ), Manipur ( 31.39 % ), and Punjab ( 38.40 % ), but were denied minority benefits that are currently being enjoyed by the respective majority communities in these places.
DEFINITION OF A MINORITY:- The expression ” minorities ” appears in some Articles of the Constitution but is not defined anywhere.
WHAT THE CONSTITUTION SAYS?
Article 29, which deals with the ” Protection of interests of minorities “, Says that ” any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same”. Article 30 deals with the “right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions”.
SO WHO IS A MINORITY IN INDIA?
Currently, only those communities notified under section 2 ( c ) of the National Minorities Commission Act, 1992, by the central government are regarded as minorities. In the exercise of its powers under Section 2 ( c ) of the NCM Act, the Center on October 23, 1993, notified five groups – Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Parsis – as ‘ minority ‘ communities. Jains were added to the list in January 2014.
SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT IN 2019:- The SC had on December 17, 2019, dismissed a petition asking for minority status to be based on the population at the state level, Saying religion must be considered pan – India. ” States were formed on a linguistic basis. That is not the case with religion. What is the problem if a community is a majority in Jammu & Kashmir but a minority in all other states? In Lakshadweep, Hindus maybe 2 % but they follow Hinduism which is the majority in India,” the court had said.
PANDORA’S BOX Is your company?
Like the share of minorities in the population changes as it goes from the national to the state level, it also changes at the district level. Even in states where a minority community is not in majority, it may dominate some pockets. For instance, there are four districts of Manipur where Christians are in majority. Muslims constitute over 70 % of the population in Kerala’s Malappuram district. Buddhists are a majority in Sikkim’s North District and Arunachal’s Tawang.
CONCLUSION
In the view of States Can Give Hindus Minority Status Says Centre, On January 31, a bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh imposed a fine of 7,500 on the Center for not taking a stand on Upadhyay’s petition, Giving them a final opportunity to come clear on whether Hindus can be declared as minorities in states because of their lower numerical strength. The bench will take up the matter for hearing on Monday.
