New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called a meeting of the National Integration Council (NIC) on Sep 23, a statement said Saturday.
The meeting comes in the wake of the recent communal violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar in which almost 50 people have died.
According to the statement: “The NIC, however, notes with concern the increase in communal incidents in different parts of the country over the last few years.”
“The council emphasizes that notwithstanding sporadic occurances of communal and other divisive conflicts, the vast majority of common men and women, irrespective of their religious affiliations, live in peace and harmony and have no interest in violence and disorders,” it said.
The NIC was constituted to combat the evils of communalism, casteism, regionalism, linguism and narrow-mindedness as a follow up of National Intergration Conference under the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in September-October, 1961.
The first meeting of NIC was held in 1962.
In the last NIC meeting with 148 members held on Sept 10, 2011, the agenda was communal harmony.
The NIC comprises union ministers, chief ministers, political leaders and representatives of religion, media and business and other eminent personalities.