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Concept
Religion in India
Summary
Religion in India is characterised by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices. Throughout India's history, religion has been an important part of the country's culture and the Indian subcontinent is the birthplace of four of the world's major religions, namely, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, which are collectively known as native Indian Religions or Dharmic Religions.
The Preamble to the Constitution of India states that India is a secular state, and the Constitution of India has declared the right to freedom of religion to be a fundamental right.
According to the 2011 census, 79.8% of the population of India practices Hinduism, 14.2% adheres to Islam, 2.3% adheres to Christianity, 1.7% adheres to Sikhism, 0.7% adheres to Buddhism and 0.4% adheres to Jainism. Zoroastrianism, Sanamahism and Judaism also have an ancient history in India, and each has several thousands of Indian adherents. India has the largest population of people adhering to both Zoroastrianism (i.e. Parsis and Iranis) and the Bahá'í Faith in the world; these religions are otherwise largely exclusive to their native Persia.
Secularism in India and Freedom of religion in India
The Constitution of India, declares India to be a secular state with no state religion. The Forty-second Amendment of the Constitution of India enacted in 1976 asserts the Preamble to the Constitution of India as secular. It was enacted by Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed who was pressured by Indira Gandhi, during the leadup to the Emergency. However, the Supreme Court of India in the 1994 case S. R. Bommai v. Union of India established that India had been secular since the formation of the Republic on 26 January 1950. Secularism in India is understood to mean not a separation of religion from state, but a state that supports or participates in a neutral manner in the affairs of all religious groups and as well as atheism.
However, the original copy of Indian constitution has an illustration of Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana in Part III on Fundamental Rights and Rama has been considered as the true guardian of people's rights.
Official source
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