Mumbai : After forming a high-profile committee to formulate a separate civil law for Buddhists, the state government has decided to form a sub-committee to examine the draft of the Buddhist General Law, before inviting suggestions and objections from the public.
Minister for social justice Rajkumar Badole told FPJ that the decision to form a sub-committee was taken in the first meeting of the committee held on Thursday. The committee includes ministers, senior bureaucrats, lawyers, a judge and representatives of Buddhists.
Badole said that the sub-committee would study three draft proposals received on the issue and finalise the draft. He said that after this draft is approved by the parent committee, the state government would invite suggestions and objections from the public. Later, a bill would be introduced in the legislature.
It may be recalled that Dr Ambedkar had converted to Buddhism after exploitation by orthodox Hindus who treated Dalits as untouchables, denying them temple-entry, civil rights or dignified means of livelihood. His Satyagraha agitation for temple entry for Dalits into the historic Kalaram Mandir (which has black idols of Lord Rama, Sita and Laxman) at Nashik for five years from 1930 had failed to convince the priests to open the gates for Dalits, after which he announced that he would convert to a religion that preached equality and was rational.
According to the latest Census figures, there are 84.42 lakh Buddhists in the country, of which 65.39 lakh reside in Maharashtra.
