The Supreme Court recently asked the National Commission for Minorities to take a decision on a plea seeking guidelines for defining the term ‘minority’ and for their identification State-wise.The PIL sought minority status for Hindus in Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, J&K, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Punjab.

It sought the following relief from SC :

• Declare that Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act 1992 and NCM notification granting minority status to 5 religious communities is void according to Articles 14, 15 and 21, 29 and 30 of the Constitution of India;
• Direct the Government to define "Minorities" with the State being the unit of determination.

Minorities in India :

• The Constitution of India uses the word ‘minority’ in various articles viz. Article 29, 30, 350 A and 350 B.
• It recognises minorities based on religion and language.
• But it neither defines the term 'minority' nor delineates the criteria for determining a minority.
• As per sec 2(c) of the NCM Act 1992, ‘minority’ means a community notified as such by the Central govt.
• Six religious communities, viz; Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains have been notified as minority communities by the Union Government.
• The six notified minorities constitute about 19% population of the country.
• The literacy rate among persons of age 15 years and above is highest for Christians, for both the sexes in rural and urban areas.
• The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for male is much higher than female for all religious groups.
• The unemployment rate in rural areas is less than that of urban areas. In rural areas, during 2009-10, unemployment rate was the highest for Christians for both males (3 per cent) and females (6 per cent).
• In urban areas, unemployment rate was the highest for Sikhs for both males (6 per cent) and females (8 per cent).
• States governments are also empowered to designate state minorities and set up State Minority Commissions. For e.g. Jains were designated as minority by 11 states before they were nationally recognized in 2014.

Case for defining minorities state-wise :

• Increasing inequality: Classification of religious minorities at a pan-India level has not only created a wave of inequality across different States but is also encouraging conversion to seek social, political and economic benefits available to minorities. The six notified minorities have various benefits at central level such as:

1. Pursuant to Art 30, government interference in institutions and trusts of the community will cease to exist.
2. 50% reservation from their community will be allowed in educational institutions run by them.
3. They would be allowed to teach culture and religion in their institutions and seek government funding for land.
4. They will be eligible to avail of exclusive schemes run by the ministry of minority affairs like Jiyo Parsi, Nai Roshini, Nai Manzil, Hamari Dharohar etc.

• Exclusion of various sections: Failure to identify and recognize minorities leads to unreasonable disbursement of minority benefits e.g. In J&K, Muslims are 68.30% but are considered a minority and hence get a lion’s share of benefits. Similarly, Christians are a majority in Mizoram, Meghalaya and but they are treated as minority.
• Similar provisions: ‘Scheduled Castes’ and ‘Scheduled Tribes’ are identified at the State/UT level. In terms of Articles 341 and 342 the President is empowered to draw up a list in consultation with the Governor of each State subject to revision by Parliament.
• Supreme court judgements: Supreme Court through its various judgements has tried to provide guidelines for defining minorities:

1. Kerala Education Bill case 1958: It said minority should to be a group of people who are numerically a minority in a ‘State as a whole’ as distinguished from any particular area or region’.
2. Bal Patil & others v UOI, 1999 and TMA Pai Foundation v State of Karnataka 2002: It held that with regard to state law, the unit to determine a religious or linguistic minority should be the state.

Conclusion :

The concept of minority in social context is intricate. There is no single definition of the term minority as acceptable to all, and free from criticism. However, there is a need is to lay down guidelines for their identification and to ensure that only those religious and linguistic groups, which are socially economically and politically non-dominant and numerically inferior, may enjoy rights and protections guaranteed under Articles 29-30.