Minorities should be treated as 'weaker classes': NCM

Ground Report | New Delhi: Minorities should be treated; The National Commission for Minorities has justified various schemes of the central government for religious minorities. The commission has told the Supreme Court that minorities in India should be considered as 'weaker classes' because Hindus are in majority here.

In fact, this response of the commission has come on the petition of six members of a Hindu organization in which objection was raised on special schemes for religious minorities and the formation of the Minorities Commission.

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In the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the Commission has said that while the majority community is dominant in India, the minorities should be treated as a weaker section under Article 46 in India. Under this, it is the responsibility of the state to promote the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections.

The commission said that if special provisions are not made by the government for the numerically small or weaker sections, then such a group can be suppressed by the majority.

The commission said that the constitutional provisions making special plans cannot be limited to caste-based identity, religious minorities must also be included in it, so that practical equality of all sections in the society can be ensured.

Earlier, the central government has also declared welfare schemes for minorities as legitimate. It says that these schemes do not violate the rights of Hindus nor are they against the principle of equality.

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In the petition filed by six people including Neeraj Shankar Saxena, it has been said that running special schemes by the Center for minorities is wrong. It has been said in the petition that a budget of Rs 4700 crore has been kept from the government treasury for these schemes, while there is no provision in the Constitution.

Taxpayers from spending money on a particular religion According to Article 27, the government cannot spend money taken from taxpayers for promoting any particular religion. But from the construction of Waqf property to the upliftment of minority students and women, the government is spending thousands of crores of rupees. This is a violation of the fundamental right of the majority community.

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