The main objective of the Minorities Rights Day of India is to make the minority groups aware of their fundamental rights.
Each country, including India, has its own group of minorities based on ethnicity, language, and religion. Despite this, it is important that harmony prevails in the country. The Constitution of India provides equal rights to all citizens and safeguards their rights of language, ethnicity, culture, and religion. Minorities rights are the fundamental rights of those particular groups of people.
History and Significance
Since 1992, Minorities Rights Day is celebrated on 18th December every year. On this day, the United Nations adopted the Statement on the individual’s rights belonging to religious, Linguistic, National, or Ethnic Minorities. The aim was to protect the rights and privileges of all the citizens of a country. This is supposed to prevail irrespective of their colour, language, or religion. It is also an opportunity to make minority communities better understand their rights.
Minorities of India
In India, about 19% of the total population constitutes minorities. Under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, a National Commission for Minorities (NCM) also has been established. Some minorities of India are:
- The minorities in India include mostly Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians or Parsis, and Jains
- J & K, Punjab, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Lakshadweep are the only states where any notified minority is in majority
- The Ministry of Minority Affairs, which was established in 2006, is the apex body in the Union government to carry out various welfare, regulatory and developmental programmes for the minority communities
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