Once recognised as a minority, Jains would get a share in central funds earmarked for welfare programmes and scholarships for the minorities. They can also manage and administer their own educational institutions.
The community is already enjoying minority status in some states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan but the new decision extends that status across the country.
Numerically, the Jain community is small, with a population of about 50 lakh but they are prosperous, mostly engaged in business.
Khan said there had been a lot of representations from the community that they be treated as a minority. The ministry moved a cabinet note to this effect after Attorney General G E Vahanvati gave his go-ahead to their inclusion among notified minorities.
The Cabinet approved the inclusion of Jains in the list of notified minority communities under Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 pending the outcome of court cases in addition to the five communities already notified as minorities under Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, an official statement said in Delhi.
Under Section 2 (c) of National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act, 1992, five religious communities - Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis are declared as minority communities through a government notification issued in October 1993.
Thereafter, the Ministry of Minority Affairs has been receiving regular representations and RTI applications for inclusion of Jains as a minority community under this section, the statement said.
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