The Minority Affairs Ministry has moved a Cabinet note to grant minority status to the Jain Community after getting a go-ahead from Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati.
With lok Sabha polls round the corner, it looks like another attempt of the Government in trying to appease the 50-lakh-strong Jain community by proposing to grant them minority status. The Ministry of Minority Affairs has sought the views of other Ministries to recognise the community as a minority at the national level. The community is already enjoying minority status in some states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
At present, five religious groups — Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis — are notified as minorities by the Government. “Once the Jain community also receives recognition as a minority, they would get a share in Central funds earmarked for welfare programmes and scholarships for the minorities,” said an official from the ministry.
“The community will also be further empowered to manage and administer their own educational institutions,” he said. “There have been multiple representations from the community that they be treated as a minority and the government has decided to accept it after studying their numbers,” said K Rahman Khan, Minister for minority affairs at an event in the Capital on Wednesday.
“The Ministry had also sought the opinion of AG GE Vahanvati and also law Ministry on the issue and he has also approved the proposal,” he said. The Congress-led Government’s move to grant the Jains minority status comes after a similar attempt to gain the support of the influential Jat community by referring the matter of their inclusion in the Central Other Backward Classes list to the NCBC, that would entitle them to reservation in Government jobs and educational institutions.