The statutory body that monitors and evaluates the working of safeguards for notified minority communities and looks into specific complaints of deprivation of their rights.
- Statutory body set up under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.
- Composition: a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and five members nominated by the Central Government from among the minority communities.
- Six communities are notified as minorities at the central level: Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis (Zoroastrians) and Jains (Jains added in 2014).
- Functions include evaluating the progress of minorities, making recommendations for safeguarding their interests, and inquiring into specific complaints.
- Article 29 and Article 30 of the Constitution provide the underlying minority rights (cultural and educational), which the Commission helps protect.
The 1992 Act, the list of six notified minorities (with Jains added in 2014) and the link to Articles 29 and 30 are standard, frequently tested minority-rights facts.
The NCM is statutory, not constitutional; minority status under the Act is a notification, not a constitutional definition; the addition of Jains in 2014 made six notified communities.
Statutory body (Act of 1992) safeguarding six notified minorities, anchored in Articles 29 and 30.