😊Indian constitution How Hindu Rights Have Been Seriously Damaged By Article 30 And RTE Act
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Indian constitute -
How Hindu Rights Have Been Seriously Damaged By Article 30 And RTE Act
Article 30 (1) of the Constitution states: “All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice”.
3- What Is The Background To Article 30?
Answer- The initial draft versions of the Indian Constitution prepared by Dr K M Munshi had proposed explicit, and equal, educational rights to all communities. However, when this section was referred to the minorities sub-committee of the Constituent Assembly, what came out was a very different version.
It read:
1- All minorities, whether of religion, community or language, shall be free in any unit to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice, and they shall be entitled to state aid in the same manner and measure as is given to similar state-aided institutions.
The origin of Article 30 lies in the discussions held primarily in the Second Round Table Conference held in 1931. It was derived from the memorandum submitted by Indian Christian representatives then. The version of the clause in the memorandum actually asked for “equal rights for all religions”. However, in the joint agreement version, that particular phrase was left out.
Therefore, Indian Christians, whose schools received preferential treatment during British Protestant rule, wanted special rights to continue after Independence (the co-author of this piece went to a convent school that started around 1870).
When the Constitution was adopted, the majority community was anyway expected to enjoy complete freedom in matters of culture, religion and educational rights. Alas! That was not to be.
This article looks at various provisions of Article 30 and the Right to Education Act (RTE), their interpretation by courts and how they have been implemented. It is presented in a frequently-asked-questions (FAQs) format for easy reading.
Article 30 provides similar benefits to religious and linguistic minorities.
The first question is who is a religious minority? The Indian Constitution does not define the word ‘minority’ and assumes that Sanatana Dharma is an organised monolith like Abrahamic religions, based on one book and one founder.
In 1950, religious minority meant Muslims, Christians and Parsis. Today it includes Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains. The Constitution does not specify a population percentage beyond which a community ceases to be a minority. This is absurd for it means even at 500 million, Muslims would still be considered a minority because their population is less than that of the Hindus.
This lack of definition has resulted in quaint situations. In Punjab, Sikhs constitute more than 50 per cent of the population but are considered a minority for the purposes of Article 30 since their population, on an all-India basis, is less than that of the Hindus. Ditto for Muslims in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir or Christians in Meghalaya or Nagaland.
Next, who is a linguistic minority? Since the creation of linguistic states, a community whose mother tongue is the language of the state is the majority and the others minority.
What Is The Current Scenario?
So, a school started by a Gujarati-speaking Hindu in Maharashtra is a linguistic minority because Marathi is the language of the state. If the majority of the trustees of a charitable trust that run a school in Maharashtra are Gujaratis, the school is deemed to be run by a linguistic minority. Needless to say, this provides scope for misuse.
Over time, courts received numerous cases relating to educational rights, and passed judgements interpreting the provisions of the Constitution from the point of view of the majority and minority communities. Here are some significant court orders and their impact.
Q1. What type of institutions can be started by minorities given protection under Article 30 (1)?
According to ‘Kerala Education Bill’ judt, the Supreme Court, in 1958, made it very clear that Article 30 (1) allows minorities to open and run “any kind of institution”. There are no limitations placed on the subjects to be taught in such institutions, and a particular religion or language may or may not be taught.
The SC judgement said,
In other words, the Article leaves it to their choice to establish such educational institutions as will serve both purposes, namely, the purpose of conserving their religion, language or culture, and also the purpose of giving a thorough, good general education to their children.
Thus, minorities can open schools, colleges, management institutions, medical colleges, etc. It will be deemed a minority institution if the religion or language of the management is minority. It does not matter if the nature of the institution has no relation to preserving the minority community’s culture and religion.
With regard to affiliation to a University, the minority and non-minority institutions must agree in the pattern and standards of education. Regulatory measures of affiliation enable the minority institutions to share the same courses of instruction and the same degrees with the non-minority institution.
● The real import of Article 29(2) and Article 30(1) seems to us to be that they clearly contemplate a minority institution with a sprinkling of outsiders admitted into it. By admitting a non-member into it, the minority institution does not shed its character and cease to be a minority institution. Indeed, the object of conservation of the distinct language, script and culture of a minority may be better served by propagating the same amongst non-members of the particular minority community…
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