Context

• The Supreme Court has questioned a petitioner’s argument that minority status for religious communities should be granted district-wise.
• The court’s question came while hearing a series of petitions seeking the identification of minority communities district-wise, saying the recognition of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis nationally by the Centre as ‘minorities’ ignore the fact that ‘majority’ religious communities like Hindus are actually “socially, economically, politically non-dominant and numerically inferior” in several States.
• The court had asked the Centre to clarify its stand on the petitions. The government had previously sought time for consultations with States and other stakeholders. 

What is the definition of minority under Indian laws?

• The expression “minorities” appears in some Articles of the Constitution, but is not defined anywhere.

What does the Constitution say about minorities?

• Article 29, which deals with the “Protection of interests of minorities”, says that “any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same”.
  • “No citizen shall be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the State or receiving aid out of State funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of them”.
• Article 30 deals with the “right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions”.
  • It says that all minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. 
• Article 350 (A) says there shall be a Special Officer for linguistic minorities to be appointed by the President. It shall be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under this Constitution and report to the President upon those matters at such intervals as the President may direct.

Who is a minority in India?

• Currently, only those communities notified under section 2(c) of the National Minorities Commission Act, 1992, by the central government are regarded as minority.

In the exercise of its powers under the Section 2(c) of the NCM Act, the Centre in 1993, notified five groups — Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis — as ‘minority’ communities. Jains were added to the list in 2014.

reference:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/why-cant-minorities-be-determined-state-wise-sc-asks-petitioner/article66170464.ece