Minority status in India is State-dependent, says SC
- Minority status of religious and linguistic communities is “State-dependent”, said Supreme Court.
What did the Supreme Court say?
- Every person in India can be a minority in one State or the other.
- One can be a minority outside his/her State.
- A Kannada-speaking person may be a minority outside Karnataka.
What was the petition about?
- Court was hearing a petition that followers of Judaism, Bahaism and Hinduism are real minorities in Ladakh, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Kashmir, Punjab and the North-East States.
- However, they cannot establish and administer educational institutions of their choice because of non-identification of ‘minority’ at the State level.
- Religious communities such as Hindus here are socially, economically, politically non-dominant and numerically inferior in several States.
Prelims Take Away
- Minorities and Types
- Constitutional provisions related to Minorities