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MINORITY STATUS

UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS | MINORITY STATUS | 19TH JULY | THE HINDU

/ July, 2022, UPSC Daily Current Affairs

SYLLABUS SECTION: GS II (SOCIAL ISSUES)

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Petition filed by a Mathura resident, Devki-nandan Thakur, complaining that followers of Judaism, Bahaism and Hinduism, who are the real minorities in Ladakkh, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Kashmir, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab and Manipur, cannot establish and administer educational institutions of their choice because of non­identification of ‘minority status’ at the State level.

MORE DETAILS:

  • The court indicated that a religious or linguistic community which is a minority in a particular State,
  • Can inherently claim protection and the right to administer and run its own educational institutions under Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution.
  • The petition has argued that the recognition of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis nationally by the Centre as ‘minorities’ ignored the fact that religious communities such as Hindus were “socially, economically, politically nondominant and numerically inferior” in several States.
  • Minority status of religious and linguistic communities is “State ­dependent”, say by the Supreme Court.

Article 29

  • This Article mandates that no discrimination would be done on the ground of religion, race, caste, language or any of them
Article 30
  • This Article mandates that all minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
  • While Article 30 and Article 29 of the Constitution do not specify ‘minorities’ in India, it is classified into religious minorities and linguistic minorities.
Religious Minorities in India
  • The basic ground for a community to be nominate as a religious minority is the numerical strength of the community.
  • Section 2, clause (c) of the National Commission of Minorities Act, declares six communities as minority communities. They are:
  1. Muslims
  2. Christians
  3. Buddhists
  4. Sikhs
  5. Jains and
  6. Zoroastrians (Parsis)
Linguistic Minorities
  • Class or group of people whose mother language or mother tongue is different from that of the majority groups is known as the linguistic minorities. The Constitution of India protects the interest of these linguistic minorities.

SOURCE: THE HINDU