The Ministry of Minority Affairs is the ministry in the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

which was carved out of the

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is a Government of India Ministry (government department), ministry. It is responsible for welfare spending, welfare, social justice and empowerment of disadvantaged and marginalised sections of soc ...

and created on 29 January 2006. It is the apex body for the central government's regulatory and developmental programmes for the minority religious communities and minority linguistic communities in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, which include

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Sikhs Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Sikh'' ...

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster ( ). Among the wo ...

s (

Parsis The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, w ...

) and

Jains Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and ...

notified as minority religious communities in

The Gazette of India ''The Gazette of India'' is a public journal and an authorised legal document of the Government of India. It is published weekly by the Directorate of Printing Department of Publication, a subordinate office of the Ministry of Housing and Urban ...

under Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. The current minister is

Kiren Rijiju Kiren Rijiju (born 19 November 1971) is an Indian politician who is serving as the 28th Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and 7th Minister of Minority Affairs since 2024. He was the Cabinet Minister of Earth Sciences and Food Processing Ind ...

who has been in office since 10 June 2024, and the Minister of State is

George Kurian George Kurian is an Indian-American business executive. He is the current chief executive officer and a member of the board of NetApp. Prior to this, he was the executive vice president of product operations at NetApp. Early life and education ...

(since June 2024).

Character

The ministry is also involved with the

linguistic minorities A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities. With a total number of 196 sovereign states recognized internationally (as of 2019) and ...

and of the office of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, representation of the

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people are a distinct minority group, minority community of mixed-race British and Indian ancestry. During the colonial period, their ancestry was defined as British paternal and Indian maternal heritage; post-independence, "Angl ...

community, protection and preservation of non-Muslim shrines in Pakistan and Muslim shrines in India in terms of the Pant-Mirza Agreement of 1955, in consultation with the Ministry of External Affairs. The Minister in charge is also Chairperson of the Central Wakf Council, India, which manages the running of the State Wakf Boards. Ministry of Minority Affairs provides Moma scholarship to minority community students of India every year. Moma Scholarship is a scholarship scheme of the Ministry of Minority Affairs initiated with the aim of supporting minority communities student who is not financially strong and wants to pursue higher studies in India. Minority communities in India includes Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains. The scholarship is awarded to the students by India Government through State Government/UTs. The scholarship is awarded for the undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Linguistic Minorities, according to Indian Constitution should have a Special Officer appointed. Constitutional Article: 350B. :#There shall be a Special Officer for linguistic minorities to be appointed by the President. :#It shall be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under this Constitution and report to the President upon those matters at such intervals as the President may direct, and the President shall cause all such reports to be laid before each House of Parliament, and sent to the Governments of the States concerned. It is to be decided based on states as the states have been formed on linguistic basis.

Cabinet Ministers

The Minister of Minority Affairs is the head of the Ministry of Minority Affairs and one of the

cabinet ministers A cabinet in governing is a group of people with the constitutional or legal task to rule a country or state, or advise a head of state, usually from the executive branch. Their members are known as ministers and secretaries and they are ...

of the

. *Note: MoS, I/C Minister of State with Independent Charge

Ministers of State

Organisations

*Constitutional and Statutory Bodies **

Central Wakf Council Central Waqf Council is an Indian statutory body operated by the Government of India under The Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, a subordinate of the Waqf Act, 1995. The Waqf boards in the Indian subcontinent were formed in 1913 during the British ...

(CWC) **

National Commission for Minorities The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India, established in 1993. It is responsible to safeguard and protect the interests of minorities—Buddhists, Christians, J ...

(NCM) *
Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities
(CLM) **

Haj Committee of India Haj Committee of India (also known as Central Haj Committee (CHC)) is a statutory body of the Indian government which organises Islamic pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. It was established under ''Haj Committee Act'' in 2002. The committee acts as a nod ...

* Autonomous Bodies *
Maulana Azad Education Foundation
(MAEF) * PSUs and Joint Ventures ** National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC)

Schemes & Scholarship Programmes

* Jiyo Parsi - Scheme for containing population decline of Parsis * Nai Roshni - Scheme for Leadership Development of Minority Women * Nai Manzil - An Integrated Education and Livelihood Initiative for the Minority Communities * Nai Udaan - Support for minority students clearing prelims exam conducted by UPSC, State PSC and SSC * Seekho aur Kamao (Learn & Earn) - Scheme for Skill Development of Minorities * Hamari Dharohar - A scheme to preserve the rich heritage of Minority Communities of India under the overall concept of Indian culture * Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme * Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme * Merit-cum-Means Scholarship Scheme * Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students *Padho Pardesh - Scheme of Interest Subsidy on Educational Loans for Overseas Studies for the Students Belonging to the Minority Communities

References

External links

Ministry of Minority Affairs, Official Website
*
Current Affairs News and Magazines
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ministry Of Minority Affairs Ministry of Minority Affairs Minority Affairs Religion in India 2006 establishments in India India, Minority Affairs India, Minority Affairs India, Minority Affairs Minorities-focussed government initiatives in India