Indian minorities discourage youth from joining IS: Rajnath Singh

New Delhi: There are only a "handful" or "negligible" number of people involved in IS activities in India and the minority community in the country has discouraged its youth from joining the terror outfit, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said Tuesday.

"There are only a handful or negligible number of people involved in ISIS activities in India. Their involvement too has not been direct. I congratulate the Indian minorities for discouraging their youth," he said in the Lok Sabha during question hour.

In many developed countries like Britain and France, minority families are encouraging youth to join ISIS, or IS as it is called, but Indian minorities are discouraging their children, he said.

"I congratulate the minority community for discouraging youth from getting radicalised," Rajnath Singh said.

Responding to a supplementary question on steps taken by the government to prevent the spread of IS, he said India has already banned the IS and was monitoring the cyberspace to stop its propaganda.

"Cyberspace is a very serious issue. To monitor this system, it needs to be strengthened and I have asked for a committee to be constituted to monitor this."

"We will ensure that it is properly monitored," he added.