[John Dayal's Note: On 7th May this year, I transmitted news that the Union Cabinet, India’s highest decision making group, had decided to make seminal changes in the definition of `Religious Minorities’ and in the manner in which they were given an official identity. I conveyed the early caution of secular jurists and fellow activists that this decision of the Cabinet had serious ramifications for all denominations of Christians in every part of the country as it had for Muslims, and indeed even for Sikhs. At first reading, we noted, the Cabinet decision if made law would take away minority status from the Christian community in Goa, Kerala, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram, seriously compromising activities in Education. My appeal for a nation-wide church consultations on this issue has so far not had any response from the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, the National Council of Churches, the Evangelical Fellowship of India and other major religious conglomerations and umbrella organisations. Meanwhile, I on behalf of the All India Catholic Union, the All India Christian Council and the United Christian Action have decided to go ahead with a national consultation on the issue in collaboration with major organisations of other religious minorities, specially the Jamat e Islami, the Jamiat-e -Ulema Hind and Muslim academics, heads of institutions and activists. The consultations, at which former Chief Justice Ahmadi has been invited together with an illustrious panel of Constitutional experts, are scheduled to be held on 24th July 2007 at the India International Centre. Meanwhile, the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions has become the first major governmental Institution to raise doubts about the Cabinet proposal.]
National Commission worried over State-wise redefining of Religious groups
Activists call for Consultations on 24th July
Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times New Delhi, July 06, 2007
Not just political parties, even institutions governed by the National Commission for Minority Education are opposing the move to define the term minority. The reason: not only will it change the character of minority-run institutions in India, it is also against the basic framework of the Constitution.
For instance, students and institutions now claiming minority status in states like Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya and Mizoram will no longer be members of the minority community. In these states, Hindus will be the new minorities.
The 103rd Constitutional Amendment seeks to have state-wise minority status rather than national status, as is the norm now. Minorities in states will be decided through a presidential notification in consultation with the state government. The amendment will be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament starting in August.
The National Commission for Minority Education says the amendment will make Christian students from Meghalaya and Mizoram ineligible for admission in Christian colleges like St Stephens, as they will not have domicile minority status.
Likewise, Sikhs from Punjab and Muslims from J&K will not have minority status. Christian-run institutions in Kerala may also lose their minority tag.
"It will create a divide between the so-called minority communities. In some states, they will have minority status and in others they won't," a commission official told HT. He added, "In case the states don't declare minority communities, it can even lead to confusion."
Commission member BS Ramoowalia said: "Muslims will be increasingly alienated in Kashmir, as will Sikhs in Punjab, Christians in Northeast."
Commission chairperson MMA Siddique has written to HRD Minister Arjun Singh and Minority Affairs Minister AR Antulay saying the constitutional amendment that the Cabinet approved in May first week is against the spirit of Article 30 of the Constitution.
"Articles 25 to 30 guarantee protection of religious, cultural and educational rights to both majority and minority communities. Therefore, it was felt not to define minority. We cannot supersede this vision," Siddique has written.
He has quoted BR Ambedkar saying in the Constituent Assembly that the term minority is used to "prevent political safeguards" and its definition can result in its interpretation in a narrow sense. The government decision, the Commission felt, will defeat the purpose of Article 30.
The Akali Dal is backing the commission and has written to the PM opposing the move.
November 4, 2006
Aloke Tikku
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New Delhi, May 06, 2007
Minorities to be defined, state-wise
The term ‘minority’ is set to get a clear-cut legal definition. The government will soon move a constitutional amendment in Parliament to establish the procedure for defining minorities and laying down the criteria to be fulfilled for a group to find place in the list of minorities.
The proposed amendment will do away with the very concept of ‘minorities’ at the national level. There will only be state-specific minorities. This move is in keeping with the spirit of a number of Supreme Court judgments. It defines a ‘minority’ as a section of citizens of a state which has been specified as a minority in that state, by a presidential notification issued after consultations with the state government.
Another provision gives Parliament the final say in the matter of defining ‘minorities’. Parliament will be empowered to enact laws to include or exclude any section of citizens from the list of minorities. “The amendment is a major step,” a senior government functionary, who did not wish to be named, told HT. “This is the first time that minorities are going to be defined.”
Once in place, the amendment will obviate any confusion on the question of minorities, like the one that led to last month’s Allahabad High Court judgment. The court held that Muslims — 18.5 per cent of Uttar Pradesh’s population in 2001 — were not a religious minority in the state. It said the state government should treat members of the Muslim community as equal to those belonging to the non-minority communities without discrimination in accordance with the law. A division bench, however, stayed the ruling the next day.
The cabinet cleared the official amendment to the Constitution — the 103rd Amendment Bill 2004 — at a meeting chaired by the prime minister last week. The bill could come up for discussion during the ongoing budget session.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=d61334cf-b886-4345-8711-4275fdfa4c1c
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Muslims have ceased to be minority in UP: HC
PTI Thursday, April 05, 2007
ALLAHABAD: In a landmark judgement, the Allahabad High Court on Thursday held that Muslims cannot be treated as a religious minority anymore in Uttar Pradesh.
Justice SN Srivastava gave the ruling after considering various criteria including the population of Muslims as enumerated in the census reports of 1951 and 2001.
The judgment, which is likely to cause polarisation among political parties, comes two days ahead of the first phase of the crucial Assembly elections in UP starting on Saturday.
The Court said the UP government should treat members of the Muslim community as equal to those belonging to the non-minority communities without discrimination in accordance with law.
The judgment was given on a writ petition filed by a Madarsa of Ghazipur district, challenging out of turn grant-in-aid to certain other minority institutions.
The Court also asking the UP government to treat all Muslim institutions applying for grant-in-aid at par with non-minority institutions without any discrimination.
Justice Srivastava also issued a notice to the Centre and the UP government to take appropriate steps to modify an October 23, 1993 notification issued by the Central government on grant of minority status. Allowing the writ petition challenging out-of-turn grant-in-aid to certain institutions, Justice Srivastava took note of the petitioners' allegations of corruption.
The Judge directed the UP Chief Secretary to initiate an inquiry into the allegations and said that it should cover all the orders passed since 2003 recognising institutions for grant-in-aid. "The inquiry will be conducted by an officer not below the rank of Principal Secretary and completed within three months of the presentation of a certified copy of this order," Justice Srivastava said.
Badal criticises Centre's move to deprive minorities of their status
Chandigarh, May 12: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today took strong exception to the reported move of the Union Government to tamper with the Constitution in order to ''deprive'' minorities of their legitimate status in the country.
In a statement here, he said that doing away with the concept of national minorities and replacing it with state-wise criterion would play havoc with the basic trust and understanding on which our national polity is based.
''The only way to justify this highly provocative move was to declare the states as entirely autonomous federal provinces with the Centre having no say in any of the domestic areas'', he said.
Only if the states enjoy complete autonomy can one consider them as independent units for the purpose of determining and bestowing the status of minorities on the concerned groups, he added. ''So long as we live in a single country, we can only talk about minorities in the country on the whole'', said Mr. Badal, adding that it was absurd even to talk of determination of minority status at the state level.
The move, he said, would actually mean that the Sikhs would not be a minority even in Punjab and all the protection and safeguards enjoyed by them as a national minority would go, he added. ''This can have very serious implications for the cause of national unity which is based on a constitutional safeguards for different religious, linguistic and regional groups'', the Chief Minister said.
Describing the reported move as extremely ''ill-conceived'' and ''flawed in concept'', Mr. Badal said that this be a serious violation of the basic structure of the constitution which recognizes India as a federal polity.
''It is absurd even to suggest that the Sikhs would be deemed a majority in a state and for that reason alone be deprived of all the constitutional safeguards throughout the country'', he said. In addition, the move will have a bearing on a variety of critical areas such as education and culture, he added.
The Chief Minister appealed to the Union government to reconsider this ''highly irresponsible and inflammable move''. --- UNI
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