- As far as prejudices are concerned, prejudices and stereotyped^ thinking are common features of a complex society. India is not an exception to this. Commonly used statements such as – “Hindus are cowards and Muslims are rowdies; Sikhs are dullards and Christians are converters “, etc. – reflect the prevalent religious prejudices.
- Such prejudices further widen the social distance among the religious communities. This problem still persists in India. Except in some sensitive areas this problem of prejudice is not disturbing the routine life of different communities, including that of the minorities.
- This act of discrimination against the minority isn’t limited to India but is a global problem and Women get the worst of it, minority women often experience discrimination from both within and outside their communities and suffer disproportionately from the economic, social and political marginalization affecting their communities as a whole.
- Minority women are often subjected to abuse, discrimination, and stereotypes for instance, manual scavenging is often reserved for Dalit women, in both urban and rural areas and they are paid menial wages for this degrading and unsanitary task.
- These women are forced into doing undignified and ill-suited jobs and are intimidated if they try to adopt any alternative livelihoods.
- Their daily lives are immersed with hate speeches, anti-minority sentiments, violations, discrimination and they are not able to take any action in spite of having various legal rights and lack of awareness, poverty, and fear add more factor to this problem.
- Because of the differences in socio-cultural practices, history and backgrounds, minorities have to grapple with the issue of identity
- This give rise to the problem of adjustment with the majority community.
- Different identity and their small number relative to the rest of the society develop feeling of insecurity about their life, assets and well-being.
- This sense of insecurity may get accentuated at times when relations between the majority and the minority communities in a society are strained or not much cordial.
- The minority community in a society may remain deprived of the benefit of opportunities of development as a result of discrimination.
- Because of the difference in identity, the minority community develops the perception of the sense of inequity.
- Communal tensions and riots have been incessantly increasing since independence.
- Whenever the communal tensions and riots take place for whatever reason, minority interests get threatened
- The Constitution provides for equality and equal opportunities to all its citizens including the religious minorities
- the biggest minority community, that is, Muslims have a feeling among them that they are neglected
- However, such a feeling does not seem to exist among the other religious minority communities such as the Christians, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists, for they seem to be economically and educationally better than the majority community.
- Need for security and protection is very often felt by the minorities.
- Especially in times of communal violence, caste conflicts, observance of festivals and religious functions on a mass scale, minority groups often seek police protection.
- Government in power also finds it difficult to provide such a protection to all the members of the minorities.
- It is highly expensive also. State governments which fail to provide such protection are always criticised.
- For example, (i) the Rajiv Gandhi Government was severely criticised for its failure to give protection to the Sikh community in the Union Territory of Delhi on the eve of the communal violence that broke out there soon after the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984. (ii) The Gujarat State Government was criticised for its inability to provide protection to the Muslim minorities in the recent [Feb. Mar. – 2002] communal violence that burst out. (iii) Similarly, the Government of Jammu-Kashmir’s inefficiency in providing adequate security to the Hindu and Sikh minorities in that State against the atrocities of Muslim extremists is also widely condemned.
- India has declared itself as a “secular” country. The very spirit of our constitution is secular.
- But in actual practice there is lack of commitment to secularism, purely religious issues are often politicised by these parties.
- Though the Constitution provides for equality and equal opportunities to all its citizens including the religious minorities, the biggest minority community, that is, Muslims in particular, have not availed themselves of these facilities. There is a feeling among them that they are neglected.
- However, such a feeling does not seem to exist among the other religious minority communities such as the Christians, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists, for they seem to be economically and educationally better than the majority community.
All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) report for 2018-19 was released by the HRD ministry. The survey, undertaken as an annual, web-based, pan-India exercise on the status of Higher Education since 2010-11, covers all the Higher Educational Institutions in the country. The survey collects data on several parameters like teachers, student enrolment, programmes, examination results, education finance, infrastructure, etc.
- Some of the demands put forward by some religious communities in some areas are not acceptable to others.
- This has widened the gap between them and others, Examples: The separatist tendency present among some Muslim extremists in Kashmir and their demand for the establishment of Independent Kashmir is not acceptable to others.
- Such a demand is regarded as anti-national. Similarly, some of the Christian extremists in Nagaland and Mizoram are demanding separate statehood for their provinces.
- Both these demands are supportive of “separatism” and hence cannot be accepted.
- Supporters of such demands have been causing lot of disturbances and creating law and order problems in the respective states.
- Another major hurdle that we find in the relation between the majority and the minority is relating to the failure of Governments which have assumed power so far, in the introduction of a common civil code.
- It is argued that social equality is possible only when a common civil code is enforced throughout the nation.
- Some communities, particularly the Muslims oppose it.
- They argue that the imposition of a common civil code, as it is opposed to the “Shariat” will take away their religious freedom.
- This issue has become controversial today. It has further widened the gap between the religious communities.
- For a long time, women in India were in the clutches of patriarchal society and were denied even the basic rights, all of this was intertwined with gender inequality and abuse.
- Women were subjected to many social evils like child marriages, sati pratha, widow exploitation, devadasi system, etc.
- But in recent years, the social situation of women has significantly improved, the practice of these social evils have almost vanished and the taint of gender inequality has reduced .
- These changes were possible because of various social, economical and cultural developments in the country, increase in awareness, educational opportunities and even healthcare facilities but unfortunately these developments and changes didn’t seep to the minority communities and plenty of them remained backward and illiterate thus, making the lives of women in their community engrossed with various issues.
- Women of religious minority face challenges from everywhere and they can’t even turn to their own community for help.
- They are subjected to constant abuse, both physical and mental, they even lack the basic facilities required for a dignified life due to their poverty-ridden background.
- Belonging from a minority community and being a woman in a male dominant society, puts them in a more vulnerable position which is often taken advantage of by people from both outside and within the community.
- They encounter unjust and unfair treatment as compared to their male counterparts in every aspect of life such as: education, job opportunities, security, health care facilities, etc.
- Women of the minority community are often seen as inferiors by the majority class and are associated to menial jobs, unequal pay, forced labour, etc.
- It’s true that India’s religious minorities face many problems related to violence and discrimination, particularly Muslims are targeted, but women of the Muslim community face even more problems.
- Christians and Sikhs face lesser degree of social, economic, cultural and legal discrimination.
