Govt may include more in minorities list: Khurshid

In 1993,the Central government had notified Muslim,Christian,Sikh,Buddhist and Parsi communities to be regarded as minorities under the National Commission for Minorities Act,1992. Although the Jain community had approached the apex Court in 2005 seeking directions to the Centre for recognising them as a minority at the national level,the court did not issue any orders,leaving it to the government to decide the issue.

However,NCM chairman Md Shafi Qureshi said,Its for the Central government to decide who minorities are. NCM cannot declare on its own who are minorities, he said.

Khurshid said the government would take steps to give the minority panel more teeth. We know the NCM needs more teeth. We need to work on that, he added. He also said the government would soon table in Parliament the Communal Violence Bill,as the Cabinet had already passed it.