Context: Minorities Rights Day in India is celebrated every year on 18th December.

About Minorities Rights Day

• Aim: The Minorities Rights Day seeks to uphold freedom and equal opportunity for minorities as well as raise awareness of those rights.
• Selection of the Date: It was on December 18th, 1992 that the Declaration on the Individual’s Rights Belonging to Religious or Linguistic National or Ethnic Minorities was adopted and broadcast by the United Nations. 
• Significance of Minorities Rights Day
  • Treating Minority Groups: Minorities Rights Day emphasizes how minorities’ national, cultural, and religious identities must be respected, protected, and upheld by states and individual territories.
  • Harmony between Majority and Minority: The day is observed to encourage religious harmony, respect, and a deeper understanding between majority and minority communities.
  • Highlight the role of Minorities: The day raises interest, awareness, and political will for promoting the belief that minorities are important and contribute to the development of society and the state.

Who are the Minorities in India?

• About: Minorities are groups of people having lesser numeric strength than the major groups within those classifications in terms of their practices, race, religion, ethnicity, or other characteristics.
• Minorities in India
  • The constitution of India does not define minorities. However, it recognizes religious and linguistic minorities.
  • Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jain, and Zoroastrians (Parsis) have been notified as minority communities under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. 
  • The current percentage of minorities in the country is about 19.3% of the total population of the country.

What are the challenges faced by minorities in India?

• Religious Discrimination: Minorities face discrimination in public life, especially in the fields of employment in the private sector.
• Stereotyping: Minorities are stereotyped in society by associating them with practices that may have been associated with their groups. 
• Independent Identity: Minorities have the task of protecting their independent identity by not falling prey to majoritarian views.
• Vote Bank Politics: Minority groups are treated as vote banks by political parties without doing anything for them in return.
• Communal Riots: The majority of communal riots in India occur between religious groups, one of them being the minority. This creates a difficult situation for them to exist.
• Lack of Representation in Administration: The representation of minorities in the administration is not according to their population ratio. 
• Poverty and Social Backwardness: A large section of minorities is a victim of poverty and thus is socio-economically very backward.

Way Forward: Measures to Uphold Rights of Minorities

• Constitutional Rights:
  • Article 14: Right of citizens to ‘equality before the law’ and ‘equal protection of laws’.
  • Article 15: It prohibits discrimination against citizens on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth.
  • Article 16: It provides equal opportunities for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State.
  • Article 25: Right to freedom of conscience and to freely profess, practice, and propagate religion.
  • Article 26: Freedom to manage religious affairs for all religious groups.
  • Article 27: Freedom against paying taxes for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religion or religious denomination.
  • Article 28: Individual’s freedom to attend religious instruction or religious worship in educational institutions is maintained.
  • Article 29: Any group in India having a distinct language, script, or culture of its own, will have the right to conserve the same.
  • Article 30: All minorities have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their own. The state shall not discriminate against granting aid to institutions managed by the minority.
  • Article 350B: This article creates the office of Special Officer for Linguistic minorities in India.

Institutions for Protecting Minorities Rights in India

• Ministry of Minority Affairs
  • The ministry was carved out of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in 2006. It aims to carry out developmental programmes for the minority religious communities and minority linguistic communities in India.
  • It also works towards the formulation of overall policy and planning, coordination, evaluation, and review of the regulatory framework and development programmes for the benefit of the minority communities.
• National Commission for Minorities
  • National Commission for Minorities is a statutory body set up under the National Commission for Minorities Act, of 1992.
  • Composition: All the members must belong to a minority community. The composition includes:
    • a Chairperson;
    • a Vice Chairperson;
    • Five Members to be nominated by the Central Government from amongst persons of eminence, ability, and integrity.
  • Functions:
    • Evaluate Progress: The commission looks to evaluate the progress of the Minorities under the Union and States.
    • Checking Safeguards: The commission looks to check the working of safeguards provided in the Constitution and in laws enacted by Parliament and the State Legislatures.
    • Evaluate Complaints: The commission looks to evaluate complaints regarding the deprivation of rights and safeguards of Minorities.
    • Carrying out Research: The commission conducts studies, research, and analysis on the issues concerning the socio-economic and educational development of Minorities.
    • Report to the Government: The commission sends special reports to the Central Government on any matter pertaining to Minorities.

Conclusion:

Minorities are important constituents and stakeholders in a country and the protection of their rights is the duty of the government.  The Minority Rights Day can sensitize citizens about the importance of protecting minority rights.