New Delhi, April 7
Sikhs may not be a minority in Punjab, as recently ruled by the Supreme Court, but they now enjoy minority status in some other states of India. In a significant development, state governments of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have notified Sikhs as minority communities.
The move will enable Sikhs in these southern states to avail the benefits granted under Prime Minister’s new 15-point programme for the welfare of minority groups. Just one of the many welfare measures announced by the government for the minorities is — Rs two-and-a-half million worth of scholarships for minority students in classes X and XII.
Confirming the development to The Tribune, sources in the National Commission for Minorities today said the issue had been under deliberation with both Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh for more than a year. “We received many representations from Sikhs in these states, asking for grant of minority status in line with the Act of Parliament. These states till now considered Sikhs a majority,” said highly placed sources in the Commission.
Under the National Commission for Minorities Act of 1992, five religious communities namely Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) were notified as minority communities. As per the 2001 Census, these five religious minority communities constituted 18.42 per cent of the country’s population.
In line of the Act, the state governments were expected to notify the said religious groups as minorities. But not all the states granted minority status to the aforesaid groups — a problem that’s still alive for the Commission, which considers the development in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh as “heartening”.
Karnataka has now included Sikhs among its notified minority groups, which include Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists and Parsis. Significantly, Jains are not a minority as per the central Act. Another, interesting fact is that the notifications of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh come close on the heels of the Supreme Court order ruling that Sikhs are not a minority in Punjab. In February this year, the Supreme Court of India agreed with the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict on the matter last year. A Bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan refused to suspend the high court verdict of December 2007 saying: “It is strange to assume that Sikhs in Punjab are in minority.”
