Jains in minority list: Govt says Muslim interest won’t be hurt

The Minority Affairs Ministry’s move to include Jains in the Centre’s minorities list has raised concern that broadening the definition without an economic eligibility criterion or a model for better implementation may cause the Muslim community to lose out, a fear which the ministry said was unfounded.
Abusaleh Sharriff, Member of the Sachar Committee that evaluated human development and economic indices of the Muslim community, says: “Our analysis show that in terms of employment opportunities and bank loans, benefits of minorities’ entitlements are cornered by more affluent minority communities like Sikhs and Parsis. Jains too are an affluent community and their inclusion may cause the divide to deepen, specially when it comes to the banking sector as they are predominantly a business community. Muslims will lose out.”
The problem, he says, is designing schemes for Muslims and targeting it for “minorities” as there is a notion that Muslim-specific schemes may go against secular credentials, with the result that the only schemes from which Muslims benefit are scholarship schemes. The ministry view is that minority status to one more community does not compromise interest of any existing groups on the list. The five religious minorities currently recognised by the Centre are Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Parsis and Buddhists.
Minority Affairs Minister K Rehman Khan said Sharriff’s claim of more affluent minorities cornering benefits was “unfounded”.
“Jains are a designated religious minority in 11 states and this is a long standing demand to include them in the National Commission of Minorities Act. That is all we are proposing to do. There are not just economic benefits at stake, there are other forms of protections that minorities are entitled to. There is no question of taking away from other communities because schemes are designed with the specific needs of a community in mind,” Khan says.
Justice Rajender Sachar says there is no doubt Jains constitute a religious minority. He says the problem of affluent communities cornering benefits, it is the result of poor implementation. NAC member Farah Naqvi says economic eligibility criteria should be a norm in all affirmative action.