National Commission for Minorities

NCM
Commission overview
Formed	17 May 1993; 32 years ago (1993-05-17)
Preceding Commission	Minorities Commission 1978
Jurisdiction	Republic of India
Headquarters	New Delhi, India
Annual budget	₹5,020.50 crore (US$590 million) (2022–23) includingMinistry of Minority Affairs
Minister responsible	Kiren Rijiju
Deputy Minister responsible	George Kurian
Commission executive	Chairman post vacant
Parent Commission	Ministry of Minority Affairs
Website	ncm.nic.in

TheNational Commission for Minorities (NCM) is astatutory body under theMinistry of Minority Affairs,Government of India, established in 1993. It is responsible for safeguarding the interests of minorities—Buddhists,Christians,Jains,Muslims,Sikhs, andZoroastrians (Parsis).

TheUnion Government set up the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. Six religious communities, viz; Buddhists, Christians, Jains, Muslims, Sikhs, and Zoroastrians (Parsis) have been notified inGazette of India as minority communities by the Union Government all over India.^[1] Original notification of 1993 was for five religious communities: Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, Christians and Muslims; later in 2014, Jains were also added.^[2] As perCensus 2001, these six communities consist of 18.8% of the country's population.^[3]

As of December 2025, the position of chairperson and members remain vacant and there are uncertainties regarding this body. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Delhi High Court to issue a mandamus to government to reconstitute the body and the Court has asked for a response from the government.Tahir Mahmood, the former NCM Chairman and the member of Law Commission of India has commented:

Its history of 47 years shows that whatever little the minorities of the country can expect in terms of the constitutional provisions for their rights as equal citizens of the country can never be secured through intervention by the toothless tiger called the NCM. So, if it is thrown into the dustbin of history, it will be worthless to shed tears on its unceremonious exit from the national scene.^[4]

The NCM adheres to theUnited NationsDeclaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities of 18 December 1992 which states that "States shall protect the existence of the National or Ethnic, Cultural, Religious and Linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity."^[5]

List of Chairpersons of National Commission for Minorities
Nos.	Name	Portrait	Prime Minister	Appointment date	Retirement date
1.	Sardar Ali Khan		P. V. Narasimha Rao	5 July 1993	4 July 1996
2.	Tahir Mahmood			1996	1999
3.	Mohd Shamim			2000	2003
4.	Tarlochan Singh		Manmohan Singh	2003	2006
5.	Mohammad Hamid Ansari		Manmohan Singh	2006	July 2007
6.	Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi		Narendra Modi	26 May 2017	25 May 2020
7.	Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi		Narendra Modi	25 May 2020	12 April 2022
8.	Iqbal Singh Lalpura		Narendra Modi	13 April 2022	22 April 2025

The Commission has the following functions:^[6]

1. Evaluate the progress of the development of Minorities under the Union and States.
2. Monitor the working of the safeguards provided in theConstitution and inlaws enacted by Parliament and theState Legislatures.
3. Make recommendations for the effective implementation of safeguards for the protection of the interests of minorities by the central Government or thestate governments.
4. Look into specific complaints regarding deprivation of rights and safeguards of the minorities and take up such matters with the appropriate authorities.
5. Cause studies to be undertaken into problems arising out of any discrimination against minorities and recommend measures for their removal.
6. Conduct studies, research and analysis on the issues relating to socio-economic and educational development of minorities.
7. Suggest appropriate measures in respect of any minority to be undertaken by the central government or the state governments.
8. Make periodical or special reports to the Central Government on any matter pertaining to minorities and in particular the difficulties confronted by them.
9. Any other matter which may be referred to it by the Central Government.

The Commission has the following powers:

• Summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person from any part of India and examining him on oath.
• Requiring the discovery and production of any document.
• Receiving evidence onaffidavit.
• Requisitioning any public record or copy thereof from any court or office.
• Issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses and documents.

The act states^[7] that the Commission shall consist of:

• a Chairperson,
• a Vice Chairperson and
• Five Members to be nominated by the central government from amongst persons of eminence, ability and integrity; provided that five members including the Chairperson shall be from amongst the minority communities.

As per theCensus 2011, the percentage of minorities in the country is about 19.3% of the total population of the country. The population of:^[8]

• Muslims 14.2%
• Christians 2.3%
• Sikhs 1.7%
• Buddhists 0.7%
• Jain 0.4%
• Parsis 0.006%

Although theIndian Constitution does not define the word minority, it has provided constitutional safeguards and fundamental rights to minorities:^[9]

Indian state is committed to administer these rights which can be enforced by judiciary

1. Right of ‘any section of the citizens’ to ‘conserve’ its ‘distinct language, script or culture’; [Article 29(1)]
2. Right of all Religious and Linguistic Minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice;[Article 30(1)]
3. Freedom of Minority-managed educational institutions from discrimination in the matter of receiving aid from the State;[Article30(2)]

1. Rights for any section of population for language spoken by them ;[Article 347]
2. Provision for facilities of instruction in mother tongue ; [Article 350A]
3. Provisioning a special officer for linguistic minorities and defining his duties ; [ Article 350B]

On 9 March 2005 the thenPrime Minister issued a notification for the constitution of a high level committee to prepare a report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community of India. Recommendations contained in the Report of the High Level Committee on Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India headed by JusticeRajinder Sachar (Retd.):

1. Need for transparency, monitoring and data availability: Create a National Data Bank (NDB) where all relevant data for various socio-religious categories are maintained.
2. Enhancing the legal basis for providingequal opportunities: Set up an Equal Opportunity Commission to look into grievances of deprived groups like minorities.
3. Shared spaces, need to enhance diversity: The idea of providing certain incentives to a 'diversity index' should be explored.
4. Education: A process of evaluating the content of theschool text books needs to be initiated to purge them of explicit and implicit content that may impart inappropriate social values, especiallyreligious intolerance. Need to ensure thatall children in the age group 0-14 have access to free and high quality education.
5. High quality government schools should be set up in all areas of Muslim concentration.Exclusive schools for girls should be set up, particularly for the9-12 standards. This would facilitate higher participation of Muslim girls in school education. In co-education schools more women teachers need to be appointed.
6. Provide primary education inUrdu in areas whereUrdu speaking population is concentrated.
7. Mechanisms to linkmadarsas with higher secondary school board.
8. Recognise degrees from madarsas for eligibility inDefence Services,Civil Services and Banking examinations.
9. Increase employment share of Muslims, particularly where there is great deal of public dealing.
10. Enhancing participation in governance: Appropriate state level laws can be enacted to ensure minority representation in local bodies
11. Create a nomination procedure to increase participation of minorities inpublic bodies.
12. Establish a delimitation procedure that does not reserve constituencies with high minority population forSCs.
13. Enhancingaccess to credit and government programmes: Provide financial and other support to initiatives built around occupations where Muslims are concentrated and that have growth potential.
14. Improve participation and share of minorities, particularly Muslims, in business of regularcommercial banks.
15. Improving employment opportunities and conditions.

The Committee suggested that policies should "sharply focus on inclusive development and 'mainstreaming' of the Community while respecting diversity."^[10]

• Official website
• Handbook of the commission
• G. MahajanNegotiating Cultural Diversity and Minority Rights in India.International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.Archived 14 May 2014 at theWayback Machine.

• Indian commissions and inquiries
• Minority rights
• 1993 establishments in India
• Minorities-focussed government initiatives in India
• 1993 establishments in Delhi
• Islam in India
• Christianity in India
• Sikhism in India
• Buddhism in India
• Jainism in India
• Zoroastrianism in India
• Parsi people
• Ministry of Minority Affairs

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