Maoist Woman held for killing Jain leader at Shikharji

 DHANBAD: Giridih police on Friday arrested a woman on the charges of killing the general manager of Bharat Varshiya Digambar Jain Tirth Kshetra Samiti, P C Sharma, at Madhuban in Pirtand on October 7 morning. Police also find involvement of Maoist in the gruesome murder of the Jain sect leader.

Giridih SP A V Honkar said Maoists had been involved in the killing of P C Sharma at Vimalsagarji Samadhi at Madhuan. The woman, Sanjhali Devion, who was sacked by the trust on charges of having an illicit relation with an employee, had hatched a conspiracy to kill Sharma in connivance with the Maoists who had been insisting on her reinstatement.

"Sharma had removed Sanjhali Devi, a daily wage earner, and another person for having an affair. The Maoists had asked Sharma to reinstate her, but he had refused. The man was reinstated three months later, but the woman could not be accommodated despite pressure from the Maoists," the SP said.

Sanjhali alias Chudaki, the wife of Sikra Manjhi of Jobhi Tola of Pirtand, had sought the Naxalites help.

On October 7 when devotees were celebrating the birth anniversary of the Jain saint, she went to the trust office and called Sharma outside the premises of Vimalsagarji Samadhi where two Maoists, who had come on a motorcycle, pumped bullets on him. Although Sharma died on the spot, the woman and the two Maoists hit him with stones and bricks to disfigure his face.

The SP said police were making efforts to trace the Maoists involved in the murder. Madhuban is a stronghold of Naxalites.

TOI, October 27

Hindu Law for Jains: Supreme Court Sends Notice to Center

R Sedhuraman, The Tribune 26th October 2012

 New Delhi, October 25
The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Centre, seeking its response within six weeks on a plea for a “separate and distinct” identity for Sikhs in laws relating to succession, adoption, divorce and maintenance.

A three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir has asked the Law Ministry, Attorney General GE Vahanvati and the Minority Affairs Ministry to give their views on whether Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists could be included in laws meant exclusively for Hindus.

According to petitioners Birendra Kaur and Rohit Garg, the Anand Marriage (Amendment) Act 2012, notified in June had solved only the problem of registration of marriages by Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists. Earlier, they had to register their marriages under the Hindu Marriage Act 1955.

For other matters relating to succession, adoption, divorce and maintenance, people professing these three faiths still had to resort to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 and the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act 1956, they contended.

The petitioners questioned the wisdom of including Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists under the laws were meant only for the Hindus, if one were to go by the titles. “When all the four religions stand admittedly on an equal footing and are independent of each other, is it right for the legislature” to mention just one religion in the title, they wanted to know.

“Making a law applicable to all religions is one thing. Calling all religions by the name of a single religion for the purpose of law is quite another,” they said, contending that this amounted to discrimination.

According to them, the word “Hindu” in the titles of these laws should be replaced with either “national” or “Indian.”

Further, under the existing laws divorce was allowed on the ground of change of religion by a spouse. However, this was not possible if one of the partners in a Sikh marriage converted either to Hinduism, Jainism or Buddhism.

“This is true of married couples of all the four religions. Thus the word ‘Hindu’ is patently discriminatory. For example, if one of the Hindu partners converts to the Parsi religion, divorce is possible. If the partner converts to Buddhism, divorce is not possible,” the petition explained.

This problem, arising from “linguistic errors in legislative drafting,” was against the Constitution which had accorded equal status and independent identities to Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism, the petitioners said.

“Identity is an innate and powerful emotional feeling and is part of the right to life. That the Sikh identity be preserved as a separate and distinct identity while drafting statutes causes no difficulty for the State at all and it requires only a little sensitivity while drafting statutes to maintain this identity within the statute itself,” they averred.

The petitioners had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court with their plea on September 30, 2011, but the court dismissed it three days later, prompting them to move the SC. The SC Bench, which included Justices SS Nijjar and J Chelameswar, passed the order last week when the appeal came up for hearing.

JELP: JITO Education Loan Programme

Request To All Jain Trusts / Institutions / Organisations / Associations

Greetings Sir / Madam;

We look forward to assist all Jain Organisations, Trusts, Institutions to enable them Empower Education by extending all possible assistance to them to encourage their students obtain Education Loans thru Banks! For details please ask the student / parents to log on to www.jelp.org.in or email at jelp@jito.org The details of various other Organisations of similar line of activities are also available on our site and the data is growing. If you wish to add to those contact details pls email us the details at jelp@jito.org   These details would be available for access to students at the following link: http://www.jelp.org.in/OtherLink.aspx

We together can assist students to pursue higher studies and ensure that no student is deprived of education for paucity of funds. If the students who have documents and can obtain Bank Loans than the surplus funds at local levels can be utilised to assist those underprivileged students who do not have required documents. Further more the Government also offers plenty of benefits to the students who take Banks Loans and we are well connected with Leading Banks in Education Loan sector.

We also assist the student to complete the formalities and procedures to obtain Government of India Subsidy to the extent possible. If student gets this subsidy and the Branch recommends it as a deserving case we will extend our share of subsidy for a couple of years after study period also if the case is deserving. For studies Abroad or Higher value loans based on merit, academics and need we share some part of Interest for the study period and a host of other benefits thru partner agencies subject to JELP committee approval.

Major Features for JELP are:

    Quicker Processing of Education Loans at Associated Banks & CREDILA
    6% Subsidy in Interest Rate per year for study period where Loan Amount is upto Rs 1.5 Lakhs per yr  Max for 3 Yrs.
    Guidance of Complete Optimised Funding
    Better Network of Students and TOP UP Loans available
    Vocational Courses & ITI Approved courses also assisted
    Assistance in Claiming Government Of India Subsidy wherever applicable
    Lesser chances of Decline & Appropriate alternatives suggested
    Complete assistance is preparing the required set of Documents.
    Assistance for placements after completion of studies
    Better Options and selection from a wide network of Banks
    Special Enhanced Offers for Studies Abroad
    Assistance for Internships & Placements with our dedicated JOB PORTAL.

The Details of the JELP Scheme are available online at www.jelp.org.in Incase if you have any queries for the same you can surely get in touch with us. The conditions applied are as per JELP Scheme and Sanctions are subject to approval by Banks.We assist students to obtain the loan and than share part of interest with the student as per the JELP Scheme and will be glad to assist any students referred by you also.

To avail benefit of the above subsidy it is necessary for the applicant to satisfy the following criteria:
•    Student who avail loan up to Rs. 1.5 Lakh per year and the study period is of 3 years. (Max Amt 4.5 L)
•    Student who avail loan up to Rs. 1 Lakh per year and the study period is upto 4 years.
•    Student or Applicant has to pay the interest to the Bank during the study period.
•    6% of JITO’s share of interest would be credited to Education Loan A/c of student at end of every financial year for study period only after the interest is served to the bank and complied with necessary documentation.

Local Organisation can further extend their share which will reduce the Interest amount charged by the bank to the student, effectively beneficial for the student and the partner Associations

We are associated with Oriental Bank of Commerce, Central Bank of India, Greater Bombay Co-operative Bank, Credila Financial Services and also with DENA Bank, SBI, Punjab National Bank in select circles. We look forward to your active participation!!!

NOTE:
The courses need to be Government Recognised / Approved and feasible for Bank Loans.
The Documents essential for processing the Bank loan must be available with the student / parents
JELP is a medium between the student and Bank / Credila for facilitating Education Loans
IT Returns are not compulsory for availing Education Loans | JELP shares part of interest as per the JELP Scheme only


Regards

JHAVERI Gaurang C
TEAM JELP

Maharashtra Govt. to try for minority status to Jains at national level

PTI

Mumbai: Claiming that Maharashtra government was the first to grant minority status to Jain community, state Minority Development Minister Arif Naseem Khan has said that they would lobby with the Centre for a similar status to Jains at the national level.

"It is important for the Jain community to get minority community status at the national level," Khan said during a programme here yesterday.

He pointed out that the representation of Jain community in the state administration was very minimal.

"People from the Jain community should take advantage of the pre-recruitment training programmes for IAS and IPS, undertaken by the state Minorities Department," Khan said.

If people from this community participate in these programmes, it will help them come into the mainstream, he added.

"Maharashtra government is totally committed for the development of Jain community in educational and social fields. The state government will make every effort to bring Jain community into the mainstream," Khan added.

Minority status for Jain educational institutes

TOI

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government will grant minority status to Jain educational institutes if they apply for it, said state minorities minister Naseem Khan.

Khan was addressing a camp organised by the Jain community on minority status at the Mahapragya Public School, Kalbadevi. He said the Maharashtra government was the first to grant the community the minority status and would lobby with the Centre to give a similar status to the Jains at the national level.

He said the community must encourage its youth to take up jobs with the government so that it gets integrated into the main stream, adding that the government was already conducting preparatory exams for the IAS, IPS and the MPSC of which the community must take advantage. He added that several students in the community were already taking benefit of the scholarship programme while schools had applied for funds to improve basic infrastructure.

Jain Minority Issue: Points to be Considered

 -Mahavir Sanglikar

Jain activists working on Jain minority issue should think on following points:

National Minority Status

Getting national minority status is a must thing to get all the benefits offered by Central Government to the religious minority communities. At present, we get the benefits offered by state Governments only, that too only for the community members of the states which have declared Jains as a religious minority.

Remember that minority status has nothing to do with Separate Religious Identity, but it is for upliftment of followers of minority religions, and to safeguard their interests. Minority status issue is about Jain Community, not about Jain religion. Also remember that National Minority Status is our constitutional right.  

Minority Status in States

If we get national minority status, we will get minority status in all the states and territories of India. This means that we will get the status automatically in the states where we yet have not gotten it.  However, as National Minority Status for Jains is a pending issue, we should try our best to get minority status in maximum number of states. This will help us to get National Minority Status, as well as to get benefits offered by state Governments to minority communities.

National Minority benefits in States

As we yet are not considered as religious minority on national level, we do not get any benefits offered by Central Government. We should demand for Central Government benefits to Jain community in the states, where we come under religious minority status.

Minority Certificate

Jain students and other young Jains are facing problems while proving their religious identity to get state Government benefits. We should demand for issue of Jain Minority Certificates from related State Governments. Recently, Uttar Pradesh Government has started to issue such certificates.

Divided We Fall

The Jain activists working on this issue are scattered, many of them have sectarian spirit and they avoid to co-operate and co-ordinate with each other on this issue. We should remember that the minority status is for entire Jain community and it has nothing to do with sects, i.e. Digambars or Shwetambars. If we do not work together, be sure to get setbacks in this mission.

In fact we need to establish two co-ordination committees to handle Minority Issue. First committee of all Jains working on this issue. Second of Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs who are facing the same problems. Further, we should Co-ordinate with the activists from other religious minority communities like Muslims and Christians.

OBCs & STs in Jains

A big number of Jain castes come under Other Backward Castes (OBC). Minority Status and OBC Status are two different things. While minority status is for all Jains, OBC status is only for those who belong to the Other Backward Castes. The same thing is about Tribal Jains. They come under ST (Scheduled Tribe). Another fact is that If People belonging to Schedule Castes (To whom we know as Dalits) become Jains, they get OBC status.

Jain Law

At present, Hindu law is applied to Jains. We should demand for Jain Law for Jains. Sikhs and Buddhists have already demanded for separate laws for them. Take it seriously, or we will have to face problems like we are facing in minority issue right now.

Also read: States where Jains are declared as Religious Minor...

States where Jains are declared as Religious Minority

List of States where Jains have been declared as Religious Minority Community:

1.      Maharshtra

2.      Karnataka

3.      Madhya Pradesh

4.      Rajasthan*

5.      Uttar Pradesh

6.      Chhattis Garh

7.      Jhar Khand

8.      Delhi

9.      Uttaranchal

10.  West Bengal

11.  Andhra Pradesh

12.  Haryana

13.  Punjab

14.  Himachal Pradesh

Please note that 84% of total Jains in India reside in the 14 states listed above.
* There are some problems in Rajasthan in applying the status

Pending Consideration

Following states yet have not given Minority Status to Jains even after continuous demand by Jain community:

1.      Tamil Nadu

2.      Gujarat

3.      Kerala

4.      Assam

5.      Jammu and Kashmir

6.      Bihar

7.      Goa

8.      Orissa

States and Territories where Jains are Micro-Minority

Following States have a very less population of Jains when compared to all above states, so there is no demand from Jain community for Minority Status.

1.      Sikkim

2.      Manipur

3.      Naga Land

4.      Arunachal Pradesh

5.      Pondicherry

6.      Andaman & Nikobar

7.      Meghalaya

8.      Mizoram

9.      Tripura

 Also Read: Jain Minority Issue: Points to be Considered