New Delhi: Villupuram MP T. Ravikumar raised a question in the Lok Sabha today about the action taken on the complaints received by the National Commission for Minorities. Union Minority Welfare Minister Smriti Irani has given a written reply to this.
In the question raised by Villupuram Constituency MP Ravikumar in the Parliamentary Lok Sabha today, “Has the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) submitted action taken reports (ATRs) only till 2011?” If so, give details of delay in submission of ATRs for last ten years along with reasons thereof. What are the steps taken by the ministry to set up district level committees for the welfare of minorities?” he asked.
Union Minister for Minority Affairs Smriti Irani gave a written reply to this: “According to Sections 12 and 13 of the National Commission for Minorities Act-1992, the NCM is required to prepare an annual report in a specified format within a specified period. Every financial year, as prescribed by law, it shall prepare its annual report on its activities during the previous financial year and send the same to the Central Government.
The Central Government should place the report as soon as possible before both the Houses of Parliament along with the memorandum of action taken on the recommendations therein, the recommendations, if any, which cannot be accepted, and the reasons for the non-acceptance. The National Minorities Commission has submitted its annual reports up to 2021-22 to the Ministry of Minority Affairs. According to the NCM Act-1992, there is no provision for constitution of district level committees for the welfare of minorities.
Ravikumar MP Interview: Regarding the Union Minister’s response, MP D. Ravikumar said: “Looking at the statistics given by the Union Minister, it is seen that the impact of the minorities is increasing. In 2017-18, 1498 complaints were received. Among them, 1128 complaints were received from Muslims. In the following year, 1871 complaints were received. Out of which 1344 complaints were from Muslims. Out of 1670 complaints received in 2019-20, 1232 were from Muslims.
In 2020-21, 1463 complaints were received, of which 1105 were from Muslims. Out of 2076 complaints received in 2021-22, 1420 were from Muslims. Out of 1984 complaints received in the current financial year till 31.1.2023, 1279 were from Muslims. In terms of the number of complaints received from minorities, the highest number of complaints came from the state of Uttar Pradesh. Next to that there are more complaints in Delhi.
The Minister did not respond to my query about the non-filing of a report on the action taken on those complaints. A total of 35 complaints have been received in 2017-18 for Tamil Nadu. 12 of them are from Muslims and 15 from Christians.
In 2018-19, 47 complaints were received from Tamil Nadu. 17 of them came from Muslims and 23 from Christians. In 2019-20, a total of 52 complaints were received from Tamil Nadu to the National Commission for Minorities. 22 of them came from Muslims and 24 from Christians. Out of 64 complaints in Tamil Nadu in 2020-21, 40 were from Muslims and 23 from Christians. Out of 48 complaints in Tamil Nadu in 2021-22, 14 were from Muslims and 26 from Christians.
In the ten months to 31.1.2023 this year, out of 39 complaints in Tamil Nadu, 23 were from Muslims and 10 were from Christians. As the number of complaints from minorities has been on the rise across India for the past two years, we can see its traces in Tamil Nadu as well.
As far as complaints from Muslims are concerned, Tamil Nadu has the lowest number. But relatively more complaints have been received from Christians. All over India the number of complaints received from Christians is between 100 and 150. 15 to 20 percent of it has been sent from Tamil Nadu,” he said.
