19 Minorities and Educational Discourse

Dr. Nisha Jolly Nelson

Introduction

This module introduces the term minority and the educational situation of minorities in our country. The module also focuses on the constitutional provisions and debates in relation to the minorities. Alongside it contains a session on the various educational provisions for minorities.

Who are Minorities?

Minority is a group whose numbers are far fewer than that of the dominant group. Its numerical strength may also be reducing over a period of time. But this is not limited to just mathematical numbers. Such a group may also be facing narrowing of opportunities in proportion to their strength in a given society. This difference can be seen in terms of their wealth, success, education, etc. Such a group may also be distinguished by diminishing strength of those who hold positions of social power in that society.

The attributes of a minority group have to be seen in a relative perspective. It is generally identified as a group that is qualitatively weak, non-dominant and under privileged in global terms. Since people, communities or groups differ in their qualitative and quantitative characteristics as well; there is always a possible certainty of one being considered more powerful, and the other with lesser or no power, by way of comparison. These relative differences thus existing between the groups create a feeling of one being superior (majority group) and the other not being superior (minority group) (Akhtar 2009).

The existence of majority and minority groups is the outcome of differential treatment which these groups experience. One group enjoys all or most of the privileges whereas the other enjoys a few or is deprived of these privileges. This differential treatment makes one feel that he/she is a member of either a privileged or an underprivileged group. Privileged group here indicates the majority groups and under privileged refers to minority groups. The terms minority and majority groups are always perceived to be in relative terms and the former is generally characterised as being weak, under privileged and victims of the latter group. The problem of minority is a universal phenomenon and is prevalent in countries across the globe.

In every country, there are groups of people loosely or closely associated for some specific reason or purpose, with identities such as racial, linguistic, cultural, religious, political, economic etc. or a combination of these. In the quest for describing minority; United Nation Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination of Minorities suggested that the term should include only those non-dominant groups in a population, which possess and wish to preserve stable, ethnic, religious, linguistic traditions, characteristics, markedly different from those of the rest of the population.

The issues affecting the lives of minorities in India are very unique. At the time of the British conquest of India, Muslims were ruling the sub- continent and they were forced out of power by British. This was followed by the division of Indian sub- continent better known as partition on religious grounds. Since India was declared a secular state, the Constitution’s commitment to safeguarding the rights of all citizens irrespective of caste, creed or religion was upheld.

According to the Constitution of India, two types of minorities are discernible in the country, they being Religious Minorities and Linguistic Minorities. Section 2(f) of The National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Act, 2004 states “minority”, for the purpose of this Act, means a community notified as such by the Central Government. Ministry of HRD vide notification published in the Gazette of India dated 6.6.2014 has notified the following communities as the minority communities-Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains. As per the 2011 Census, these religious minorities constitute about 20% of the total population of the country numbering about 24.16 crores.

Religion-wise break-up of Minority Population in India, as per 2011 census

Sl. No.	Religious Group	Population (In Crores)	Percentage of Minority
1	Muslims	17.22	14.2
2.	Christians	2.78	2.3
3.	Sikhs	2.08	1.7
4.	Buddhists	0.84	0.7
5.	Jains	0.45	0.4
6	Others	0.79	0.7

India, which is known for the sheer diversities that characterise its population, has been home to many religious groups spread over different regions. There are also many problems confronting the minority groups, which have to be understood from multiple dimensions. The major religious minority groups in India are Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains Parsees and Buddhists. These groups have been able to preserve their group identities and have also been able to stay be part of the national mainstream.

Religious Minority Groups in India

The Muslims in India constitute the largest religious minority in the country. Though a minority in its numerical strength, it constitutes the second largest Muslim population in the world, next to Indonesia. The Muslims constitute 14.2 per cent of the Indian population according to the 2011 census, and form an important segment in the social fabric of the country. But economically, Muslims are the most backward community with the lowest employment rate. With such a vulnerable economic status, there was hardly any incentive for a modern secular education among large sections of the Muslim population.

The Christians are the second largest and oldest religious minority in the country. They are largely spread over south India, particularly in Kerala. Consistent with the social philosophy of their religion, the Christians, in India are well represented in the social welfare activities of the country with particular concern for the service of the unprivileged. Their role in the sphere of health and education is well recognised.

The early part of the 20th century witnessed the rise of numerous Sikh sectarian organisations that emphasised a distinct Sikh identity. Sikhism is another important religion in India which is spread in different parts of the country, especially in Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Bihar, etc. Claiming Punjab as their motherland, the Sikhs have developed a very strong sub-national identity, carrying with them the vital elements of the Punjabi culture. The Sikhs are excellent cultivators in rural areas; they have played a very significant role in ushering Green Revolution in the country. In urban areas, most of them earn their livelihood in the trade and commerce sectors. They have always maintained a larger share in defence forces of the country. The other minority groups are Jains, Buddhists and Parsees whose numbers are far less than other minorities.

Constitutional Provisions for Minorities in India

The Constitution of India has provided minority groups with some safeguards. The Preamble of the Constitution describes the concept of secularism which means that the State has no religion of its own, and there is equal respect for and protection of all religions. No one is to be discriminated on grounds of religion and everyone is guaranteed full and equal freedom of religion. Article 30 of the Indian Constitution states that the minorities have rights to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. This includes the right to choose the medium of instruction, curricula, and subject to be taught. Minorities can impart instruction to their children in their own languages. The National Commission for Minorities undertakes review of the implementation of the policies formulated by the Union and state governments with regard to minorities. It looks into specific complaints regarding deprivation of rights and safeguards of minorities, and conducts research and analysis on the question of avoidance of discrimination against the minorities.

The Constitution (Article 30) specifies two kinds of minorities –Religious and Linguistic – and the Supreme Court has ruled that for the purpose of deciding who is a minority the state will be the geographical unit within which headcounts will decide majority or minority.

The provisions of Article 30 ‘vis-à-vis’ education are as follows:

All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.

The state shall not, in granting aid to educational institutions, discriminate against any educational institution on the ground that it is under the management of a minority, whether based on religion or language.

These provisions give minorities a certain degree of religious and educational autonomy. The Constitution does not, however, specify or indicate either the religious denominations or the minorities that come under these provisions. Nor did any legislative enactment do so until 1992.

Article 26 of the Constitution recognises the right of every religious denomination to manage its own affairs and establish religious and charitable institutions.

The Central Minorities Commission, set up in 1978 by a presidential order, was given statutory backing when the National Commission for Minorities Act was passed in 1992. Section 2(c) of the act defined a ‘minority’ as a “community notified as such by the Central government”. After the first statutory commission was constituted in 1993, the government issued a notification specifying Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsees as minorities for the purposes of the act.

The spirit of Article 30 is that it is intended to ensure that minorities are not discriminated against or denied equal treatment. However, there is a feeling among some that this provision has been cited by some minority institutions to claim exception from the mandatory 25 percent quota to be reserved for deprived groups. This issue needs to be revisited and empirical data need to be generated to validate any act of going away from the constitutionally conferred rights to vulnerable groups ( For more details on the history of Constitutional Law on the subject and its development through the courts, see Rao, 2007).

If these articles relating to the rights of minorities are put together it would appear that Indian Constitution envisages three categories of minorities- classified in terms of language, religion and culture for which all rights are guaranteed to keep their identities intact. Differences on the ground of language or religion are understandable but it is difficult to define the word culture. Culture means so many things and there is so much cultural variety in India. It is difficult to culturally determine who is a minority and who is a majority. Culture, therefore is a vague and intangible phenomenon for the determination of minorities. But if culture is understood to be the essence which is embedded in religion then culture and religion combined together form a rational basis for a relative emergence of majority and minority groups (Akhtar 2006).

So far as religious minorities in India are concerned Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhist, Jains and a very small minority of Parsees are generally identified. There is yet another minority recognised in the Constitution is and these are Anglo- Indians. They are a combination of racial, religious and linguistic features. The Muslims constitute the single largest minority.

When it comes to religious and linguistic institutions, the state has no right to interfere with any of them

–  majority or minority –unless it sees mismanagement or denial of human rights or other illegalities. But this applies to all institutions. At best the state can insist on stringent audits or enforcement of minimum wages and such other provisions

Constitutional Debates

Constitutional debates about minorities were marked by discussions regarding withdrawal of political safeguards for religious minorities during the making of the Indian Constitution. In the drafts and deliberations regarding the Constitution, there were provisions of reservation in legislatures, employment, government and cabinet. This was done in order to protect and preserve the interests of minority groups. However, in the final draft, the minorities were excluded from all political safeguards. Such a radical change could be explained in the context of the partition of the country into two nations, one of Muslim majority and other of the Hindu majority. While the other minorities were seen to be numerically too small in numbers, to be paid any attention. During the debate in the Constitutional Assembly, backwardness of a group was given primacy over distinct cultural identity a legitimate ground for group preference in the political arena.

During the debates in the assembly, representatives of each group sought to establish their group as being more eligible for safeguards and deserving greater representation than any other. Such a status was claimed on grounds such as numerical superiority, being more backward than others, and possessing greater distinctiveness from the majority in its cultural practices than the other groups.

While the appellation of being a ‘minority’was popular with the leader of every group contending for special provisions, the nationalist opinion regarded it unfavourable and consistently sought to restrict its usage. K M Munshi proposed an amendment to define the term ‘minority’more narrowly. This was done in order to both exclude the scheduled castes from its ambit and to identify them under the ambit of the Hindu community (Bajpai 2000; 2011; CAD vol5 pg 241).

In the later stages of the deliberations, the term ‘minorities ’was removed from the draft altogether, from the sections dealing with group-preference provisions. Constitutional recognition of a community as minority was opposed in the nationalist opinion. Such safeguards were regarded as corrosive of the fundamental principles. These were to be the principles on which the new nation state was to be constituted. But the major apprehension for the nationalist opinion was that the granting of political safeguards to minorities may fuel separatist tendencies. It was also felt that this may also undermine national unity and cohesion and threaten the unity and integrity of the proposed nation state (Bajpai 2000).

Speeches in the Constituent Assembly involved several types of arguments ranging from national unity, secularism, democracy and equality in opposition to minority safeguards. The dominant opinion in the house also considered minority protection as unwelcome since they negotiated with the nationalist ideal of secularism. They accorded centrality to the community rather than to the individual citizen, which was going against the ideals of liberalism (Bajpai 2000).

Educational Status of the Minorities

In this section we look at different minorities in relation to their educational status. It must be stated at the outset that very little macro-level data are available on the educational situation among any religious minority in India (Jayaram 2012). India being a welfare state all its citizens enjoy equal economic, cultural and educational opportunities to grow and progress. But there is inequality in the level of literacy of different groups consequent upon diverse socio-cultural and economic status which causes human group disparities (Hussain and Siddiqui, 2010).The literacy rate of the largest religious minority, the Indian Muslims as per the census of 2011 is 59.1per cent. The male and female literacy rates among Muslims, respectively are 67.6 per cent and 50.1 per cent. In the case of higher education, Gross Enrolment Ratio among the Muslims is 11.3 as per the NSSO data of 66th Round (2009-10).This is the lowest among all the minority communities in India. The ratio of GER of Sikhs is 23.1, Christians 31.3, Jains 54.6 and Buddhists 17.9. Jains have the highest total literacy rate of 94.1 per cent followed by Christians with 80.3 per cent. Buddhists with 72.7 per cent are in the third position( see Drop-in-Article : Census of India 2011,p.3).

Literacy rates among different minority groups show a wide variation. Jains have the highest literacy rates for both males (97.4 per cent) and females (90.6 per cent). Christians have a literacy rate of 84.4 per cent for males and 76.2 per cent for females. Among Buddhists male literacy rate is 83.1 per cent whereas female literacy rate is 63.1 per cent. In the case of the Hindus, the male literacy rate (76.2 per cent) are above the national average of 75.3 per cent whereas the female literacy rate (53.2 per cent) is slightly below the national average of 53.7 per cent. The gap of male-female literacy rates is the lowest among Jains which is only 6.8 per cent points against the national gender literacy gap of 21.6 per cent points. Among Christians also the gap is as low as 8.2 per cent points.

Literacy tradition among Jains has had deeper roots as they were exposed to the preaching of their travelling mendicants who would deliver lectures on religious scriptures wherever they stayed. Hence, as a community the Jains had enough incentive to read and write (Gopal, 2010).Moreover, the Jains were wealthy and were one of the first religious groups to take advantage of western education. Furthermore, a high proportion of Jains (76.1 per cent) resided in urban areas and a high percentage of their total population (12.4 per cent) was concentrated in Gujarat, which was the first state in the country to have introduced compulsory education more than a century ago (Ojha, 1966).

The high literacy rate of the Christians was largely due to the role played by the Christian missionaries in the spread of literacy. Besides this, the Christians spent higher amount of their household income on education than did the Muslims and the Hindus, thus, indicating that Christians were well aware of the benefits of education (Singh, 2003). Among the Buddhists, the high rate of literacy was largely due to the social reform movement (Neo-Buddhist Movement) that emphasised the functional value of education.

The fact that literacy rate among the Sikhs is high could be traced back to historical factors such as an early exposure to education, large scale recruitment of the Sikhs in the British army, social reform movements (like the Arya Samaj Movement and the Singh Sabha Movement) and the formation of the Chief Khalsa Diwan. Moreover, a high proportion of Sikhs (75.9 per cent) were concentrated in the state of Punjab that not only allowed but also encouraged the Christian missionaries to undertake educational projects in the state (Government of Punjab, 2004) and was characterised by a widespread network of educational institutions, high rural connectivity, large scale emigration that enhanced the value of education and high per capita income. The Muslims were the only religious group which had a literacy rate lower than that of the Hindus.

Status of Education among the Muslims

Going by the Sachar Committee report (Sachar 2006), Muslims had only made minimal use of educational opportunities in the country. Their enrolment and retention rates at the primary and secondary levels were lower than that of the national average. Sufficient numbers of educational institutions were not available for Muslims across the country. Equal educational opportunity was also not available to all sections of Muslims.

Available data reveal that at high school and higher levels, the Muslims are at least three to four times behind other communities (See Ahmed 1981; Kamat 1985:293-301; Kareem 1988; and Saxena 1989).The enrolment of Muslim children in primary schools is generally poor, even in those areas where the Muslims constitute a majority. The enrolment of Muslim girls is, especially extremely low. More-over the dropout rate is significantly higher for Muslim students as compared to their non-Muslim counterparts (Saxena 1989). It is often argued that only a small proportion of the Muslim population looks forward to the charmed realm of professions or government employment through higher education (Saxena 1989). Most of their institutions are lacking in infrastructural and instructional facilities. Growth in numbers of their educational institutions has not been accompanied by an improvement in the delivery of quality education.

Madrasa education is an essential part of the education of Muslims. During the Mughal period the Madrasas were the main institutions for education; they provided religious as well as non-religious education in the fields of science, philosophy and history. Their authority as educational institutions suffered a setback with the colonisation of India by the British. Today Madrasas are religious Islamic educational institutions established to impart Quranic education to its pupils. Its purpose is to produce scholars who can interpret Islam in relation to demands of the contemporary needs. Thus, the image of the madrasa as primarily an institution that imparts religious education alone and is open only to Muslims is gaining ground more rapidly in recent times.

According to the Sachar Committee Report (2006) 4 per cent of the total school going children go to Madrasas and not to any other school. While according to the ‘Flash Statistics: Elementary Education in India and Progress Towards Universal Elementary Education (2006-07)’ released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), about 30% of Muslim children do not join schools at all, while the number rises to 56% at the upper primary level.

The National Madrasa Modernisation Programme was introduced in 2014 with the initial allocation of rupees 100 crore for modernisation of madrasas. A scheme to provide Quality Education in Madrasas (SPQEM) has also been started for providing financial assistance to strengthen the capacities of the government-aided madrasas in teaching subjects such as science, mathematics, and social studies, while also provisioning for teachers’ training, and establishment of libraries and book banks.

However, the modernisation of madrasas, that cater only to around 3% of Muslim school going children (not going to any other school) is not likely to have any perceptible impact on the majority of Muslim children of school going age because they do not go to the madrasas.

The National Institute of Open Learning has been mandated to open a minority cell to aid minority communities to gain access to open schooling methods and resources. It is also sought to achieve uniformity in madrasas throughout the country via state madrasa boards and a central board to oversee overall administration.

The major shortcomings of the madrasa system of education are the lack of inclusion of modern subjects in the madrasa education and lack of a greater focus on the issue of how inter-weaving of these subjects can improve the learning outcome as well widen the arena for employability of the students at the madrasas. Isolation from modern developments in the area of natural sciences and social sciences and over emphasis on the traditional subjects can also result in a negative outlook towards the non- traditional issues.

A large number of children from the Muslim community have been involuntarily excluded from mainstream education on account of their economic, social and cultural status. Concerted efforts are needed to promote access for such children to schooling and other educational resources. Minorities in general and Muslims in particular need to strive hard to harness every source that could lead them to quality education, quality growth and quality development. Given the importance of a knowledge economy, the establishment of educational institutions of global standards ought to become the priority for ushering in an inclusive process of development for minority communities. Internationalism in higher education needs to be promoted. The development of self-respect, a strong sense of ethics and inter-faith understanding through education must be the most important mission of educational institutions (Akhtar 2012).

Reasons for Educational Backwardness of Indian Muslims

There are a variety of explanations offered for the educational backwardness of the Indian Muslims. Kamat (1985:299) has summarised these under three main heads. According to him, some writers trace it to the religious traditionality and backwardness of those professing Islam, (b) some others explain it in terms of the partition of India and the acute psychological identity it created for Indian Muslims; and (c) the deliberate neglect and discrimination against Muslims by the larger society, which professes to be secular but is in fact, discriminatory whether in the field of education or employment. Lack of an adequate number of schools and infrastructural facilities in the Muslim dominated areas was a major cause of educational backwardness of this community (GOI, 2006).

Status of Education among Christians

The Christians offer a study in contrast to the Muslims with regard to education. Among the different activities that Christian missionaries carried out education was certainly the foremost. They established, generally as an extension of the Church, schools and colleges over the length and breadth of the country, many of which rank among the best even today (Jayaram 2012). Like the Muslims, the Christians did not have any religious or cultural inhibitions in accepting western education. A large number of Christian boys and girls received education in the missionary institutions. Thus along with the Brahmins and the upper caste Hindus, Christians too were able to move ahead in the sphere of education and thereby take advantage of the emerging economic opportunities in modern India.

Linguistic Minorities

Language is one of the most debated topics in Indian education. The Constitution of India recognises 22 languages as languages of the nation and accords them a place in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. India’s linguistic diversity can be attributed to: (i) different waves of invasion and colonization (the Aryans, the Moghul, the Portuguese, the British); (ii) free migrations within and between the different states and union territories; (iii) political influences leading to the linguistic reorganization of states following India’s Independence and (iv) presence of different ethnic and religious minorities distributed throughout India (Buddhists Jains, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Zoroastrians, and others) (Sridhar,1996). Politically, India is divided into 29 linguistically organized states and seven union territories. The linguistic scene in India is very complex. In every region or state, in addition to the majority regional language, the linguistic situation is complicated by the presence of several minority languages, as well as caste and class dialects, some lacking recognized scripts.

The term linguistic minority has been defined differently at different places and is viewed as a relative or contextual term that presupposes the term majority which is assumed to be all powerful and dominant. Linguistic minorities are speakers of minority languages. Srivastava (1984) provides a new approach towards defining minority-majority languages based on two principles, quantum and power, wherein, the linguistic minorities are those that lack both quantum and power and majority as having them. According to Pandharipande (2002) minority languages are typically those which carry relatively less or marginal functional load and functional transparency. Functional load is used as a diagnostic tool to predict maintenance or attrition of languages. Functional transparency refers to the autonomy and control that the language has in a particular domain. Pandharipande(2002) proposes that for understanding the linguistic minorities a different framework needs to be formulated which will take into account the multilingual profile of India, the functional distribution of languages across domains, the size of the speech community and the notion of dominance. Moreover, the framework should be able to explain various types of minority in the country, and why the same language can have the status of minority as well as dominant language simultaneously (in different states). For example, minority languages can be divided into three groups: (a) those which have minority (non-dominant) status in their native state; (b) those which are reduced to minority status in their non-native states; and (c) languages which do not have a native state but are distributed across states (e.g. Sindhi and Konkani). This framework clearly shows that a language acquires minority status when its functional load is reduced (in a non-native state where the dominant language of that state is different and used in many public domains), while it continues to enjoy the status of a dominant (non-minority language) in its native state. So in conclusion it can be said that minority languages can be defined on the basis of their low prestige, which is the result of their low functional load in the public domain. External factors (language policies, modernisation) as well as internal factors (attitudes of speakers) contribute to the enhancement or retardation of mirrnority languages. The Indian Constitution adopted several safeguards to protect linguistic minorities in the country. Articles 350(A) and 350(B) were adopted in addition to the Articles 29(1), 30, 347 and 350 in order to safeguard the interests of minorities. Article 29(1) notes: “Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.” This clearly guarantees the right of minorities to conserve their cultural as well as linguistic traditions.(For an overview on the linguistic minorities in India see Khubchandani 1988; Pattanayak 1990; and Sridhar 1989&1996).

Various Educational Provisions for the Minorities in India

The seven target specific programmes of the Ministry of Human Resources Development covered under the PM’s New 15 Point Programme for the welfare of minorities are:

(i) Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan which includes construction of new school buildings in Minority Concentrated Districts (MCDs), opening of new schools in MCDs, construction of additional class rooms, sanctioning of teaching posts, sanctioning of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs).

(ii) Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madrasas (SPQEM).

(iii)  Infrastructure Development of Aided/ Unaided Minority Institutes (IDMI).

(iv) Greater resources for teaching Urdu.

(v) Sub‐Mission on Polytechnics.

(vi) Model Degree Colleges in Educationally Backward Districts (EBDs).

(vii) Women’s hostels in MCDs.

National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI)

NCMEI has been established by an Act of Parliament with the key objective of ensuring that the true amplitude of the educational rights enshrined in Article 30 (1) of the Constitution is made available to the members of the notified religious minority communities, including the Muslims.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has the following two educational Schemes exclusively for the Minorities:

(i)  Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madrasas (SPQEM): SPQEM was implemented in 2009‐10 to encourage Madrasas and Maktabs in introducing modern education. It provides financial assistance to Madrasas and Maktabs registered under State Madrasas Board/Wakf Board/NIOS to introduce modern subjects like Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Hindi and English in their curriculum. The central government provides 100% funding under the Scheme. Grants are given on an yearly basis through respective State/U.T. Governments. Funds are provided as per norms of the Scheme. Private Aided/Unaided

(ii)    Infrastructure Development of Aided/Unaided Minority Institutes (IDMI): IDMI facilitates education of minority by augmenting and strengthening school infrastructure in Minority Institutions (elementary/ secondary/ senior secondary schools). Voluntary organisations/Societies /Trusts running institutes/schools which are recognised by Central/State Governments are eligible for assistance.

Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV)

In Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, i.e. residential schools for girls at upper primary level, a minimum of 75% seats are set apart for minority, SC, ST and OBC girls.

Novodaya Jawahar Vidyalaya Scheme (JNV)

The objective of the scheme is to provide quality modern education to talented children predominantly from the rural areas, without regard to their family’s socio‐economic condition. JNVs are established in all districts except in Tamil Nadu. The Ministry has a target of setting up 378 new JNVs during the Twelfth Plan. Out of this, 196 JNVs are proposed to be set up in Special Category Districts including all Minority Concentration Districts. Urdu is the medium of instruction for Class VI to VIII in 12 JNVs. Besides, Urdu is also being taught as third language in 35 schools.1

Teacher Education

One of the objectives of the Scheme of Teacher Education is to ensure good quality teacher education facilities for persons belonging to SC/ST and Minority groups. The Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Teacher Education has a provision for establishment of Block Institutes of Teacher Education (BITEs) in 196 SC/ST/ Minority Concentrated Districts (MCDs).

Major Problems faced by Religious Minorities in India

The minority communities face several challenges in the process of development. Many feel that there are problems in integrating suitably into a society that has a Hindu majority population. There are also issues of inter-minority relations that have often widened the gaps between different minority groups. One such example is the apprehension among some sections of Muslims that for enlarging their base, some groups among Christians are involved in converting castes in the lower rungs of the hierarchy and tribal groups to Christianity and this has led to conflicts which have taken a violent turn in some parts of the country. Many among the minority groups feel that unlike their Hindu counterparts, they are relatively deprived in areas such as employment, political representation and social facilitation. According to them, they are poorly represented in civil services as well as in medical and engineering colleges. Incidents involving in Hindus and Muslims in incidents of violence have resulted in feelings of mutual distrust on the one hand and disruption of livelihoods and development opportunities, on the other.

The serious communal riots that have taken place in different parts of the country after 1960s have instilled a sense of insecurity especially among the Muslims, and the feelings of mutual distrust have resulted in a growing sense of alienation between the two groups in many parts of the country. During caste conflicts, communal violence, etc., minority groups seek police protection but the governments in power may not always find it possible to provide such protection for all the members of minority communities. Thus, the condition of religious minorities in India continues to be very complex and critical. It is also needless to say that political groups have used majority-minority tensions to further their own power agendas.

In order to improve the condition of religious minorities in India, the government in power should make every effort to restore their confidence. It is also necessary to create conditions in which the minorities are assured that their constitutional and legal rights are safeguarded. The government should seriously respond to the real needs and requirements of the poor and other minority groups. The government should also consider the Sachar Committee Report and initiate steps to take action on its recommendations. People-to-people contact, social consciousness, abolition of illiteracy etc. may prove useful confidence-building measures. The secular values must be internalised by all groups and political parties. No political party should be permitted to contest election by exploiting the emotions of a particular community. Efforts should also be made to promote liberal social reforms to deal effectively with communalism and the influence of communalist leaders. The secular political class of India should campaign for widening the base of education for Muslims. The religious minorities have to be empowered educationally and economically. The progress of the country can be achieved if all religious communities in India can live in perfect harmony. But as times pass by, global circumstances that are hampering meaningful dialogues to evolve conflict resolution strategies are actually blocking this process. In fact achieving inter -group harmony is emerging as one of the greatest challenges for states across the world. In such a set up questions of education and sustainable development are taking the back seat.

Concluding Remarks

The Constitution does not define who the minorities are. The National Commission on Minorities (NCM) Act (1992) states that ‘ minorities’ would be those as defined by a notification of the central government. Today in India we have six religious minorities namely Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians (Parsees) and Jains. In terms of numbers Muslims are the largest religious minority group in India. There are different provisions in the Constitution of India for protecting the rights of minorities in the field of education. Different minority groups are at different stages of achievement as far as access to and utilisation of educational opportunities are concerned. It is the constitutional responsibility of the state to see that while the cultural identities of minorities are protected they are not deprived of opportunities for getting access to modern education. All minorities can avail themselves of educational facilities available equally to all citizens in the publicly financed non- denominational institutions all over the country and at the same time liberal grants –in aid are also provided to educational institutions run by different minorities as per the provisions of the Constitution of India.

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Weblinks

• http://www.unesco.org/most/vl4n2pandhari.pdf>. Government of India, 2012, http://www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/abouttheministry
• http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/in-the-minority/#sthash.DwiorHjj.dpuf
• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/384500/minority
• http://minorityaffairs.gov.in/sites/upload_files/moma/files/pdfs/sachar_comm.pdf
• www.indianmba.com/faculty_Column/FC1007/fc1007.html
• ncmei.gov.in/File_link_view.aspx?ltp=1&lid=115