 statement of objects and reasonsthe national commission for scheduled castes and the nations! commission for scheduled tribes have been constituted in pursuance of article 338 and article 338a respectively of the constitution, article 3508 of the constitution provides fir appointment of a special officer for linguistic minorities, the central government set up 6 minorities commission in january, 1978 for providing an institutional srrangerment for evaluating the safeguards provided im the constitution snd to make recommendations for effecetive implementation of the safeguards given to the minorities subsequently, in may, 1993, the central government constituted the national commission for minorities as a statutory body under the national commigsion for minorities act, 1992 2 thore has been a persistent demand for giving constitutional status to the nationa! commission for minorities it is folt that the constitution of the national commission for minoritloes under s constitutional provision wouk! inspire greater canfidence amongst the minorities and the commission woukl be more effective in safeguarding their interests st is, therefore, propased to amend the constitution by way of insartion of a new article 340a in tho constitution 3 the bill seeks to achieve the above objects new deus; meira kumar the 16th december, 2004 clause 2 of the bill seeks to insert a new article 340a in the constitution for setting up of a commission for the minorities to be known as the national commission for minorities the proposed commission shall consist of a chairperson, vice-chairporson'and five other members 2 it is proposed to repeal the national commission for minorities act, 1992 and dissolve the commission constituted thereunder by cnacting the national commission for minorities (repeal) bill, 2004 introduced separately it is also proposed to utilise the services of the secretary and other officers and emloyees of the national commission for minorities constituted under the said act for the proposed commission 3 an amount of rs 303 lakhs has been provided for the national commission for minorities constituted under the national commission for minorities act, 1992 for the year 2004-05 under non-plan it is estimated that no additional recurring or non-recurring expenditure is likely to be involved during the said financial year for setting up the commission under the proposed new article 340a of the constitution, when enacted 