• 18th December 2025 marks the observance of the 13th Minority Rights Day.

• Event: National Minority Rights Day 2025
• When? December 18
• 2025 Observance: 13th
• UNGA Adoption: On 18 December 1992, UNGA adopted the Declaration on the Rights of National, Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistic Minorities
• Observance in India: since 18 December 2013
• Minorities in India: Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, Zoroastrians (Parsis)

Background:
Global Significance: Minorities Rights Day is observed annually to mark the  United Nations General Assembly’s(UNGA)adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of National, Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistic Minorities through Resolution A/RES/47/135 on 18 December 1992.
India’s Observance: In India, National Minorities Rights Day has been observed since 18 December 2013.
Who are minorities?
Definition: A minority group is a community that is numerically smaller and lacks social, political, and economic dominance within a country.
Notified Minority Communities: Under Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act, 1992, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, and Zoroastrians (Parsis) are recognized as minority communities.

• The Jain community was accorded minority status later, in 2014.

Minority Rights in the Indian Constitution:
Articles 29 and 30: Guarantee the preservation of culture and grant religious and linguistic minorities the right to establish and administer educational institutions, safeguarding them from undue state interference.
Articles 350A and 350B: Ensure primary education in the mother tongue for linguistic minorities and provide for a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities to monitor safeguards
Article 347: Enables special provisions for languages spoken by sections of a state’s population.
About Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA)
Union Minister – Kiren Rijiju (Constituency – Arunachal West, Arunachal Pradesh, AR)
Minister of States(MoS) – George Kurian(Rajya Sabha -Madhya Pradesh, MP)