A day after the representatives of Jain Community met Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi demanding minority status, the Centre on Monday accorded the same to the community enabling them to avail benefits of Government schemes and programmes.
The decision to grant minority status to the community of about 50 lakh was taken at a meeting of Union Cabinet. A Jain delegation had met Rahul and earlier with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to press for their long-standing demand for minority status. Rahul had spoken to Singh in their support. The Jains became the sixth community to have minority status after Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis.
Minority Affairs Minister K Rahman Khan said that his Ministry would soon issue a notification on the issue.
Once recognised as a minority, Jains would get a share in Central funds earmarked for welfare programmes and scholarships for the minorities. They can also manage and administer their own educational institutions. The community is already enjoying minority status in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan but the new decision extends the status across the country.
Numerically, the Jain community is small, with a population of about 50 lakh but they are prosperous, mostly engaged in business. Khan said there had been a lot of representations from the community that they be treated as a minority.
The Ministry moved a Cabinet note to this effect after Attorney General GE Vahanvati gave his go-ahead to their inclusion among notified minorities.