Modi Govt to Expand Ambit of the Word 'Minority'

NEW DELHI: If the term ‘minority’ seemed to refer to only one particular community during the UPA rule, it may soon be redefined to include communities previously little known. The NDA government is set to change the ambit of the term ‘minority’ and give it a wider meaning by including more communities—religious, linguistic and ethnic.

As part of the expansion, the government has decided to initiate a survey to know the socio-economic status of the “others” category in the census who do not fall into the existing list of six minority communities—Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Buddhists and Jains.

“Till now, minority meant only Muslims. That’s going to change as more communities will be included,” an official working with the Ministry of Minority Affairs said. According to the official, the plight of these minority groups is worse than many known minority groups and the government will do a “thorough analysis” to plan suitable policy initiatives for these “others”.

According to the official, the population of those included in “others” category is about 73.39 lakh and forms 0.6 percent of the total population. Their population is significant in Jharkhand, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Arunachal Pradesh.

“But there won’t be any frantic moves. There is thought going into all of these issues,” he added.

To begin with, the ministry has decided to look into individual applications from communities to be included in the list and the first one likely to be added is that of Bahais. The Bahai community traces its roots to Iran and has around two million members across India. The famous Lotus Temple in New Delhi belongs to this affluent community.

When asked about the financial clout of the community and the need for assistance from the government, the official said the Bahais were not asking for financial help but for recognition as a minority community. 

Sources said recognition to Bahais, who are being persecuted in Islamic countries, especially Iran, will send out a message to the international community that often accuses India of shortchanging its minorities.

The official said the minority ministry had asked the National Commission for Minorities for its opinion and is about to take a final call in the matter. According to him, the government is also looking at the issues of linguistic and ethnic minorities with the same concern and will be studying their status too.

The UPA government, too, had appointed a commission—the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities—to look into various issues related to linguistic and religious minorities. It had recommended a 10 per cent quota for Muslims and a 5 per cent for other minorities in government jobs and seats in educational institutions.

The UPA government did not act on the recommendations fearing political repercussions. The NDA government feels this commission had its focus on Muslims and it wants a “more holistic view’’ of minorities in India.

The official said the ministry is also simplifying the implementation of various minority-related schemes announced by the previous UPA government. Recently, the ministry had written to all states to ensure members of Jain community don’t face problems in obtaining documents certifying them as minorities.