Evolution

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.