National Integration Council
The National Integration Council (NIC) is a group of senior politicians and public figures in India that looks for ways to address the problems of communalism, casteism and regionalism
Origin
The National Integration Council originated in a
conference convened by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in September–October 1961. The purpose
was to find ways to counter problems that were dividing the country including
attachment to specific communities, castes, religions and languages.
The conference set up the NIC to review national
integration issues and make recommendations. The NIC met for the first time in
June 1962. The fourteenth meeting was held in New Delhi on 13 October 2008. The
fifteenth meeting was held on 10 September 2011 in New Delhi. The latest
meeting (sixteenth meeting) was held on 23 September 2013.
Reconstitution in 2005
The NIC was reconstituted and met again in August
2005. The new council had 103
members.The inaugural meeting
was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi. Twelve Chief Ministers and twelve Union
Ministers attended, as did leaders of all the main political parties. The NIC
met in October 2008 soon after the United Progressive
Alliance (UPA) government had taken office. In this special meeting
chaired by Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, the NIC raised its voice
against spreading anti-Christian violence
in India.
In April 2010 the council was reconstituted with
147 members, again chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The fifteenth meeting
was scheduled in Delhi for 10 September 2011. The agenda included discussion of
measures to eliminate discrimination, promote communal harmony and curb
communalism and communal violence. The attendees were also to discuss ways in
which the state and police should handle civil disturbances and ways to curb radicalization
of youth in the name of religion and caste.The Communal Violence Bill
came under attack at the meeting, with Bharatiya Janata Party leaders
saying the bill would encourage rather than curb communalism and that the bill
unjustly assumed that in a riot the majority was always at fault.
On 19 October 2010 the government established a
standing committee of the National Integration Council. Home Minister P. Chidambaram was appointed chairman and four Union
Ministers and nine Chief Ministers were appointed members. The committee would
decide on agenda items for future council meetings.
Baselios
Cardinal Cleemis Catholicos has been nominated as a Member of the National
Integration Council under category IX (Eminent Public Figures). The National
Integration Council under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister was
reconstituted on October 28, 2013.
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