National Commission of Minorities

• In 1978,setting up of the Minorities Commission (MC) was envisaged in the Ministry of Home Affairs Resolution.
• In 1984,the MC was detached from the Ministry of Home Affairs and placed under the newly created Ministry of Welfare, which excluded linguistic minorities from the Commission’s jurisdiction in 1988.
• In 1992,with the enactment of the NCM Act, 1992, the MC became a statutory body and was renamed as the NCM.
• In 1993,the first Statutory National Commission was set up and five religious communities viz the Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) were notified as minority communities.
• In 2014, Jainswere also notified as a minority community.

• NCM consists of a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and five membersand all of them shall be from amongst the minority communities.
• Total of 7 personsto be nominated by the Central Government should be from amongst persons of eminence, ability and integrity.
• Tenure:Each Member holds office for a period of three years from the date of assumption of office.

• Evaluation of the progress of the development of minoritiesunder the Union and States.
• Monitoring of the working of the safeguards for minoritiesprovided in the Constitution and in laws enacted by Parliament and the state legislatures.
• Ensures that the Prime Minister’s 15-Point Programme for the Welfare of Minoritiesis implemented and the programmes for minority communities are actually functioning.
• Making recommendationsfor the effective implementation of safeguards for the protection of the interests of minorities by the central or state governments.
• Looking into specific complaintsregarding deprivation of rights and safeguards of minorities and taking up such matters with the appropriate authorities.
• Investigates matters of communal conflict and riots.
• For example, the 2011 Bharatpur communal riots, as well as the 2012 Bodo-Muslim clashes in Assam, were investigated by the commission and their findings were submitted to the government.
• Observes the Minorities Rights Dayevery year on 18^th December which marks the adoption of the “Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities” by the United Nations in

• In a book titled Minorities Commission 1978-2015: Minor Role in Major Affairs authored by former NCM chairman Tahir Mahmood, NCM is referred to as a toothless tiger, white elephant, Sarkari puppet. It has been referred to as “National Commission for Tokenism”
• No constitutional status:NCM does not have a constitutional status (it is a statutory body) which if bestowed upon it would give NCM autonomy and clout it needs to carry out its functions effectively.
• Absence of any constitutional power:It lacks the constitutional power to conduct independent enquiries or investigations in cases of the transgression of minorities’ rights, and especially in cases of communal violence, render the Commission legally incapacitated to fulfil its duty. This limitation has also been mentioned in a recommendation in the Commission’s 2007-08, 2008-09, and 2010-11 annual reports of the Commission.
• Toothless tiger:It hasn’t been provided with any “teeth” in terms of their legal capacity to carry out their Constitutional mandate. The decision of the Commission can be overturned by the district and high courts.
• No reports tabled:Section 13 of the NCM Act 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 be tabled before Parliament annually. Sources said these reports have not been tabled in Parliament since 2010. Further, its recommendations are routinely rejected or simply filed away and forgotten.
• Partisan representation:There has been a shift in the kind of members appointed to the body. While past appointments included former chief justices, civil servants, academicians etc, the recent appointees were mostly “social activists” with links to the ruling party.
• Capacity related challenges:These include human resource deficiency as is the case now. The Commission is unable to effectively fulfil its mandate when the key positions of Commission members remain vacant. For example, the Commission mandated to conduct hearing is unable to process the numerous cases it receives.
• Underutilization of technology: there is no real-time communication of schedules and appointments for hearings with the complainants which results in wastage of time and money.
• Only a few State minority commissions:A major recommendation of the Annual Conference of State Minorities Commissions (2008) was “that the State Governments should also set up State Minorities Commissions on similar lines (as that of the NCM).” However, only 16 states have set up such commissions. These too remain understaffed and mostly dysfunctional due to lack of capacity in human resource as well as in the absence of a regular monitoring mechanism of the State Commissions’ workings.
• Pressure on NCM:with ineffective State Finance Commissions, the pressure is borne by the NCM which further reduced its efficiency.
• Inadequate powers to State Minority Commissions:State Minority Commissions are not given adequate powers to implement, monitor, and review developmental programs and welfare schemes under the Prime Minister’s 15 Point Program for Minorities.
• Lack of research:Only a small proportion of the allocated budget of the Commission is spent in research activities even when conducting “studies, research and analysis on the issues relating to the socio-economic and educational development of minorities” is among the primary mandates of NCM.

• To reduce pendency of cases at the organizational level, the Commission should set certain baseline targets related to the pendency rates.
• At regular intervals, conducting a staffing needs assessment may be a useful solution to address the problem of vacant positions at the leadership level.
• NCM should develop a Stakeholder Satisfaction Survey for parties to anonymously provide feedback regarding how their appeal was processed, irrespective of the decision made.
• Technological upgrades including investment in more sophisticated information management systems could help reduce the pendency rates of cases in the Commission such as e-hearing.
• The strengthening of the State Commissions and setting up new state-level commissions, where these do not yet exist, can help in reducing the pendency rates and increasing hearings’ effectiveness of the Commission.
• NCM could fulfil its duties assigned in its mandate if the greater legal and constitutional authority is extended to the Commission. The Commission could be more effective if it has greater authority to conduct independent enquiries in cases of the transgression of rights of the minorities

To hold true to our commitment to the idea of unity in diversity, and ensure compliance to the constitutional articles viz, Article 15 and 16, Article 25 (1), 26 and 28, Article 29, Article 30, there is a need to give teeth to this organisation. As we witness the rise of populist-majoritarian movements which tend to render minority rights ignored and suppressed, the National Minorities Commission (NCM) as an institution has the potential to serve as the protector and a beacon of minority rights in India.