NDA Government should get implemented Clause – 7 of UPA-II PM’s New 15 Point Prog. for Welfare of Minorities
Daya Sagar
Not only Minorities / Minority affairs have always remained in focus for debates in India where as even the definition/ basis for naming a minority has not been so far laid in clear and plain terms. Even after more than 7 decades of Independence the vote bank politics focussing on religion / caste/ sect/ region / minority ‘welfare’ has not gone out of focus in India. Like the caste/class based reservations in legislature / services / education institutions/ socio- economic support the ‘minority’ welfare slogans too have been stretched much beyond the original targets 1950. It was in 1978 that Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) India under a Resolution envisaged the idea of setting a Commission for Minorities and in 1984 Minorities Commission ( a non- statutory body) was appointed under the Ministry of Welfare. Parliament of India enacted the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 ACT NO. 19 of 1992 that came into force on17 May 1992 (extending to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir) and replaced the Commission for Minorities by a statutory National Commission for Minorities. The Act did not specifically define the term “Minority” and left it for the Central Government to define ( Section-2-ii : “Minority”, for the purposes of this Act, means a community notified as such by the Central Government:) and so was also left the job of constitution of the Commission ( Section-3.:- i. The Central Government shall constitute a body to be known as the National Commission for Minorities to exercise the powers conferred on, and to perform the functions assigned to it under this Act. ii. The Act provided that the Commission shall consist of a Chairperson, a Vice Chairperson and five Members to be nominated by the Central Government from amongst persons of eminence, ability and integrity; Provided that five Members including the Chairperson shall be from amongst the Minority communities).
The function of the NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR MINORITIES under Section-9 among other obligations included :- (a) evaluating the progress of the development of minorities under the Union and States; (b) monitoring working of safeguards provided in Constitution & in laws enacted by Parliament and State Legislatures.
It was Ministry of Welfare GOI that had notified five communities (1. Muslims. 2. Christians. 3. Sikhs. 4. Buddhists. 5. Zoroastrians /Parsis) as minorities communities ( of course surely community was recognised on religion basis) at the national level on 22th October, 1993 Vide Notification No: S.O. 816(E). The first Statutory National Commission for Minorities was set up on 17.5.1993 vide a Gazette notification No. 993 dated 23-10- 1993 by the then Ministry of Welfare Government of India. Ministry of Minority Affairs was established by Government of India in 2006 as an apex regulatory body for the development and affairs concerning minority communities in India and the operations shifted from the Welfare Ministry to Ministry of Minority Affairs. And later on vide notification S.O 267( E ) dated 27th January 2014 of Ministry of Minority Affairs Jains were also notified as another minority community at national level making the total as six i.e 1. Muslims. 2. Christians. 3. Sikhs. 4. Buddhists. 5. Zoroastrians /Parsis and 6. Jain.The population of the notified religious communities as minorities as per 2011 Census stood at 1.Muslims 14% , 2. Christians – 2.3 percent population (2.78 crores people),3.Sikhs – 1.7 percent population (2.08 crores people),4.Buddhists – 0.7 percent of the population (8.4 million people) 5.Jains – 0.4 percent of the population (4.5 million people),6.Parsis – Around 57000 people (estimate).
Setting up of Minority Commissions by the State Governments is a State subject. So far as per the information that is available only 18 states ( subject to correction) have appointed State HR Commissions but almost all states have nominated same communities as minorities as have been by GoI at national level.
It is worth taking notice that GUIDELINES for implementation of Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities at para/ point- 7 say 7. (a) The target group of the programme consists of the eligible sections among the minorities notified under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, viz, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) + Jain added in 2014. (b) In States, where one of the minority communities notified under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 is, in fact, in majority, the earmarking of physical/financial targets under different schemes will be only for the other notified minorities. Accordingly In reference to Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities at para/ point- 7 the States Punjab, Meghalaya, Mizoram & Nagaland and UTs of J&K &Lakshadweep have one of national level minority as a majority at state level but so the said guideline has not been implemented while implementing the central government welfare programmes for minorities.
The inferences that could be taken by a common mind from the contents of THE National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 ACT NO. 19 OF 1992 and orders / guidelines regarding minorities issued by government of India may be like (i) for the Government of India and State Governments the Linguistic minorities do not come under the purview of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 ACT NO. 19 OF 1992 and it is in relation to religious communities only ‘ (ii) any religious community that is more than 50% at national level will be taken as minority community by the National Commission for Minorities and Central Government (iii) State governments also believe in the Minorities identified at national level and have not hence ( so far ) notified the minorities at state levels (iii) so unfortunately it appears that even the senior Indian leaders believe that the backwardness of the minority communities is due to the reason that the majority community in India ( ofcourse Hindu) does not fairly treat other communities in minority since had it not been so the Section-3 (ii) of the NC for M Act ‘would’ not have drafted the way it had been drafted like < ii. The Commission shall consist of a Chairperson, a Vice Chairperson and five Members to be nominated by the Central Government from amongst persons of eminence, ability and integrity; Provided that five Members including the Chairperson shall be from amongst the Minority communities>. ‘Seniors’ must have a relook.
To be continued
(The writer is Sr Journalist and social activist)