The recent grant of minority status to the Jain community clearly shows again the politics of religion and caste being practised in our political framework. Such announcements are made mostly during the pre-election period to garner electoral support. Ideally, any such status should be judiciously awarded with attached conditions, otherwise the justice, which is aimed at bringing up the unprivileged sections, would turn out to be an unfair deal for the so-called privileged section. The status must be attached with specific privileges that would be available to a section - defined according to their specific needs. It is rather superfluous to have 50 per cent reservation for a community in colleges even if they are run by the same community. Similarly, the rights associated with such a status must be limited, and available only for a certain period of time. Hence, a measurement system must be drawn for granting of such statuses, and must be monitored and controlled on a regular basis. The output of such measurements should form the basic cornerstone before any special status-related policy is enacted. We must realise the fact that the real motto behind any such action must be to bring a level playing field for communities, so that everyone can enjoy his/her part of the gain from the economic productivity.
M L Kabir, KoIkata
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