The Government has replied in the negative to the recommendation made by the National Commission for Minorities for uniform national guidelines to determine minority status of educational institutions. The NCM had made this suggestion in a meeting with the Human Resources Development Ministry last month. In that meeting, the NCM had argued that the right to determine minority status of a community must be vested with the Union Government to avoid state-wise discrepancies.Replying to the NCM’s plea, the HRD Ministry made it clear that the Central Government has no intention to lay down procedures for uniform guidelines for determining minority status of communities.“The Central Government can’t lay down procedures to be followed by states for the issuance of minority certificates by them,” the HRD Ministry said in a written reply to the NCM. The matter is within the competence and jurisdiction of state governments where the Central Government can’t intervene, it said.The NCM had pointed out that universities often refuse to affiliate minority institutions located outside the state.In its reply, the HRD Ministry has said that the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions has been empowered to grant minority status certification wherever it is proved that such certification has been denied without reason and minority rights have been violated.However, the NCM is far from convinced. “We are of the view that the Government of India must have a final say on determining the minority status of a community. We can see that regional politics plays a key role in determining minority status of a particular community, which is not fair,” said Harcharan Singh Josh, member of the NCM.The NCM had made recommendation for making the right to determine minority status of a community a Central subject, citing the case of the Jains. The NCM had pointed out that the state governments of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have notified Jains as ‘minority’, in accordance with the provisions of respective State Minority Commissions Act. But this status is denied to the community in other states. Such a disparity creates problems for both the communities and the state governments.Meanwhile, inclusion of Jains in the list of notified minorities is still an issue before the Government. The NCM has given a favourable reply in this regard. However, the Government is going slow on taking a decision, as the community itself is divided over the issue. Those who oppose the inclusion of Jains in the minority list are of the view that Jains may have a separate system of belief but as a community Jains are Hindus only.
