CHANDIGARH, AUG 24: The Punjab Government will soon set up a State Minorities Commission to safeguard the interests of minority communities, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, said today.

Badal said this to James Massey, member of the National Commission for Minorities, who called on him at his residence. He said that the government was considering a proposal to declare Christians as `most backward' so that they could be given special benefits.

Badal told Massey that the minorities in Punjab did not face any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed or religion, and that the state government was also making every effort to provide impartial justice.He assured a delegation of Christians, which accompanied Massey, that members of their community would get due representation on various boards and corporations.

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