Relevance: Sociology: Paper II: Religion & Society: Problems of Religious Minorities
Government of India has notified 6 communities, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Zoroastrians, Jains as religious minorities at the national level. As per the Census, population of the minority groups constitutes 17.17% of the total population of the country. On account of this the concept of minority has to be studied with great care. Here, we will discuss various aspects of this problem in brief.
Almost all countries recognize religious and linguistic minorities. Minority groups are united by certain common features. They often organize themselves into a coherent group to demand such privileges from the state that will help to promote their religion, culture and language, so that they may stay alive and maintain their identity, not get absorbed by the majority.
- The most common general description of a minority group used, is of an aggregate of people who are distinct in religion, language, or nationality from other members of the society in which they live and who think of themselves, and are thought of by others, as being separate and distinct.
- Speaking about the concept of ‘minority’ in the Indian context, it can be said that the term has not been properly defined anywhere in the Indian Constitution. But ‘minority status’ has been conferred on many groups.
- According to the Article 29 of the Constitution any group living within the jurisdiction of India is entitled to preserve and promote its own language, script or literature and culture.
- Article 30 states that a minority group “whether based on religion or language shall have the right to establish and administer educational institution of their choices.
- The preamble of the Indian Constitution guarantees for all of its citizens justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. There is no discrimination against the minorities on any ground whatsoever.
As per 2011 Census, Hindus constitute the largest religious community in India with more than 80 per cent share in population followed by Muslims with 14 per cent share. Other communities are Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, Jains, Christians, Jews, etc. Christians are mainly concentrated in North Eastern and Southern states. Buddhists, who were once influential throughout Northern India, are now confined to Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Darjeeling and Maharashtra.
Problems of Muslim Minorities
- Economic Disparity & low adoptional capacity: Muslims have lagged behind a great deal in human development parameters. Their representation in public employment is poor and in armed forces is abysmal. Sachhar Committee of 2006 has highlighted that Muslims in India suffer from three-fold problems such as problem of identity, security and equity. This Leads to owner disparity like educational, attitudinal and cultural disparities.
- Health & Educational disparity and integrational problems: It found that Muslims have the highest incidence of stunted children and 25 per cent of children have never been to school. Though Muslims are 14 per cent of the population as per 2011 Census, their representation in postgraduate courses is only two per cent. Very few special effort have been made to fulfil the needs of education and ranking of the major portion of Muslim population which belongs to the lower strata of society. Muslims complain that in the text-books an over weightage is given to the Hindu mythological cultural and historical features.
- Least Beneficiaries of Post Independence Industries: Muslim artisan and craftsman class depended upon feudal mode of production and after independence became weaker and weaker as the Indian Bourgeoisie emerged stronger. Both in UP and AP where the Muslim feudal classes were strong, they faced economic ruination with change in mode of production. The share of Muslims in armed forces is four per cent and only 27 per cent of Muslims in urban areas are in regular employment.
- Personal Law: Indian Muslims have deep distrust of those who try to tamper with it. Art 44 of Indian constitution (common civil Code) reads, “The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.” While Muslim leadership considers the state’s non-interference in the community’s personal law as the touchstone of Indian secularism.
- Urdu Language: Increasing neglect of Urdu is another problem related with culture. Urdu is not even a second regional language. Further, Muslims argue that a mere legal recognition without adequate educational facilities for its speakers would create a dilemma. It’s largely associated with one particular religion of India that is Islam. (There is counter Counter-argument associated with this problem. Everyone knows that people speak the language of the particular area in which they live. It has nothing to do with religion. The Bengali Muslim speaks Bengali, the Madrasi Muslim speaks Tamil, Sindhi Muslim speaks Sindhi.)
- Ghettoisation is another characteristic of Indian Muslim population which is a result of a multiplicity of factors including two nation theory, communal conflicts, politics and backwardness.