SC : Welfare schemes for religious minorities

SC : Welfare schemes for religious minorities

Part of: GS Prelims –Polity and GS-II- Vulnerable section

In news:

• The Supreme Court asked the UP government to respond to a petition alleging that the government is discriminating against Hindus by providing religious minorities with welfare schemes worth thousands of crores.

From Prelims point of view:

National Commission for Minorities

• Statutory body set up under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.
• Unlike other bodies like NCSC and NCST, NCM has no constitutional backing or status.
• Works under the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
• It looks into complaints from members of five religious communities notified as a minority community in 2014.( Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) Jain community)

Who are minorities?

• Constitution  speaks of minorities ‘based on religion or language’ and rights of minorities have been spelt out in Constitution in detail.
• Six religious communities, viz. Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains have been notified in Gazette of India as minority communities by Union Government all over India.