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minority status at the national level for the past few years with representations in the Central Government, National Minority Commission and State Legislatures. The Supreme Court of India had directed the Central Government to take a final decision in this regard by 28th November 2004. Subsequenly, the central government had decided in 2009 to make necessary amendments in the constitution to accord the minority status to the Jains. However, the amendment act is yet to be passed by the Indian Parliament. After a long time there is a Jain Minister of State in the cabinet.
In response to the affidavit filed by the Central Government the Supreme Court had also subsequently given the ruling that under section 30 of the Constitution of India, the decision about according minority status on the grounds of language or religion can be taken
y the respective State governments and not by the Central Government. Thus, so far only eleven Indian states/union territories, namely Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tripura, West Bengal, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh have already granted minority status to the Jain community.
Apart from the numerical and legal aspects of minority status, more serious problem relates to the progressive erosion of the Jain values, or the Jain way of life, particularly among the younger generation, and amongst those settled abroad. The disintegration of the caste system, increasing inter-caste/religious marriages, use of alcohol and non-vegetarian food are some of the concerns of those who wish to retain the traditional value system of Jainism.
The second problem with which the Jains have to come to terms with is their slow growth rate which had come down to as low as about 4% in the 1991 census and was expected to come down further. However, the 2001 census data with over 26% decadal growth rate do not confirm this trend. It is widely believed that this high growth rate of Jains in the 2001 census was due to ethnic revivalism and not due to any change in their fertility behavior. Therefore only the next census report would be able to confirm the slow growth rate trend decisively. Logically, the affluent minorities of the world such as the Jews and the Parsees share the predicament of
124 | Jains in India and Abroad
