Minorities in India – UPSC Prelims

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  • The National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 in Section 2(c) of the Act defines a minority as “a community notified as such by the Central government”.
  • In India, this applies to Muslim, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhist, Parsis (Zoroastrian) and Jain religions.
  • As per TMA Pai Foundation vs. State of Karnataka case (2002) in the Supreme Court, a minority, either linguistic or religious, is determinable only by reference to the demography of the State and not by taking into consideration the population of the country as a whole.
  • Constitutional Provisions Related to Minorities:
    • The term “Minority” is not defined in the Indian Constitution.
    • However, the Constitution recognises religious and linguistic minorities.
    • Article 29:
      • It provides that any section of the citizens residing in any part of India having a distinct language, script or culture of its own, shall have the right to conserve the same.
      • However, the Supreme Court held that the scope of this article is not necessarily restricted to minorities only, as use of the word ‘section of citizens’ in the Article includes minorities as well as the majority.
    • Article 30:
      • All minorities shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
      • The protection under Article 30 is confined only to minorities (religious or linguistic) and does not extend to any section of citizens (as under Article 29).
    • Article 350-B:
      • Originally, the Constitution of India did not make any provision with respect to the Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities. However, the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1956 inserted Article 350-B in the Constitution.
      • It provides for a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities appointed by the President of India.
  • Minorities in India constitute about 19% of the total population.
  • J & K, Punjab, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Lakshadweep are the only states where any notified minority is in majority.
  • The Ministry of Minority Affairs, which was established in 2006, is the apex body in the Union government to carry out various welfare, regulatory and developmental programmes for the minority communities.
  • A National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has also been set up under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.
  • The United Nations, on 18th December 1992, promulgated the “Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities” to discourage the countries to discriminate amongst people worldwide on the basis of religion, language, nationality or ethnicity.
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