05-29-2007, 02:14 AM
<!--emo&:ind--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/india.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='india.gif' /><!--endemo--> UPA changing the law to define who makes a minority at the state-level
SEEMA CHISHTIPosted online: Monday, May 28, 2007 at 0000 hrs Print EmailAmendment Bill gets Cabinet OK, will be in House for monsoon session
NEW DELHI, MAY 27: The UPA government is planning an amendment to the Constitution that seeks to redefine the term âminorityâ: if the Bill is legislated, minority status will be defined on the basis of population at the state rather than national level.
Related Stories At our service, for ever
You may be tired but you are never retired in the UPA
Skill development initiative likely to get Cabinet nod
Govt says security under control, records donât agree
Those castles in air
Cleared by the Union Cabinet last week, the Constitutional (103rd Amendment) Bill 2004 is slated to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament. It incorporates many of the recommendations of the Parliamentary standing committee which met in February last year.
Presently, there are six states and Union Territories (Jammu & Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Punjab) where the ânational majorityâ that is, Hindus, are in fact in a minority. Schemes designed nationally for âminoritiesâ as now understood, that is Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsees, are not applicable in these states. That is, schemes meant for Muslims nationally do not apply to Muslims living in J&K, for example.
In order to end these anomalies, and in keeping with the Supreme Court judgment of August 2005, the Bill will use states as the basic unit to judge which community is a minority in which state. In the crucial verdict by the Supreme Court, a seven-judge Bench had said that the most appropriate level to decide on minorities is the state level.
If the Bill is passed, states will be asked for their view on the basis of data available as to who is a minority. They will be consulted by the President of India, would then notify the minorities in that state.
While the President is to consult the states, he would not be bound to act on their advice. Moreover, once the notification of all the states and Union Territories takes place, it will not be possible for subsequent governments to alter the notification simply by a Cabinet order.
Changing of the status of any community, from minority to majority or vice-versa will need to go through Parliament.
Recently, on the eve of the state elections in Uttar Pradesh, a single-judge Bench in Allahabad suddenly decreed that Muslims (18.5 per cent of the stateâs population) were not a minority in the state. It was a ruling that came under considerable fire, and was stayed the next day.
The criticism against the ruling was that it went against what the Supreme Court had held were common-sense parameters to judge majority and minority, that is, the 50 per cent cut-off.
However, the new amendment Bill does not specify what the criterion, or percentage level, for deciding a minority community should be. That has been left to the government to work out at a later date.
Presently, Article 29-30 in the Constitution provide special protection to linguistic and religious minorities in the country, allowing them to preserve their culture and traditions through minority institutions in a more or less unfettered environment.
SEEMA CHISHTIPosted online: Monday, May 28, 2007 at 0000 hrs Print EmailAmendment Bill gets Cabinet OK, will be in House for monsoon session
NEW DELHI, MAY 27: The UPA government is planning an amendment to the Constitution that seeks to redefine the term âminorityâ: if the Bill is legislated, minority status will be defined on the basis of population at the state rather than national level.
Related Stories At our service, for ever
You may be tired but you are never retired in the UPA
Skill development initiative likely to get Cabinet nod
Govt says security under control, records donât agree
Those castles in air
Cleared by the Union Cabinet last week, the Constitutional (103rd Amendment) Bill 2004 is slated to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament. It incorporates many of the recommendations of the Parliamentary standing committee which met in February last year.
Presently, there are six states and Union Territories (Jammu & Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Punjab) where the ânational majorityâ that is, Hindus, are in fact in a minority. Schemes designed nationally for âminoritiesâ as now understood, that is Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsees, are not applicable in these states. That is, schemes meant for Muslims nationally do not apply to Muslims living in J&K, for example.
In order to end these anomalies, and in keeping with the Supreme Court judgment of August 2005, the Bill will use states as the basic unit to judge which community is a minority in which state. In the crucial verdict by the Supreme Court, a seven-judge Bench had said that the most appropriate level to decide on minorities is the state level.
If the Bill is passed, states will be asked for their view on the basis of data available as to who is a minority. They will be consulted by the President of India, would then notify the minorities in that state.
While the President is to consult the states, he would not be bound to act on their advice. Moreover, once the notification of all the states and Union Territories takes place, it will not be possible for subsequent governments to alter the notification simply by a Cabinet order.
Changing of the status of any community, from minority to majority or vice-versa will need to go through Parliament.
Recently, on the eve of the state elections in Uttar Pradesh, a single-judge Bench in Allahabad suddenly decreed that Muslims (18.5 per cent of the stateâs population) were not a minority in the state. It was a ruling that came under considerable fire, and was stayed the next day.
The criticism against the ruling was that it went against what the Supreme Court had held were common-sense parameters to judge majority and minority, that is, the 50 per cent cut-off.
However, the new amendment Bill does not specify what the criterion, or percentage level, for deciding a minority community should be. That has been left to the government to work out at a later date.
Presently, Article 29-30 in the Constitution provide special protection to linguistic and religious minorities in the country, allowing them to preserve their culture and traditions through minority institutions in a more or less unfettered environment.