Lesson 6: Religious groups in Indian Society

Introduction: India is known all over the world for its religiosity. Religion marks all the domains of our public and private life. Moreover, religion becomes very important in our society as we have number of religions and religious cults giving scope to religious synchronism. Ours is the secular country with number of religions flourishing here since time immemorial. However, there are certain issues that emerge out of multi-religious society. The problems of communal violence and religious fundamentalism have posed challenges to our national integration. Moreover, it has been observed that certain religious minority groups face several disadvantages in socio-political and economic system of our society. This chapter while introducing the rich religious heritage of our society also throws light on the problems of religious minorities and the efforts of government to address these problems. Religious Composition of Indian Population: India is known religious diversity all over the world. Name any major religion in the world, you will its followers in India. Apart from the religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism which have originated in our country, the other major religions of the world Christianity and Islam have flourished and strong roots in our society. People of our country also follow different cults and sects of major religions. This further adds upon the religious diversity in the country. It is precisely because of such a high density of religions, most of the people in India are aware of the religious dogmas and rituals of other religions. It is also true that each religion in turn is influenced by other religions. Some of the social customs of Muslims in South India have strong bearing Hinduism. Similarly most of the Hindus follow certain traditions of Muslims , the Sufi being the prominent one. The Hindu religion being the religion of majority of the people in country has influenced Islam, Christianity in different way. The Hindu notion of marriage as scared institution and primacy on the Institution of family is being followed by Muslims and Christians alike. Similarly the caste system which is unique to Hindu social order has also made in roads into Muslims and Christians in our country. Table No.1: Religious Composition of Indian Population Religion Hindus Muslims Christians Sikhs Buddhists Jains Other Religions & Persuasions Religion not Stated Population 827578868 138188240 24080016 19215730 7955207 4225053 6639626 727588 (%) 80.5 13.4 2.3 1.9 0.8 0.4 0.6 0.1

Total 1028610328 100 Source : Census of India 2001, GoI Indian society is unique not only for religious diversity but also for the qualitative aspect of it the religiosity. Indians have strong faith religious principles and practices. Irrespective of their secular education and professions, people in tend to be more religious. The Census data of 2001 shows that only 0.1 per cent of the people which negligible have reported their religions. Though, Hinduism is

followed by the majority of the people (more than 80 per cent), Indian state is secular. The constitution of India has provided a strong base for the secular society. The Constitution of India prohibits State from discriminating its citizens on the basis of their religions. It also ensures that State not interfere in the religious affairs of different communities. The citizens of India are entitled to follow and profess the religion of their choice. The freedom of not following any religion is also available to its citizens. Channing ones own religion and following the religion of choice is indeed a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution. Though, the State is prevented from interfering in the religious affairs of the communities, it has been allowed promote the cause of different religions in good spirit. Challenges to Secularism and problems of Religious Minorities: Secularism is a long cherished value in our society. The religious syncretism and tolerance have safeguarded our society from religious fundamentalism. However, the politicisation of religions and the rise of religion based terrorism have posed challenge to secular fabric of our society. The cross border support to certain terror elements in our country in the name of religion is quite disturbing development. Similarly, the right fundamentalist political parties creating propaganda against a particular religious groups and talking of cultural nationalism and rebuilding India on the basis of religion is equally creating tension in the society. Mahatma Gandhi spoke of politics based on religion but what he actually meant was politics based on morality. There is need to nurture political practices in our society based on some human values. There are also concerns expressed about the discrimination of religious minorities such as Muslims by the state apparatus. It is found that religious minorities especially Muslims have been excluded from the political representation, education and their socioeconomic status much below that of Scheduled Castes. The Sachar Committee has found that the representation of Muslims in the government jobs is much inadequate and wherever they are found they happen to be in the class fourth grade jobs. It also noticed that literacy rate among Muslims is lower than the literacy rate among Scheduled Castes and there is very rate of school drop out among Muslims. The Sachar report also reveals that the poverty among the Muslims is second highest only next to SC/ST. The committee found that about 31 per cent of the Muslims in the country are below poverty line. The situation of political representation from the Muslims is very grim. They have been literally used as 'Vote Bank' by the major political parties in our country. There is also a concern of reserving Muslim concentrated areas as 'reserved constituency' for Scheduled Castes, thus blocking the chance of their rise in the politics of our society. The other religious minorities such as Christians, Parasis, Jains and Buddhist also face certain socio-economic problems. But the gravity of the problem is more intense in case of Muslims. The Christian communities are also facing the problem communalism. They have been targeted by the right wing fundamental groups in the country. There are also the issues of backwardness of Dalit Christians and demand of reservation for them under the SC quota. The Parasis are altogether facing different but serious problem of drastic decline in their population. There also concerns about low attainment of higher education among the Jains in our country. The Neo - Buddhists who form the major chunk of Buddhist population in our country experiences serious social and economic disadvantageous. Measures taken by the Government of India to address the problems of Religious Minorities: The constitution of India does not define the term minority but identifies two groups of minorities (1) Religious Minorities and (2) Linguistic Minorities. Under the religious minorities six groups have been listed : (1) Muslims (2) Christians (3) Sikhs (4) Buddhist (5) Jains and (6) Parasis. The Constitution has made elaborate provisions to protect and promote the interests of the religious minorities. The Preamble of the Constitution declares our country as a secular country. (1)Constitutional provisions: The Constitution of India has provided two types of safe-guards -general and specific to safeguard various interests of the minorities. In the first category are those provisions that are equally enjoyed by both groups. The provisions ensure justice- social, economic and political equality to all. The second category consists of provisions meant specifically for the

protection of particular interests of minorities.

Part III of the Constitution gives certain fundamental rights. Some of these rights are common to all the citizens of India including minorities. These rights are enshrined in the following articles: Article 14: This ensures equality before law and equal protection of law. Article 15: This prohibits discrimination on any ground i.e. religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth. Article 21: No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except the procedure established by law. Article 25: This ensures freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion. Article 26: This ensures a right to manage religious institutions, religious affairs, subject to public order, morality and health. Article 29: Gives minorities a right to conserve their language, script or culture.It provides for the protection of the interests of minorities by giving them a right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. The State is directed not to discriminate against minorities institutions in granting aid. Article 350A: Directs the State to provide facilities for instruction in the mother tongue at the primary stage of education. Art 341: Power of the President to specify the castes, races or tribes or posts of or groups within castes, races or tribes as scheduled castes. Art 350(A): Facilities for instruction in mother tongue of a minority group. Art 350(B): Special officer for linguistic minorities. (2) Government Measures: (1) The Prime Minister's 15 point programme for the socio-economic development of the minorities (2) Promotion of traditional education and Madarasas (3) Promoting the Minorities Finance and Development Corporations (4) Fellowships for pursuing higher education such as Maulana Azad Fellowships for Higher Education (5) Inclusion of Backward Muslims in the list of OBCs and providing them reservation facilities (6) Granting the Status of SC to the Neo-Buddhists\ Conclusion: The secular credentials of society can be protected and preserved when the religious minorities are given ample opportunities for their socio-economic development. There is need special socio-economic development programmes for the development of religious minorities on the lines of the programmes launched for the development of SC/ST. The issues of communalism and politicisation of religions are posing threat to sovereignty and integrity of our country. There is need of bringing comprehensive legal framework to tackle such issues. The civic society organisations can play a larger role in protecting our secular foundation by creating awareness among the people and involving them in activities that can prevent religion based terrorism, communalism and politicisation of religions. References: (1) Chisti Anees: Sachar Committee Report: A Review, Mainstream, Vol. XLV No 01 December 23, 2006 accessed from http:// www.mainstreamweekly.net/article95.html on August 14, 2011