Define ‘minority’: SC asks panel to review state-wise populations

Senior advocate professor Bhim Singh said the i ssue of minority and majority was settled once and for all by the constituent assembly while drafting the Constitution. “The Constitution framers held that the issue of majority and minority should be viewed nationally and not at state levels. So, there is no question of following any other model once the matter is settled,” he said.

Upadhyay said Muslims are actually t he majority i n Lakshdweep and Jammu and Kashmir and in significant numbers in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. “Hindus are real minority. But, their minority rights are being siphoned off illegally and arbitrarily to majority population because Central Government has not notified them a ‘minority’ under Section 2 (c) of the NCM (National Commission for Minority) Act,” he said in his petition. Therefore, the members of the community are being deprived of their rights under the Constitu- tion, he added.

Senior advocate RS Suri said Hindus should be given minority community status in such states, “as it all depends on the population of the community”, and granting minority status will also “give protection to Hindus.”

Under section 2(c) of the National Commission of Minorities Act, 1992, the Centre has notified only five communities — Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis — as “minority.” The notification has been made without defining minority and framing parameters for identification of minorities.

“Christians are majority in Mizoram, Meghalaya and Nagaland and there is significant population in Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Manipur, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal but they are treated as minority. Likewise, Sikhs are majority in Punjab and there is significant population in Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana but they are [treated as] minority,” reads the petition.

The Indian Constitution does not regard the concept of minority or majority on the basis of religion, said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Rakesh Sinha. “The concept of minority on a national scale is absurd. However, if in a transitory phase it has to be implemented, then it should be based on the prevalent concept of being based on the basis of population in a state,” he said.

The petition’s argument is that the erroneous definition of minorities disadvantages Hindus.

“The government offered 20,000 scholarships in field of technical education for minority students. In J&K, Muslims are 68.30% but government allotted 717 out of 753 scholarships to Muslim students but none to Hindus,” it said. child. However, in the past 55 months, the central government has been focusing on these issues,” Modi said.

“For us, vaccination was a priority issue. Five new vaccines were introduced. Now, a dozen vaccines are provided, including one for encephalitis which affects Uttar Pradesh the most,” he said.

The Prime Minister said 34 million pregnant women and 9 million children have been immunised under the central government’s Mission Indradhanush.

“We are working towards the day when total immunisation will be a reality,” Modi said, adding that an American medical journal had acknowledged the immunisation campaign of India as among the 12 best practices worldwide.

The Prime Minister enumerated various initiatives of the central government, including the recent budgetary provision for direct cash transfer of ~6,000 per annum to small and marginal farmers.

Describing the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan as a success, Prime Minister Modi said at least three lakh lives were saved due to the campaign’s stress on cleanliness.

Cleanliness was ensured at the ongoing Kumbh Mela in Allahabad too and The New York Times has applauded it, he said.