Jaipur, Sept 04: Rajasthan government has decided to grant minority community status to Jains in the state, official sources said here today. The state cabinet, headed by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, which met here last night decided to declare Jains as minority community, an official spokesman said.

The Rajasthan State Minorities Commission Act would also be amended to include the Jain community in its purview, he said.

Although Jains comprise just 1.28 per cent of the state's total population as per the 1991 census they command great influence in political, social, industrial, trade and educational fields. Several organisations had been demanding minority status for them as had already been granted in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chattisgarh, he said. The cabinet also decided to bring an ordinance to make provisions of Rajasthan Organised Crime Control Bill which is yet to be passed in the assembly effective.

The report of a cabinet sub-committee for taking action on the recommendations of a judicial commission which inquired into the caste carnage in Kumher in Bharatpur district in 1992 was also discussed in the cabinet meeting. The sub-committee was authorised to table the judicial inquiry report in the assembly after consulting the Law Department, the spokesman said.

Bureau Report