Minorities and their Rights against Discrimination
Section 2(c) of National Commission of Minorities Act, 1992 Provides definition for ‘Minority’. Minority means a Community notified as such by the Central Government. The offically notified religious Communities are muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and jains.
There are various discriminations on the ground of nationality, minority status, religion, age, gender, color, language, place of residence and Status in the Society.
Human rights is the Basic Rights and freedom and these are fundamental and universal. Rights include Right to life, Right to equality, economic, social and Cultural right such as right to work, security, education and so on. It also include Standard treatment like freedom from torture and freedom from inhuman treatment.
The main aim of minority rights is not just to Protect this Vulnerable group but also to maintain their actual Status in Society i.e The Status of equality.
Thus, The Indian Constitution, 1950 Safeguards Minorities against Discrimination under Article 14 – All are equal before law, Article 15 – People Cannot be discriminated on grounds of religion, race, Caste, sex or place of birth, Article 29(1) – minority people has right to protect and Propagate their language, literature and tradition, Article 29(2) – based on race, caste, religion or language the admission to state – aided academic cannot be refused for minorities, Article 30(1) grants the right to Create and run educational establishment, Article 30(2) – the state cannot discriminate academic institution administered by minorities irrespective of faith or language. Thus, Indian Constitution, 1950 under these Articles Protect the right of the minorities against discrimination.
