National Commission for Minorities

Polity & Governance glossary

Also called: NCM · Topic: Statutory, Regulatory and Quasi-judicial Bodies · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 2 "Rights in the Indian Constitution"

Meaning

The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) is a statutory body under the National Commission for Minorities Act 1992. It checks whether the constitutional and legal safeguards for minorities are working, and it looks into their complaints. A non-statutory commission had existed since 1978. The 1992 Act turned it into a statutory one. Its advice is not binding on the government.

Example

The NCM covers six notified minorities. Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis were notified in 1993, and Jains were added in 2014. Class 11 NCERT calls it the "National Commission on Minorities", but its correct name is the National Commission for Minorities.

Don't confuse with

  • National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions: it is a quasi-judicial body that grants minority status to institutions under Article 30. The NCM watches over minority safeguards in general.

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