How was the term minority defined by different groups?

Minority means that a particular community or a group of people is less as compared to the proportion of the total population. However during the preparation of the Indian Constitution, all the members of the Constituent Assembly defined it in their own way.
(i) B. Pocker Bahadur from Madras stated that minorities existed in almost all the countries of the world. So he wanted a political framework in the country which might enable the minorities to live in harmony with others.

(ii) N.G. Ranga stated that the real minorities were the common people of the country. He believed that the common people of the country were so depressed, oppressed and suppressed that they never enjoyed any civil rights. He particularly referred to the tribal people who were considered by the merchants as their bond slaves. Jaipal Singh also supported the views of N.G. Ranga.

(iii) Dr. B.R. Ambedkar considered the people belonging to the depressed castes as minority. However Nagappa pointed out that numerically depressed castes were not a minority as they were 20 to 25% of the total population.