Former IPS officer from Punjab Iqbal Singh Lalpura has been appointed as the new chief of the National Commission for Minorities.
“I will work to protect the interests of minorities across the country and am thankful to the government for choosing me for this responsibility,” The Tribune quoted Lalpura.
Known for his exemplary service record, he was the one to retrieve the body of police officer AS Atwal from the Golden Temple.
One of the national spokespersons of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Lalpura, serves as a member of several social organizations and has authored 14 books highlighting the richness of Sikh religious scriptures.
The Union Government had set up the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. Initially, five religious communities (Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis)) were notified as minority communities by the Union Government. Later, on January 27, 2014, Jains were also notified as another minority community.
“The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has informed that the erstwhile Minority Commission in its Annual Reports for the period January 1, 1981 to March 31, 1982 and April 1, 1982 to March 31, 1983 had recommended for setting up of a Committee to consider the need for considering and, if necessary, to formulate a scheme to establish a National Integration-cum-Human Rights Commission for promotion of secular traditions and national integration”, the Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on August 2 this year.
