To mark the occasion of Minorities Rights Day on December 18, the state minorities commission has planned what it claims is the first such effort of its kind in the nation. On the Minorities Rights Day, legal awareness and interaction programme with the police in all the 157 police stations of the state will be held apart from which the chief minister Harish Rawat will also respond to some questions or issues raised by members of minority communities through video conferencing on the occasion, said the state minorities commission chairman Narender Jeet Singh Bindra.
Addressing members of the media at the state minorities commission office on Wednesday, Bindra said that to mark the occasion of Minorities Rights Day on December 18, programmes will be held in all the 157 police stations of the state. These programmes will be aimed at raising awareness among members of the minority communities regarding their legal rights while also helping improve the image of the state police to make the minorities’ members less hesitant in approaching the police regarding their issues. Along with the programmes in the 157 police stations, the chief minister Harish Rawat will also preside over a video conference from his residence. The chief minister’s video conference will also involve the Jwalapur police station in Haridwar, Rudrapur police station in Udham Singh Nagar, Haldwani police station in Nainital district and the Dalanwala police station in Dehradun with director general of police MA Ganapathy also slated to be present along with the CM in the meeting. Members of the minority communities present at these police stations will have the chance to raise their issue in the video conference presided over by the chief minister and in addition to this, the minority community members living in remote areas will also be able to communicate with the CM via telephone during this programme, added Bindra.
It is pertinent to mention here that with the aim of strengthening the cause of the minorities, the United Nations had promulgated the Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and linguistic Minorities on December 18, 1992. The declaration had proclaimed that the States shall protect the existence of the national or ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity. Since then, December 18 has been commemorated as Minorities Rights Day with the National Commission for Minorities also marking the occasion in India.