Context
The seven-member National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has only one member left after the retirement of its vice-chairperson while the other 5 posts have been vacant since May 2020.
OTHER PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR MINORITIES
- Insufficient investigative powers – There is need of strengthening investigative power of NCM to safeguards constitutional and legal rights of minority communities
· Annual reports not tabled – National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act, 1992 mandates that the annual report, together with the memorandum of action taken on the
recommendations contained therein, as well as the reasons for non-acceptance of the recommendations, if any, be tabled before Parliament annually. These reports have not been tabled in Parliament since 2010.
· Dependence on other institutions – Functioning of NCM and also the operations of state minority commissions are dependent on central and state governments. Its entire work is dependent upon the goodwill of government.
· Overlapping jurisdiction – Growing number of commissions have overlapping mandate, thereby reducing the scope of NCM. For example, the formation of new Commission on Linguistic Minorities cut into the work of NCM, which was restricted to only religious minorities.
· The appointment to commission lacks transparency – there’s no prescribed selection process for making appointments with arbitrarily picking up of names from a list suggested by the nodal ministry. · Limitation of power – It lack powers to inquire, suo moto, or on a representation presented to it by a member of any of the notified minority communities regarding any atrocities.
BASICS OF NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR MINORITIES
- The Union Government set up the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.
- Six religious communities, viz; Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains have been notified in Gazette of India as minority communities by the Union Government all over India.
- Composition:
- NCM consists of a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and five members and all of them shall be from amongst the minority communities.
- Total of 7 persons to be nominated by the Central Government should be from amongst persons of eminence, ability and integrity. The Ministry
- for Minority Affairs recommends the names to the Prime Minister’s Office.
- Tenure: Each Member holds office for a period of three years from the date of assumption of office.
Role and function of National Commission for Minorities: It is a forum for appeal, set up to safeguard the rights and interests of India’s minority communities. The NCM Act lists 9 functions of the Commission:
CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS RELATED TO MINORITIES
RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF RELIGION
· Article 25 – Freedom of Conscience and Free Profession, Practice and Propagation of Religion
· Article 26 – Freedom to Manage Religious Affairs
· Article 27 – Freedom from Taxation for Promotion of a Religion
· Article 28 – Freedom from Attending Religious Instruction
CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS
· Article 29 – Protection of Interests of Minorities. Right to conserve a distinct language, script or culture of its own
· Article 30 – Right of Minorities to Establish and Administer Educational Institutions