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Bhim Singh a Rajya Sabha MP from the Bharatiya Janata Party and former Bihar minister raised a significant demand in Parliament regarding the redefinition of minority status in India during a Special Mention in the House on Monday.He argued that only those communities comprising less than two percent of the total population should be officially recognized as minorities and this proposal stems from his concern that the current classification system does not accurately reflect the demographic reality. He questioned the logic behind categorizing Muslims as a minority when they constitute roughly 14.2 percent of the national population according to the 2011 Census and asserted that a community with such a substantial share of the demographic should not be eligible for minority status. Bhim Singh emphasized that while the Constitution of India utilizes the term minority it does not explicitly define it which has led to ambiguity and he pointed out that under the National Commission for Minorities Act 1992 the central government currently identifies six communities including Muslims Sikhs Parsis Jains Christians and Buddhists as minorities.
The MP further illustrated his argument by citing specific data showing that communities designated as minorities at the national level effectively function as majorities in certain states and Union Territories. He noted that the Muslim population reaches as high as 96 percent in Lakshadweep and 69 percent in Jammu and Kashmir while also holding significant numbers in Assam West Bengal and Kerala. He contrasted this with the situation of Hindus in Kashmir who are numerically a minority yet do not receive the benefits of minority welfare schemes and also mentioned that Christians make up approximately 88 percent of the population in Nagaland and 87 percent in Mizoram despite being a national minority Singh concluded his statement by urging the government to identify minorities based on state or district level population ratios to ensure equitable treatment and address the anomalies where national minorities hold a local majority status.
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