Dear bloggers, the minorities in India are in news again and being
discussed at various platform due to recent development. Primarily, issue of
minorities got flare up due to controversial amendment of Citizenship Act,1955
through Citizenship Amendment Act,2019 popularly
known as CAA. The controversy around this amendment Act seems on wrong
interpretation and largely on fear psychology of proposed action by central
government on National register of citizen preceded by National population
register. It is propagated that through these measures,the condition of Indian
minorities will be further deteriorated.
In the above
background, let us examine the condition of minorities in India based on facts
and statutory arrangements under Indian Constitution.
Before looking in
to the condition of Indian minorities,let us have a brief look on the condition
of minorities in other countries. As per the 29th Annual world
report, 2019 released by Human Rights Watch which is a prestigious International
body, there are extra judicial killings by the authorities in Philippines.
These killings were in the name of war on drugs. In Syria, a devastating war on
minority civilians is going on specifically in the province of Idlib leading to
mass killings. Saudi Arabia has been alleged for killings and starvation of
Yemenis through attack/ blockade. In Burkina Faso, people there reported that by
day ,they fear the Army and by night, the Jihadist. Similarly,Turkey and
Egyptian authorities have been blamed for locking up thousands for their
political views. In Itlay, reports says that government has closed its ports to
refugees and migrants.
Now, We take a
look towards the condition of minorities
in neighboring countries of India. This report says that Chinese authorities are
torturing Turkic Muslims(Uyghurs) in Xinjiang province. They have been pushed
to mass detention centers. These minority Muslims are being forced to disown
their Muslim faith under “Re-education” programme. The report further alleges
that one million government officials have been deployed to keep watch on
Muslim homes in the province by China.
In Afghanistan,
around 10,000 civilians have been injured between January 2018 to December 2018.
Report says that Islamic state of Khorasan (Afghan branch of Islamic state) is
involved in targeted bombing on minority Shia population.
In Myanmar,this report alleges that Military of
Myanmar is involved in mass murder and rapes of Minority Muslims which led to
forced migration of 7,30,000 Rohingya in Rakhine State.
In Bangladesh,
report alleged that there have been killings by authorities. Around 100 people
killed in the name of war on drugs. Around 10,000 suspects have been put behind
bar.There are allegation against Rapid Action Battalion for extra judicial
killings.
In Sri lanka, Report
says that people of Tamil origin is still waiting for justice for the
atrocities done during civil war between LTTE and Sri lankan forces.
In Pakistan, during
2018, 17 people are on death row under Blasphemy law and hundred more awaits
trial mostly from Ahamadis minority community in Pakistan. UN high commissioner for human rights observed that
“human rights abuse in POK were of a different caliber or magnitude to those in
Indian Kashmir”
In the light of
above discussion, Now we should see the institutional arrangement for protection
of minorities in India and what statistics says about Indian Minorities for
better understanding.
Indian constitution recognize six minorities in India i.e. Muslims,Christian,Sikhs,Buddhists,Parsis
and Jain. In India, the population of Muslims is largest in world only after
Indonesia. It is equal to the population of Muslims in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The population of Minorities is 19% of India’s total population. Out of 19%,
13.4 % are Muslims only. As per population census of 2001, there are 13.8 Crore
Muslims living in India which increased to 15 Cr in 2006.
If the data of population Census 1961 and 2001
is compared then we can see that Hindus population has decreased from 83.5% to
80.5% whereas Muslims population has increased from 10.7 % to 13.4 %. Rest of
the minorities composition in population remains almost same.
As per the 66th
round of National Sample Survey data, average household size in urban and rural
areas for Muslims is higher than any other religious groups in India. The
proportion of land cultivation is more than 4 hectare for Sikhs,3 hectare for
Hindus and less than 1 hectare for Christian and Muslims. The literacy rate is
highest for Christian in India. The monthly per capita expenditure is highest
in Sikhs followed by Christian community. The condition of Parsi community is known to everyone in India and world.They are one of the most wealthy people in India.
There are enough safeguard for minorities in
India through constitutional arrangement and provisions to provide the sense of
safety to Indian minorities. These safeguards are in the form of fundamental
rights. Article 14 provides equality before law. Article 15 provides
prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of religion,race,caste,sex or
place of birth. Article 25 provides freedom of religion. Article 26 gives
freedom to manage religious affairs by minorities. Article 27 gives freedom as
to payment of tax for promotion of any particular religion. Article 28 provides
freedom from attendance at religious instruction or worship in educational
institutions. Article 29 provides protection of interest of minorities and Article
30 gives right to establish and administer educational institutions belonging
to minorities.
It is evident from
these provisions that Indian constitution has elaborate provisions for safety
of minorities in India and is committed to equality of citizens and
responsibility of state to preserve,protect and assure the rights of minorities
in matters of language,religion and culture. It has focus on “Doctrine of unity
in diversity”.
Apart from it, a separate ministry named “Ministry of
Minority affairs” in Central government is established in 2006 to formulate
policies,schemes and programme for the welfare and socio-economic development
of minorities. Ministry has taken multi pronged strategy for educational empowerment,infrastructure
development and economic empowerment of minority community in India.
There are several constitutional
and statutory bodies which have been set up to look after minority issues such as
Central Wakf Board, National Commission for minorities, Commissioner for
linguistic minorities under Article 350 B of Indian Constitution, Maulana Azad educational foundation and National
Minorities development and finance corporation, etc.
In 2018-19, 4700 Cr rupees
of budget was sanctioned for the minority affairs ministry which is
implementing numerous schemes such as Skill India, Seekho aur Kamao, Nai Manzil for education and livelihood, Nai Roshni for
leadership development for women, Jio Parsi for containing population decline
of Parsi community in India and numerous scholarships scheme for minority
community.
Based on above
discussion and data, It is safely presumed that there is no reason to fear for
minority community. They should feel proud for being Indian and try to
contribute in Nation building...keep on blogging
