From: budaraju@cae.wisc.edu (Srinivas Budaraju)
Subject: Re: Article 30 of the Indian Constitution
Organization: U of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering
Date: 11 Jan 93 11:36:26 CST

In article <1iq2qnINNgrm@function.mps.ohio-state.edu> vidynath@math.ohio-state.edu (Vidhyanath K Rao) writes:

>Article 30: (1) All minorities whether based on religion or language, shall
>have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of
>their choice.
>
>(2) The State shall not, in grating aid to educational institutions,
>discriminate against any educational institution on the ground that it is
>under the management of of a minority, whether based on religion or
>language.
>
>Comments: A group has to be a minority in a region, and not countrywide or
>statewide. Thus Hindus may be considered a minority in Punjab, or some
>districts of some other states.

I don't think this is correct. Though the term 'minority' has not been
defined in Article 30 or anywhere else in the Constitution, Supreme Court
(SC) decisions on various cases have narrowed the definition (note here
that we are only talking about religious or linguistic minorities).  
SC decision in 1957, for example, stated that persons must be a minority
with reference to the entire population of the State, as opposed
to being a numerical minority in the region where the educational
institution is situated. The religious or linguistic minorities are,
therefore, to be determined only in relation to a particular legislation
which is sought to be enforced. 

The Court also ruled that the words "establish and administer" in the
Article must be read conjunctively, which means that a minority
has the right to administer an institution provided it had been
established by it; Aligarh Muslim University was not guaranteed protection
under Article 30(1), because it was not established by Muslims.

The Kerala High Court has ruled that the right to establish educational
institutions under the Article was not absolute; a minority cannot 
establish as institution wherever and whenever it wants. 

SC decision in 1957 also stated that a minority institution receiving
State aid cannot deny admission into such an institution based on
religion, caste, etc. In another decision the Court said that additional
regulations can be imposed on minority institutions if the regulations
satisfy "a *dual test*, the *test of reasonableness*, and the *test that it
is regulative* of the educational character of the institution and is
conducive to making the institution an effective vehicle for the 
minority community or other persons who resort to it." (emphasis supplied.)

>This is the provision cited by Professor Kak in his post on discrimination
>against Hindus. And this article is clearly discriminatory. It allows the
>State to prevent the majority from establishing its own educational
>institutions, or if established, to be denied State aid and or recognition.
>It protects the minorities, but allows communists, socialists, "secular
>humanists" and the like a free hand against the majority religion, which in
>most parts of India is Hinduism. I wish that BJP would introduce an
>amendment to the constitution to change "minority, whether based on religion
>or language" to "a section of the citizens, based on religion or
	          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^	
>language or both". This would seperate the sheep from the goats.

You might as well do away with Article 30; your suggested amendment does
no less. Other than rhetoric what exactly is the nature of descrimination
that Hindus are facing? What Hindu institutions were denied recognition
or state aid? 

What exactly are the minority institutions are getting away with and
what exactly are the majority institutions prevented from doing? Can you
give me specific examples with references? I repeat, examples with references,
please.

>Vidhyanath Rao			It is the man, not the method, that solves

-Srinivas				budaraju@cae.wisc.edu

Ref: "Rights of Religious Minorities in India," by Manju Subhash, National
Book Organisation, New Delhi, 1988.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.pakistan