NCM recommends minority status for Meghalaya Hindus

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, April 1: Hindus in Meghalaya should be accorded minority status in the Christian dominated State, recommended the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) yesterday. The Commission has also voiced its concern about attempts to create communal tensions in the Andaman and Nicobar islands.Describing Meghalaya as a ``Christian-dominated region having Hindus as the largest local minority'', the full Commission which met here yesterday, has recommended that the Shillong Central Puja Committee be recognised as the representative body of Hindus to interact with the State Government regarding the rights of the Hindu community.

Commission chairman Tahir Mahmood said that in the Andaman and Nicobar islands that ``certain misguided elements'' were attempting to generate ill-will against minorities on the islands. The Commission has recommended stern measures to keep all ``peace-disturbing forces''away from the islands. The Commission will be sending its recommendations to the Centre and the concerned StateGovernments.

In a report on the status of minorities in West Bengal, the Commission said while the minorities in the State were fully protected physically, they were educationally and economically backward.NCM has also recommended the immediate nomination of a minority representative to the newly-elected Darjeeling Hill Council in keeping with the 1994 Amendment of the Council's law of 1988.

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