State Minority Commission

The Constitution of India recognizes four “Minorities” in India and these are broadly on religious basis viz. Muslims, Sikhs, Parsees, and Christians. Lately Jains, too, have been included in the list of national minorities. These minorities  face some difficulties in broader sense and the Indian State has agreed to provide them some special privileges so as to make them comfortable in a democratic India that is required by the constitution. All citizens are equal before the law and all citizens have to be provided with facilities that help them develop their personality in respective community atmosphere.
The recognition of any community as a religious minority means that the States should have a State level Commission to ensure that the rights and privileges allowed to the minorities under law are not denied to them. In a situation of difficulty a member of the minority community can invoke the law that safeguards his interests. In pursuance of this objective, each State in the Union including Union Territories are required to set up respective Minority Commission to cater to the needs and interests of the minority communities in the concerned states. However, the Union Minister for Minorities, while replying to a question in the Parliament disclosed that twelve States, including four ruled by BJP and its allies, and six Union Territories (UTs) have not set up Minorities Commissions at their respective levels. Incidentally, Jammu and Kashmir also figures in the list of twelve States with no Minority Commission.
However, as far as the J&K State is concerned, it has to be noted that the Constitution of J&K (the only State which has its own Constitution provided under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution) does not recognize any community as “Minority” community in the State. As such, the State may not be required to constitute a Minority Commission. Perhaps that is why despite the Chairman of Minority Commission of India twice writing to the State Government in the past to consider giving Kashmiri Pandits the status of a minority community, the latter turned down the suggestion. At the same time Muslims of the State enjoy all benefits as “Minority community” under Indian Constitution. Interestingly, the UN Human Rights Council Working Group in Geneva, while considering a strong plea of the Pandits for their minority status, formally declared them “Reverse Minority” meaning a majority on national level but a minority on local/regional level. It has to be noted that the National Minority Commission has been seized of a debate on what should be the parameters of defining a community as “Minority”, meaning whether it is on local/regional or on national basis.

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