The Ministry of Minority Affairs is the ministry in the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

which was carved out of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and created on 29 January 2006. It is the apex body for the central government's regulatory and developmental programmes for the minority religious communities and minority linguistic communities in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, which include

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

Sikhs Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism (Sikhi), a monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ...

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic on ...

s ( Parsis) and

Jains Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

notified as minority religious communities in The Gazette of India under Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (born 15 October 1957) is an Indian politician and was the Union Minister of Minority Affairs. He had served as a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from 2002 to 2022 and was Deputy Leader of the House in Rajya Sab ...

assumed the office as a

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

for Minority Affairs on 4 September 2017. He served as the Minister of State for Minority Affairs when

Najma Heptulla Najma Akbar Ali Heptulla (born 13 April 1940) is an Indian politician. She is the Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia since 2017. She was a six time member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament, between 1980 and 2016, and D ...

was the

. Following

's resignation on 12 July 2016, Naqvi was assigned the Independent charge of the Ministry. The ministry is also involved with the

linguistic minorities A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities. With a total number of 196 sovereign states recognized internationally (as of 2019) and ...

and of the office of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, representation of the Anglo-Indian community, protection and preservation of non-Muslim shrines in Pakistan and Muslim shrines in India in terms of the Pant-Mirza Agreement of 1955, in consultation with the Ministry of External Affairs. The Minister in charge is also Chairperson of the

Central Wakf Council, India Central Waqf Council, India is an Indian statutory body established in 1964 by the Government of India under the Waqf Act, 1954 (now a subsection of the Waqf Act, 1995) for the purpose of advising it on matters pertaining to the working of the ...

, which manages the running of the State Wakf Boards. Ministry of Minority Affairs provides Moma scholarship to minority community students of India every year. Moma Scholarship is a scholarship scheme of the Ministry of Minority Affairs initiated with the aim of supporting minority communities student who is not financially strong and wants to pursue higher studies in India. Minority communities in India includes Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains. The scholarship is awarded to the students by India Government through State Government/UTs. The scholarship is awarded for the undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Linguistic Minorities, according to Indian Constitution should have a Special Officer appointed. Constitutional Article: 350B. :#There shall be a Special Officer for linguistic minorities to be appointed by the President. :#It shall be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under this Constitution and report to the President upon those matters at such intervals as the President may direct, and the President shall cause all such reports to be laid before each House of Parliament, and sent to the Governments of the States concerned. It is to be decided based on states as the states have been formed on linguistic basis.

Ministers

The Minister of Minority Affairs is the head of the Ministry of Minority Affairs and one of the

cabinet ministers A cabinet is a body of high-ranking state officials, typically consisting of the executive branch's top leaders. Members of a cabinet are usually called cabinet ministers or secretaries. The function of a cabinet varies: in some countries ...

of the

List of Ministers of State

Organisations

*Constitutional and Statutory Bodies **

Central Wakf Council Central Waqf Council, India is an Indian statutory body established in 1964 by the Government of India under the Waqf Act, 1954 (now a subsection of the Waqf Act, 1995) for the purpose of advising it on matters pertaining to the working of the ...

(CWC) **

National Commission for Minorities The Union Government set up the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. Six religious communities, viz; Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains have been no ...

(NCM) *
Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities
(CLM) * Autonomous Bodies *
Maulana Azad Education Foundation
(MAEF) * PSUs and Joint Ventures **

National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) was incorporated in September 1994 as a non profit company under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India to provide concessional finance for self-employment ac ...

(NMDFC)

Schemes & Scholarship Programmes

* Jiyo Parsi - Scheme for containing population decline of Parsis * Nai Roshni - Scheme for Leadership Development of Minority Women * Nai Manzil - An Integrated Education and Livelihood Initiative for the Minority Communities * Nai Udaan - Support for minority students clearing prelims exam conducted by UPSC, State PSC and SSC * Seekho aur Kamao (Learn & Earn) - Scheme for Skill Development of Minorities * Hamari Dharohar - A scheme to preserve the rich heritage of Minority Communities of India under the overall concept of Indian culture * Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme * Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme * Merit-cum-Means Scholarship Scheme * Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students *Padho Pardesh - Scheme of Interest Subsidy on Educational Loans for Overseas Studies for the Students Belonging to the Minority Communities

References

External links

Ministry of Minority Affairs, Official Website
*
Current Affairs News and Magazines
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ministry Of Minority Affairs Ministry of Minority Affairs Minority Affairs Religion in India 2006 establishments in India India, Minority Affairs India, Minority Affairs India, Minority Affairs Minorities-focussed government initiatives in India