By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Seven communities have approached the Centre in the last two years to grant them minority status, the government said on Thursday. The Brahmo Samaj, Hualngo tribes, Seng Khasi, Niamtre, Sanamahi Aggarwal, Tingkao Ragwang Chapriak and Lingayat communities have sought to be notified as minorities, Union Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

Naqvi told the Lok Sabha that the Centre had also received a request for declaring Hindus as a minority in some states where they account for less than 50 per cent of the population. He was responding to questions posed by BJP MPs Chunnu Lal Sahu and Sunil Kumar Singh who asked if the government had received any requests to provide minority status from any community.

The two MPs also sought to know whether a review had been done with regard to the increasing population of minorities. Naqvi said no such review was being conducted.

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Tax on disability pension

Amid ruckus in the Lok Sabha over the issue of tax on a disability pension for military personnel, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said he would look into the matter and asserted that the interests of the armed forces’ personnel were the government’s topmost priority.

He was replying to the matter raised by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress during Zero Hour. The CBDT said on June 24, that disability pension will be taxable for military personnel who superannuated after completing the full term of their service. The pension will be non-taxable only for those who have retired due to any kind of disability.