[The following is a reproduction of a news update submitted by me for publication on JK Now (www.jammukashmirnow.com) on 19th December, 2017]
The PIL filed by Jammu based advocate
Ankur Sharma before the Hon’ble Apex Court asking for Hindus to be declared a
minority community in Jammu and Kashmir and seven other states (where they
constitute a numerical minority) took an interesting turn last week. Those who
have followed the dispute would remember that the Hon’ble Supreme Court had
issued notice and asked the various State Governments along with the Central
Government to submit their stands for the court’s consideration. Subsequent to
the same, the PDP-BJP Coalition State Government has filed an affidavit before
the Hon’ble Supreme Court stating that the Jammu and Kashmir State does not
acknowledge Hindus as a “minority” in the State as it goes by the Centre’s
national list of minorities. The State government has been further reported to
have said that the benefits of Central Schemes would only be extended to
“meritorious” and “needy” members of those communities that are notified by the
Centre, suggesting that members of the Hindu Community would not be eligible.
The State Government’s affidavit referred to a Central Government Notification
dated 1993 that lists Muslims as a minority along with Sikhs, Christians,
Buddhists and Zoroastrians, with Jains having been added to the list later in
2014. The affidavit further added that in case the notified minority is the
majority in a state, the benefits are to be earmarked to other notified
minorities for the purpose of fixing physical and financial targets.
The State Government has also said
that the National Commission for Minorities Act extends to whole of India
except for J&K and therefore the State Government is not bound to identify
minorities within the State. Here, it is pertinent to note that the petition
before the Supreme Court also pleads for setting up a Minorities Commission in
the state in accordance with the 15 year old directive of the Apex Court.
After the petition, while the State
Government has said that it will “consider and examine” the “need and
feasibility” of establishing a state minorities commission “at the relevant
time” and “as and when the need arises” based on “critical study of social
backwardness of minorities spread across various regions of the State”, the
Central Government in March constituted a committee headed by the Secretary of
the Minority Affairs Ministry to examine the issues related to minorities in
Jammu and Kashmir.
Interestingly, Jammu and Kashmir is
the only Muslim-majority state in India. According to the 2011 Census, the
State has over 8.5 million Muslims which accounts for 68.31% of its total
population of 12.5 million while Hindus with a population of 3.56 million
account for 28.43% of the total population.
From the above statistics it is clear
that the State Government is trying to have its cake and eat it too. Given the
above stated stand of the State Government, what remains to be seen is what
final stand the Central Government takes when the matter comes up for hearing
next January as a lot would depend upon the same.
