What is a Minority Community?

The Directorate of Minorities was formed in 1999-2000 from the Directorate of Backward Classes to ensure a more focused approach to issues pertaining to the notified Minority communities, namely Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Parsis. 

The Directorate is working with the vision of enabling all members of the Minority Community to lead productive lives with equal opportunities in socioeconomic, economic, educational, and other fields. The Directorate’s mandate includes development programme planning, coordination, evaluation, and implementation for the benefit of the minority community. 

The department’s main functions are to introduce schemes to promote accelerated socioeconomic development of minorities, to introduce educational concessions for students, to implement schemes for the development of women and children, to provide training and employment opportunities, and to address the problems of economic backwardness among minorities. District Minority Welfare Offices have been established in all 30 districts, with officers implementing minority welfare schemes under the coordination and supervision of Deputy Commissioners and Chief Executive Officers of each district’s Zilla Panchayat.

What is a Minority Community?

The Government of India, Ministry of Minority Affairs, has designated the following communities as minority communities:

• Sikhs
• Muslims
• Christians
• Zoroastrians
• Buddhists
• Jains

Who is a Minority Citizen in India?

In India, 193 people out of every 1,000 belong to a minority community. Muslims are India’s largest minority group, accounting for 142 people out of every 1,000. There are only six Parsis in every 1,000 Indians. 

There are only six minority communities in India, according to the Union Minority Affairs Ministry, but the term “minority” dominates political debates in the country. Muslims constitute slightly more than 14% of India’s population, slightly less than the seventh-most populous country (Nigeria). Only Indonesia and Pakistan have a higher proportion of Muslims than India. On the other hand, according to Census-2011, all Parsis can be accommodated in India’s smallest city, Kapurthala, which has a population of only about 99,000 people.

Muslims

As the Mandir politics laid the groundwork for a larger movement that eventually resulted in the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the Congress government launched a package to reach out to minorities’ in general, and Muslims in particular. Perhaps the most significant initiative was the National Commission for Minorities Act (1992). 

It acknowledged the need to assess the reasons for religious communities’ relative marginalisation. In May 1993, the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) was established as a result of this law. However, even the 1992 law does not define the term “religious minority.” Instead, the central government has the authority to designate a few communities as “minority” for the purposes of this Act.

Clarifications on Who Constitutes a Minority

Following primarily the Human Rights Committee jurisprudence, the following additional elements of who is a member of a minority can be summarized:

(a) Indigenous peoples may be linguistic, religious, or ethnic minorities in the states where they live. Both are not mutually exclusive and do not infringe on any applicable rights as a minority or indigenous people.

(b) When determining whether or not a group is a linguistic, religious, or ethnic minority, the “territory” to be considered is the entire territory of a State, not one of its political or territorial subunits;

(c) A numerical criterion is one of the main objective criteria for determining whether a group is a minority in a state. A minority on a State’s territory means it is not the majority. That means that an ethnic, religious, or linguistic group constitutes less than half of a country’s population.

Minority Communities in India 

The Indian government has taken several steps to ensure the survival and development of various religious communities in India. The Union Government of India established the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) in 1992 to protect the existence of minorities throughout India. Under the National Commission for Minorities Act of 1992, the commission is responsible for India’s minority communities. According to the Union Government of India, six religious communities have been designated as minority communities in India: Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Paris), and Jains.

Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal have established Minorities Commissions to address minorities issues in their respective states. Minority communities in India benefit from increased educational and employment opportunities. Regional minorities have established a number of educational institutions and schools to promote their culture and language. 

Furthermore, they have the right to reserve a certain number of seats (for students and teachers) for members of their own communities. There are several government schemes in India that provide direct aid to educational institutions that promote regional communities.

Conclusion

The Directorate of Minorities was formed in 1999-2000 from the Directorate of Backward Classes to ensure a more focused approach to issues pertaining to the notified Minority communities, namely Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Parsis. The department’s main functions are to introduce schemes to promote accelerated socioeconomic development of minorities, to introduce educational concessions for students, to implement schemes for the development of women and children, to provide training and employment opportunities, and to address the problems of economic backwardness among minorities. Minority Communities in India The Indian government has taken several steps to ensure the survival and development of various religious communities in India. The Union Government of India established the National Commission for Minorities in 1992 to protect the existence of minorities throughout India.