Who are the minorities notified by the Government of India?

Being the second-largest country in terms of population, India is a multitude

of various religious communities. Hindus cover nearly 80% of India‟s total
population, with an estimated 172.2 million Muslims, 27.8 million Christians,
20.8 million Sikhs, 4.5 million Jains, etc.

The controversial term “minority” or “minorities” is used in the Constitution

in some articles like Article 29, Article 30, Article 350(A), and 350(B) but a
concrete definition is not given in the Constitution.

The Union government, under the National Commission on Minorities Act

1992 has recognized 6 minority communities that is Muslims, Christians,
Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, and Jains. ( Jains were added later in 2014).

Currently, only those communities notified under section 2(c) of the NCM
(National Commission for Minorities) Act, 1992, by the central government
are regarded as minorities.

Despite the Supreme Court‟s 11-judge bench judgment in the T.M.A Pai
case, which clearly determined that linguistic and religious minorities must
be identified at the state level rather than at the national level,

Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act 1992 gave
the Centre “unbridled power” to inform minorities……

In 1992, with the enactment of the NCM Act, 1992, the MC became a
statutory body and was renamed the NCM. In 1993, the first Statutory
National Commission was set up and five religious communities viz.

The Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians (Parsis) were

notified as minority communities. In 2014, Jains were also notified as a
minority community.

Problems and concerns with minorities in India

Being one of the world‟s largest democracies, India glorifies the principles of
secularism and pluralism and the Indian constitution promotes the
prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place
of birth

but this type of cultural, religious, and social diversity leads to varying forms
of intersectional discrimination for the minority communities, for example,
Dalits, Muslims, and Christians, or religious minorities who are also linguistic
minorities or belong to indigenous communities (Adivasis) and such
 challenges are intensified when it comes to women of the minority
community.

Recent political developments have put the issues of minority appeasement

and minority harassment back into the forefront. The recent increase in hate
crimes has also triggered debates about the need for separate legislation to
protect minorities against lynching and hate crimes.

Some of the main problems faced by minorities

1. Identity Issues: Differences in socio-cultural practices, history, and backgrounds lead

minorities to struggle with identity, complicating their adjustment with the majority
community.

2. Security Concerns: Being a small number relative to the majority, minorities often
feel insecure about their life, assets, and well-being, especially during strained
majority-minority relations.

3. Equity Challenges: Minorities may experience discrimination, leading to a

perception of inequity and deprivation of developmental opportunities.

4. Religious Complexity: India’s secularism is challenged by issues such as

controversial conversions to Islam and Christianity. The Sachar Committee, formed in
2005, highlighted the alienation and economic disadvantages faced by Muslims.

5. Representation Issues: In the Lok Sabha, 90.4% of MPs are Hindus, while only 5.2%
are Muslims. Furthermore, Muslims constitute merely 2.5% of the Indian bureaucracy.

6. Definition of Minority: The lack of a clear minority definition leads to inclusion and
exclusion errors in government schemes, as highlighted by a recent PIL in the
Supreme Court.

Protection under Fundamental Rights:

 Article 15 (1) & (2) – Prohibition of discrimination against citizens on

grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth

 Article 16(1)&(2) – Citizens‟ right to equality of opportunity in

matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the
State

 Article 25(1) – People‟s freedom of conscience and right to freely

profess, practice and propagate religion – subject to public order,
morality and other Fundamental Rights
  Article 28 – People‟s freedom to attend religious instruction or
religious worship in educational institutions is wholly maintained

 Article 30(1) – Right of all religious and linguistic minorities to

establish and administer educational institutions of their choice

 Article30(2) – Freedom of minority-managed educational institutions

from discrimination in the matter of receiving aid from the State

Protection under Part XVII (Official language):

 Article 347- Provide special provisions relating to the language

spoken by a section of the population.

 Article350A – Deals with the provision of facilities for instruction in

the mother tongue

 Article 350B— Provision for a special officer for linguistic minorities

and defines its duty.

An analysis of Article 29 of the Indian

Constitution
The main aim of Article 29 of the Constitution of India is to protect the
culture of the minority groups of India. India is a very diverse country which
is both a strength and a weakness for it. The complex nature of India hence
gives rise to the use of Article 29 of the Constitution. The Constitution acts as
a guarantor of these rights to the minority groups of India. This helps in
preserving all the marginalised groups of India. The people are also
motivated to protect, propagate and preserve their culture.

Article 29 was promulgated in the year 1975 on 26th April. Chapter 3 titled
„Fundamental Rights‟ contains Article 29 and comes under the Department of
Personnel and Administrative Reforms.

Article 29(1) of the Indian Constitution aims at protecting the rights of a

group. This is an absolute right for the groups in minority with respect to
their cultural background. This provision cannot be subject to reasonable
restrictions for the general public‟s interests.
Article 29(2) of the Indian Constitution aims at protecting the rights of an
individual. The Article has provisions that guarantee the rights of an
individual citizen (not related to the community to which the citizen belongs).
Hence, Article 29 as a whole guarantees the protection of both religious and
linguistic minoritie

As per the Constitution of India, there are only two types of minorities that
are Religious and Linguistic. The Constitution in this Article has not
mentioned the minorities as per caste, representation, etc. The Supreme
Court said that the scope of the Article is not restricted to minorities only.
The language used in the Article „section of citizens‟ means that it includes
both minorities as well as the majorities.

In the case of Ravneet Kaur v. Christian Medical College (1997), the Court
observed that the state was promoting discrimination in the institutes that
were aided. The Court held that even the private schools and colleges which
received government aid, cannot discriminate on the basis of religion, caste
or race of the students.

In the case of DP Joshi v. State of Madhya Bharat (1955), the Court noticed
that there still exists one kind of discrimination that doesn‟t come across
people and that is the „place of residence. The state universities use the
criteria of residence qualification for the admissions of students. In another
case, Ashoka Kumar Thakur v. Union of India (2008), The Supreme Court
ruled that it would be preferable not to offer reservations based on residence
or institutional preference when it comes to admissions to postgraduate
courses.

S.P. Mittal v. Union of India, AIR 1983 SC

The State of Madras v. Champakam Dorairajan (1951)

State of Bombay v. Bombay Educational Society

(1954)

Facts of the case

In the case of State of Bombay v. Bombay Educational Society, it was found
that the Bombay government passed an order that aimed at banning the
admission of students whose mother tongue was not English. The English
medium schools that received government aid were mandated to do so.
Issues involved in the case
The order denied the admissions solely on the basis of the mother tongue
language of the students. The order targeted the Anglo-Indians and directed
them to admit only those students whose mother tongue is English. They
were warned that if they admitted other students who don‟t speak English
and don‟t fall under the category as prescribed by the government, then the
aid provided by the government will be forfeited.

Judgment of the Court

The Court said that minority institutions have the right to give admissions to
the students of their choice even if they receive government aid. The
Government aid provided to institutes does not give the right to the
government to violate the rights of minorities.

DAV College, Punjab v. State of Punjab (1971)

Article 30(1) is further divided into two parts, that is:

Right to establish
To claim the benefit under article 30(1) it is not necessary-

1. That the institution must seek to conserve the language, script or

culture of the minority community; what is necessary is its
establishment by the minority community, it may impart religious or
secular education wholly unconnected with language, script, and
culture.
2. That admission into such institution must be confined exclusively to
members of the minority community, and not a single member of
the majority community or other minority communities should have
its advantage.6

Case Study of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) {Azeez

Basha v. Union of India}
In the case of Azeez Basha v. Union of India 7, the Supreme Court held
that if an educational institution is not been established by the minority
community then they have no right to administer it. The term “established”
and “administered” have to be read in coordination. The University Grants
Commission Act prohibits the formulation of “University” established by the
educational institution unless and until it is governed by law.
Wanchoo clearly stated that the article cannot be read to mean that even if
the minority institution had been established by any other authority (Act of
Parliament), in this case, the religious minority cannot avail the services of
the university because “establish” and “authority” are the terms which are
complementary to each other.

In the case of Dr. Naresh Agarwal v. Union of India8, where 50% of the
seats to be filled on the basis of entrance examination conducted by Aligarh
Muslim University and the other 50% of the seats was reserved for Muslim
Candidates. The petitioners in this case, who are Hindu by caste have been
deprived of their right to participate in the process of admission against that
50%. The Allahabad High Court followed the judgment of Azeez Basha v.
Union of India and held that AMU is not a minority institution and struck
down the amendment which was made in the favor of Aligarh Muslim
University.

Admission Procedure in Minority Educational

Institution
In St. Stephen’s College v. University of Delhi14, the preference is given
to Christian students by St.Stephen‟s College was challenged.

The Supreme Court by the majority of 1 to 4 held that the college is not
bound to follow the university circulars as it will deprive the college of their
minority character. The right to select students for admission is an important
facet of administration. This power also can be regulated but the regulation
must be reasonable and should be conducive to the minority institutions. The
impugned directive of the university to select students on the uniform basis
of marks secured in the qualifying examinations would deny the right to the
college to admit students belonging to the Christian community. Unless some
concession is provided to the Christian students15

The court decided the two categories for the selection process:

1. Category I – 50% of the seats reserved for the minority community.

2. Category II – remaining 50% are selected on the basis of merit.

But in T.M.A Pai Foundation v. State of Karnataka [16], it was held that
“A minority institution may have its own procedure and method of admission
as well as selection of students, but such a procedure must be fair and
transparent, and the selection of students in professional and higher
education colleges should be on the basis of merit. The procedure adopted or
selection made should not tantamount to maladministration. Even an
unaided minority institution ought not to ignore the merit of the students to
the colleges aforesaid, as in that event, the institution will fail to achieve
excellence”.

The court also overruled the decision in St. Stephen‟s case. The court has
now granted the power to the state to fix quotas for minority students.

Whether Jamia Millia Islamia is a minority institution?

On 22nd February 2011 National Commission for Minority Educational
Institution (NCMEI) has declared Jamia Millia Islamia a religious minority
institution and that the university will have the benefit of being a minority
institution under article 29 and article 30 of the Constitution

On 5th March 2018, an affidavit is filed by the incumbent Government in the

Delhi High Court regarding the minority status of Jamia Millia Islamia where
they cited the case of Azeez Basha v. Union of India to justify their stand,
in which the apex court held that university incorporated under the act of
parliament cannot be claimed as a minority institution.

The affidavit concludes that JMI is not a minority institution as it was set up
by the Act of Parliament and funded by the central government and it was
not set up by any minority sect.

Conclusion
Our constitution aims at “Unity in Diversity”. The minority status is not only
dependant on the basis of religion but also on linguistic minorities. These
provisions are inserted in the constitution so that minorities can also
preserve and develop their culture.