India observed Minorities Rights Day on 18th December 2018. Every year on 18 December, this day is observed to promote the rights of Minority communities in India. Also, the awareness creation about the Minority Rights is the objective of celebrating this day as Minorities Rights Day.
Every state in India on this day focuses on the issues concerning minorities as well as their safety in the state. Various seminars, campaigns and events are conducted on Minorities Rights Day.
Minorities in India:
- The minorities in India include Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains.
- Minorities in India constitute about 19% of the total population.
- 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.
- A National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has also been set up under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.
The United Nations, on 18th December 1992, promulgated the “Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities” to discourage the countries to discriminate amongst people worldwide on the basis of religion, language, nationality or ethnicity.