The word "Minority" is not defined either by the Constitution of India or by any other law of the country. The National Commission for Minorities Act 1992 also does not define it. It merely says that for the purposes of this Act "Minority" means "a community notified as such by the Central Government" [Section 2(c)]. Under this provision the Government has notified the Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis to be regarded as Minorities [S.O. 816(E) of 23 October 1993].

Since the NCM Act "extends to the whole of India except the State of J&K" [Section 1(2)] - these five communities are to be regarded as the National-level Minorities. The State Minorities Commission Acts of Bihar (1991), UR (1994), Karnataka (1994), MP (1996), W. Bengal (1996) and AP (1998) have their own provisions regarding the scope of the word "Minority" as appearing in their texts. The Minorities recognised under these State Acts are also the same as under the NCM Act. The same is the position in Assam and Gujarat where State Minorities Boards are in existence.

The Hindu community is the Majority community at the National level and also in all those States where there are local Minorities Commissions or Boards. In four States - J&K, Punjab, Meghalaya and Mizoram - it is, however ... a Minority at the State level. In these States, here are no local Minorities Commissioners or Boards. The NCM is now exploring the feasibility of getting its jurisdiction legally extended to the Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Mizoram and Meghalaya in order to attend to their problems ... (Source: NCM Newsletter, Summer 1998)

NCM: Annual Reports - 1991-1998

1. Sections 12-13 of the NCM Act 1992 require the Commission to submit to the Government an Annual Report for each financial year and the Government to table in Parliament each such Report along with its own action-taken statement ...

2.The first National Commission for Minorities (1993- 96) had just before vacating office in July 1996 - submitted its first two Annual Reports for (1993-94 & 1994-95) ...

3.The present Commission, after assuming office in November-December 1996, got the third Annual Report of the outgoing Commission prepared and forwarded it to the Government in June 1997.

4. The present Commission submitted Government its own first Annual Report for 1996-97 ... on 28.8.1997 with a request that it be given priority for tabling in Parliament. The Government is now reportedly preparing its action-taken statement on the said Report.

5. The Annual Report for the year 1997-98 due for.

PM's Letter to Chairman 25 March, 1998

I am sure that the National Commission for Minorities will continue to fulfil its significant role in the social and economic development of the minorities in the country.

NCM: Chairman on Formation of Religious Harmony Group, 9 June, 1998

Deeply distressed by the growing estrangement, disaffection and distrust between the majority community and the various minorities - especially the Christians and Muslims. The NCM has established a Group of enlightened religious scholars drawn from all the Indian communities, including the majority community to work for and suggest ways and means to ensure complete harmony, mutual respect and love among all the religious communities of India. On the basis of its work and suggestions the NCM will from time to time recommend appropriate remedial measures to the Government ...

The Commission approved the proposal 12.5.1998 and authorised Chairman to finalise and  announce the composition of the proposed Group. The Chairman has requested the following persons to be Members of the Group (NCM-RHG):

Swami Gokulananda                                      Swami Agnivesh

Shyamanand Saraswari                                  Wahiduddin Khan

Khwaja Hasan Sani Nizami                           Abdul Karim Parekh

Bishop Pinto B. Santram                                Samuel Rayan

Jathedar Majit Singh                                       Bhikkhu R. Mahethero