Exp) Option a is the correct answer.

Statement 1 is incorrect: National Commission for Minorities is a statutory body under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 199In 1993, the first Statutory National Commission for minorities was set up under Ministry of Minority Affairs and five religious communities the Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) were notified as minority communities. Further in 2014, Jains have also been notified as minority community. National Commission for Minorities’ (NCM’s) predecessor i.e., the Minority Commission (Mwas set up by a resolution of Home Ministry in 1978.

Statement 2 is correct: The national commission for minorities has all the powers of a civil Court while making recommendations with regard to the protection of the minority rights enshrined in statute, conducting research and educational efforts on such topics as the socio-economic and educational development of minority groups, and issuing reports related to minority rights.

Statement 3 is incorrect: The Ministry of minority affairs (and not National Commission for Minorities) is the agency for implementing the Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for welfare of Minority Communities. On the other hand, the National Commission for Minorities Ensures that the Prime Minister’s 15-Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities is implemented and the programmer for minority communities are actually functioning