For a strong Nation it is essential to have a harmonious society with maximum homogeneity among different socio-cultural and ethno-religious groups. The rights of the minorities were recognised as far back as 1928 in the Motilal Nehru Draft Constitution. Subsequently, Jawaharlal Nehru writing a note on minorities in Young India on May 15, 1930, was to state that “we in India must make it clear to all that our policy is based on granting this freedom to the minorities and that under no circumstance will any coercion or repression of them be tolerated... we can also lay down as our deliberate policy that there shall be no unfair treatment of any minority”. The Karachi Charter on Fundamental Rights of 1931 reiterated this principle. It acknowledged the right of the minorities to their religion, the freedom to profess and practice any religion and laid down that the state should be neutral in religious matters. The right of the minorities to cultural autonomy was expressly granted. During the second session of the Round Table Conference, a Memorandum on the “Congress Scheme for a Communal Settlement” was presented before the Minorities Committee on October 28, 1931. The scheme provided for the protection of minority culture, language, script, education, profession, religion and religious endowment. It also provided for the protection of personal laws, as well as for a proportionate share in the Legislature for all communities through joint electorates, protection of minority interests in the Central and Provincial Cabinets, and a fair share for the minorities in the public services.

The report of the Sapru Committee, which was set up by the non-party conference in November 1944, recommended full religious tolerance, non-interference in religious beliefs, practices and institutions, and protection of the language and cultures of all communities. The Sapru Committee also recommended political representation. However, these recommendations created so much controversy that the report could not be adopted.

The framers of the constitution were well aware of the diversity of the country and provided enough protection to their educational interests. Minorities group have been identified on the basis of religion, language script and culture. Various articles of the constitution provide freedom to these groups to keep intact their religious cultural and linguistic identities. The Preamble of the Constitution of India sets the tone of the governance of the country. It imbibes secularism along with socialism as the main theme for the people of this country. Similarly, Article 14 of the Constitution states about equality before law and Article 15 prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion. There are other special provisions

• Article 29 and Article 30 guarantee certain cultural and educational rights to minorities to establish and administer educational institution.
• Article 29(3) lays down that no citizen shall be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the state or receiving aid, funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any one of them.
• Article 29(l) stipulates that ‘‘any section of Article 30(1) enjoins that All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their own choice while Article 30(2) states that “ the state shall not discriminate against any educational institution in respect of grant-in-aid on the ground that it is under the management of a minority, whether based on religion or language”.
• Article 350A directs the state to endeavor to provide adequate facilities for institution in the mother tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minorities groups.
• Article 350 B makes provision for appointment of special officer for linguistic minorities to investigate into all matters relating to safeguards provided for linguistics minorities under the constitution.
• Since India is a secular nation, Article 28(l) prevents state run institutions from imparting any religious instruction in these institution. There is, however, no bar to imparting any religious instructions in any educational institutions established under any endowment or trust, which requires the imparting of such instruction under Article28(3). This article however gives freedom to a child to decide whether he/she desires to attend religious instruction or not.
• Article 30(2) states, the state shall not discrimate in granting aid to an educational institution on the grounds that it is under the management of a minority, whether based on religion or language.

Institutional arrangement

• In 1989, an autonomous, non-political, non-profit organization, the Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF), was set up to promote education amongst educationally backward Muslims in general and Muslim girls in particular. it undertakes activities like establishing schools, colleges; strengthening vocational training centre; providing Scholarships; opening and announcing Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad Literacy Awards.
• As per the provisions under the National Commission of Minorities (NCM) Act, 1992, five religious communities including Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) have been notified as Minorities.
• National Commission for Minorities was set up as a Statutory Commission on 5th July, 1992. To ensure that the provisions and benefits of the Constitution of India are enjoyed by the minorities throughout the country, it was felt necessary that the State Governments should also set up State Minorities Commissions on similar lines. However, at present 15 State Minorities Commissions (SMCs)
• In 1994, the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) was established to give concessional credit under Term loan scheme, Educational loan scheme and Micro Finance scheme.
• Till the end of 2005-06, the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment continued to be the implementing agency for programmes for educational development and economic empowerment of Minorities. Then on January 29, 2006, a separate Ministry of Minority Affairs was created.

15 Point Programme

A High Level Committee to study their conditions was set up in 1980 under the Chairmanship of Dr. Gopal Singh. The Committee, in its report, concluded that the poor among the Muslims could not avail the opportunities in education, employment and economic activities because of isolation and various historical factors. In view of this, in 1983, the Prime Minister’s 15 Point Programme was launched to provide a sense of security to minority communities. In 2006, the Prime Minister’s new 15 Point Programme for welfare of minorities has been declared. The earlier 1983 15-Point Programme centered on communal riots, representation of Minorities in services and ensuring flow of benefits to individual beneficiaries, the focus of the new Programme is to make certain that benefits of various schemes/programmes flow equitably to the Minorities.

The 15 Point Programme has been recast to focus action sharply on issues intimately linked with the social, educational and economic uplift of minorities and provide for earmarking of outlays in certain schemes so that the progress is monitorable. The Programme covers the following points:

•  Enhancing opportunities for Education
  • Equitable availability of ICDS Services
  • Improving access to School Education
  • Greater resources for teaching Urdu
  • Modernizing Madrasa Education
  • Scholarship for meritorious students from minority communities
  • Improving educational infrastructure through the Maulana Azad Education Foundation.
• Equitable Share in Economic Activities and Employment
  • Self- Employment and Wage Employment for the poor.
  • Upgradation of skills through technical training.
  • Enhanced credit support for economic activities.
  • Recruitment to State and Central Services.
  • Improving the conditions of living of minorities
  • Equitable share in rural housing scheme
  • Improvement in condition of slums inhabited by minority communities.
• Prevention & Control of Communal Riots
  • Prevention of communal incidents
  • Prosecution for communal offences
  • Rehabilitation of victims of communal riots

The Cabinet has also decided that 15% of the funds may be earmarked wherever possible in relevant schemes/programmes, for the nationally declared minorities.

The existing 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of minorities was formulated in May 1983. It covered 15 different aspects for action, commonly known as the “Prime Minister’s 15-Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities”. These points were reiterated by the then Prime Minister, Shri Rajiv Gandhi, in his letter dated August 28, 1985 addressed to all Chief Ministers.

11th five year plan and minorities

The 11th Plan agenda for empowerment of Minorities will focus on:

• Access, retention and achievement in primary, elementary and higher education
• Enhanced access to credit and subsidy for self-employment, export promotion of traditional crafts, Upgradation of technical skills, provision of vocational training with forward linkages in terms of employment, equal opportunity in public and private sector employment.
• Access to government schemes and programmes
• Create a National Data Bank to collect data on various aspects of socio-religious communities through comprehensive surveys on education, health etc
• In-depth evaluation and performance reviews of a host of institutional mechanisms including the NMDFC and the MAEF to improve their efficacy and suggest other institutional innovations.
• Establish measurable, monitorable outcomes and set up national-level monitoring mechanisms for all aspects of plans, programmes and schemes intended to benefit Minorities, particularly poor Muslims.
• In implementing this agenda, the Plan will recognize the heterogeneous nature of different minority groups and the need for common as well as targeted interventions based on differential situations.

Other policy initiatives

• During the 10th Plan, an Inter-Ministerial Task Force was constituted under the Chairmanship of Dr. Bhalachandra Mungekar to identify towns/cities having the substantial concentration of Minority population that require special attention and to formulate the approach for a multi-sectoral plan for provision of basic civic amenities within those areas. The Taskforce was also asked to suggest special schemes for funding specific projects which were not covered under existing schemes and programmes.
•  As many pockets with substantial minority population, continue to lack adequate physical and social infrastructure, the Eleventh Plan will adopt an area-based approach. According to the 2001 Census, 1228 Community Development Blocks (out of total 6406 in the country), 338 class I towns, and 156 districts have minority population of 25% and above. Both infrastructure development (physical, electricity and roads etc. i.e. development of amenities) and beneficiary oriented programmes will be launched in these areas.
• To ensure comprehensive development through a multi-sectoral approach, 90 Minority Concentration Districts (MCDs) covering 34 per cent of the minority population in the country, have been identified on the basis of either human development indicators or basic amenities indicators.