Christian Council suggests major overhaul of bill against communal violence

The following is the text of the letter

Dr. Manmohan Singh

The Prime Minister of India

Your Excellency Dr. Manmohan Singh:

Greetings from the All India Christian Council.

We applaud your government for its desire to protect the idea of India – a secular government with equality for all. We welcome the intention to pass a Bill on

communal violence which will add to India’s strong body of laws.

However, the Christian community has deep concerns about the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2009, from the drafts we’ve

read. We humbly request a serious re-write of this legislation. Our main concerns:

1. The Bill doesn’t adequately address the question of hate campaigns and the “communalisation process” (i.e. hate speech published in local language media) that

precede communal violence. This well-studied phenomenon of activities, some already illegal but not often prosecuted, is a root issue.

2. The Bill doesn’t take into account the demography and pattern of living of various communities. Specifically, anti-Christian violence is normally dismissed by

public officials as “sporadic” (although there may be a serious incident daily in some areas). Because other minorities live in concentrated or contiguous areas, those

“communally disturbed areas” are more easily identified. In Orissa, Kandhamal would likely not fit the Bill’s definition but we know what happened there in 2007-2008.

3. The Bill doesn’t give States guidelines on reparations and compensation. We need a uniform national policy as well standards on the assessment of damages after

riots in order to prevent ghettoisation.

4. The Bill doesn’t fully address police and administrative impunity properly or adequately. The “good faith” clause, which exempts police and public servants from

prosecution unless there is permission from the executive branch, is a major concern.

We share concerns, especially voiced by Muslim groups, that the Bill doesn’t fully acknowledge the individual victim, treats communal violence as spontaneous rioters

versus rioters (instead of acknowledging the possibility of premeditated or state-sponsored violence), and gives much power to state

governments which, historically, have occasionally acted in a biased manner. We need to see stronger checks and balances.

Also, we acknowledge that some shortcomings are systemic legal issues better addressed by your government in separate legislation or orders. The most important, in our

humble opinion, include:

• Establishing witness protection programs and guidelines

• Strengthening of National Commission for Minorities and state minority commissions

• Action against police who refuse to register FIRs

• Permanently debarring government officials guilty of involvement in communal violence – or any crime – from government jobs and from contesting any office

• The rights of “internally displaced persons” in relief camps should mirror UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement e.g. including immediate education

for displaced children

Many provisions of the current version of the Bill are acceptable. But we request you to consider the input above so that a weak Bill is not passed which requires the

almost impossible process of securing future amendments.

Our community has learned from recent waves of communal attacks in Orissa and Karnataka as well as ongoing onslaught on house churches, individual pastors/priests and

nuns, and the terrible hate campaigns in newspapers which are officially sponsored by several state governments. Our suggestions are rooted in the reality of rural

India where the vast majority of our members – thousands of Protestant, Catholic, and independent Christian organisations – live and work to improve our beloved

society.

Yours Sincerely and Most Respectfully,

Dr. Joseph D’souza, President, aicc, Hyderabad, dsouza@aiccindia.org

John Dayal, Secretary General, aicc, New Delhi, john.dayal@gmail.com

C.C.:

Shri M. Veerappa Moily, Union Cabinet Minister for Law & Justice

Shri P. Chidambaram, Union Minister of Home Affairs

Shri Salman Khurshid, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Minority Affairs

Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson, Indian National Congress Party

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Hindustan Times report today:

Amended law to let Centre take charge in riot-hit states

Aloke Tikku, Hindustan Time

r

New Delhi, March 17, 2010

The government’s final version of the communal violence law empowers the Centre to take charge of an area where riots have broken out once it sends in central forces,

if it finds the state government concerned reluctant to act against the rioters.

The new law still does not allow the Centre to send armed forces on its own to a riot-hit spot. But once a state has asked for central forces to quell violence, the

Centre will have the right — under certain circumstances — of setting up a unified command, comprising these forces and the local police.

The amendment was cleared by the Cabinet last December and is expected to come for parliamentary approval next month.

The Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, however, says the Centre can declare an area “communally disturbed” and take direct

charge only if the state concerned refuses to act against the violence being perpetrated to such an extent that the secular fabric of the country, or internal

security, is endangered.

To guard against political misuse, the law stipulates that the Centre must

draw the attention of the state government to the deteriorating state of affairs, and set a deadline for it to take necessary steps to suppress the violence.

Until now, central forces deployed in a state worked under the control of the local district administration. But henceforth, in special circumstances, it will work

under the unified command, which will report to the Centre.

The amendment was conceived of in the backdrop of the 2002 Gujarat riots, when it was widely believed the state government had done little to discourage the rioters.

Even so, it is bound to anger state governments who will see it as an encroachment on their powers. Eight of 12 states that responded to a survey by a parliamentary

panel had even opposed an earlier, milder version.

Sangh Agenda in Education

GITA IN SCHOOLS

Madhya Pradesh CM wants Gita in school curricula

Hemender Sharma / CNN-IBN

Published on Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 09:11

Shivraj Chouhan declared that his govt was contemplating introducing the Gita in schools.

Bhopal: First it was sun worship and yoga in government schools and now the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has made it a mission to introduce the Bhagavad Gita in school curricula.

“I had met swami Arganad and there this thought had come why not introduce the Bhagwad Gita as a moral science subject. I am very seriously contemplating on this,” said Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Proponents call it an inspired plan. Chouhan critics call it yet another step by the BJP to saffronise schools.

"The Shivraj Singh led government wants to do everything that will annoy the minorities. That is their aim,” said Congress MLA Arif Aqueel.

Students feel that they may not be old enough understand all that the Gita teaches, but they certainly seem to be mirroring the government's enthusiasm.

Chauhan himself defends the move saying "Any Good thing that can be there in any human being is written in the Bhagwad Gita”.

But Chouhan will find it hard to answer the counter point from Congress MLA Arif Aqueel.

“I don't have any problem with introduction of the Bhagwad Gita but than why not the Quran, the Bible or the Guru Grant Sahib?,” said Arif Aqueel, Congress MLA.

The Chief Minister though assures that the Gita will not be introduced in syllabus in haste. But it’s surely a move that will please RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat, who recently announced in Bhopal, that non-Hindus cannot be Indians.

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Vivek Joyti Mar 9, 2010

Ekal Kumbh Resolves To Reach One Lakh Tribal Villages

from savarkar vinayak

date Tue, Mar 9, 2010

A massive Ekal Kumbh organized by Ekal Vidyalayas was inaugurated by the Sarsanghchalak of the RSS Shri Mohan Bhagwat in Delhi on October 30. More than 12,000 vanvasis & girivasis (Forest & Mountain dwellers) of Ekal Vidyalayas assembled in Swarna Jayanti Park of Rohini in North west Delhi. Vanvasis from almost all the states of India participated in the three day conclave.

Started in 1988 from Jharkhand, the Ekal Vidyalaya Movement has made its presence in 27110 villages of 22 states of India. Presently. 7,78,965 students are getting their education through these schools. With the objective of making India ‘Sikshit, swasthya and samridh’ (literate, healthy and prosperous), the Ekal Vidyalaya has also undertaken the responsibility of imparting education for health care, community development and promoting village folk for constructive activities.

The three day conclave formally concluded with the address of Sadhvi Ritambhara on the first of November with the resolve to reach out to one lakh tribal villages. A grand exhibition depicting real India living in rural and forest areas was also inaugurated by the Yoga guru Baba Ram Dev on 29th October evening. Many NRIs also participated in the conference hosted by the Bharat Lok Siksha Parishad, Delhi. All the sessions were organized and conducted by vanvasi volunteers exclusively.

Eight townships were setup in the 24 acres of land in Swarna Jayanti Park. A common conference hall, grand exhibition hall, reception booth, health centre and office etc. occupied another 20 acres of the park area. Speaking on the occasion Shri Mohan Bhagwat appreciated the work being done by Ekal Volunteers in providing education in the remote areas of India. He said, “It is only education that would make the country great. In fact, through Ekal Vidyalayas, we are not only running schools but trying to make India of our dreams”. Addressing the gathering Baba Ramdev described the Ekal Movement as Master Plan for country’s integrated development “The body of human being is nothing but a temple and Ekal Vidyalaya is nothing but worship of the God”, he added. Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) President Shri Ashok Singhal expressed his concern saying that the benefits of Independence have not reached the villages whereas 60 percent of national resources should have reached there.

REPORT OF THE ALL INDIA CHRISTIAN COUNCIL FACT FINDING TEAM ON INCIDENTS IN BATALA AND OTHER AREAS OF PUNJAB

18-21 FEBRUARY 2010

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ISSUED ON MARCH 2, 2010

Attempted Murders

The Punjab police are hiding the fact that Sangh Parivar-led hoodlums in Batala, Punjab tried to burn five Christians alive. The Christians were from two families who live in the Church of North India’s historic Church of the Epiphany compound built in 1865. Batala is a small business town in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district. On February 20^th, the CNI church was set on fire and all its furniture burnt. Attempts were made to destroy a nearby Salvation Army church, raised in 1958, where the pastor was seriously injured. “We pleaded with the police to help, but they did not,” said the Pastor, Maj. Gurnam Singh.

Even as the larger group of attackers focused on burning the CNI church, a group of men armed with sticks and rods, and came to the CNI Deacon’s house. The deacon, Victor Gill, and his wife Parveen, hid themselves under the bed. The assailants damaged the doors, tried to enter the room forcibly, and told the couple they would be burnt alive if they did not come out. Meanwhile, at a second CNI house, the group overturned a scooter, took out the petrol, and doused teacher Christopher Morris and his daughter Daisy with the fuel while the mother, Usha, cringed in their home. They tried to set the two on fire, but the matchbox had also been soaked in the petrol and despite three attempts to strike a match, the matchsticks would not ignite saving the family from being burnt alive. The police were watching. The fire brigade came later but was blocked by a mob for quite some time.

Police Bias

No police report has been filed on the attempted murders even as the top police and administrative officers enforced a one sided “peace accord” on the local Christian leadership. Christians were instructed not to press for charges immediately so that a number of Christian youth who were arrested – together with a few Hindu men – could be released. The strategy of the assailants was eerily reminiscent of what was practiced and perfected against churches in Orissa in 2008. Police forcibly cleaned up the Church of the Epiphany. They removed burnt furniture and made the presbyter whitewash the walls to remove traces of fuel oil used in the blaze. This was done before a formal enquiry could be conducted by the government.

Background on Violence

The Christians, all of them of Dalit origin, were trying to enforce a closure or "bandh" in Batala markets to protest a blasphemous picture of Jesus Christ holding a can of beer in one hand a lit cigarette in another which appeared on roadside banners to celebrate the Hindu "Ram Nauvmi" festival. The banners were sponsored by a coalition of local political, media and business leaders, together with the trading community which is almost entirely Hindu.

The Sangh Parivar reacted to the Christian protest by mobilising shopkeepers and youth in attacks that left many injured, two churches damaged, and clergy traumatised. We noted that local shopkeepers routinely enforce closures e.g. a bandh during the last week of February to protest the execution of two Sikhs by the Taliban in Pakistan.

Timeline

16-17 February -- people noticed Jesus Christ image on banners, newspapers, posters

18 February -- Jalandhar protests; two people arrested for printing posters

19 February -- road protests in various villages, violence in Majitha

20 February -- Batala churches burnt; widespread violence

21 February -- police firing on Christian protesters in Tibbar village and others places; many arrested, injured; peace accord reached in Batala

22 February -- curfew partially lifted

23 February -- curfew completely lifted

Police Reaction

The police force was outnumbered and looked on during the violence. Despite intelligence reports of the Christian anger and the Hindutva plans to counterattack, the sub-divisional magistrate of Batala, Mr. Rahul Chaba, PCS, said he could not enforce a quick curfew until late on 20 February 2010 because most of the police force were sent to the Pakistani border nearby where Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram inaugurated a defence outpost. By the time the police returned and a curfew was imposed, violence had already occurred. The curfew was relaxed on 22 February 2010.

Results of Violence and Political Reaction

On February 21^st, protest rallies were held across the western districts of Punjab and in Chandigarh against the desecration of the churches. There were reports of police who broke up protest meetings in villages with lathi charges and indiscriminate arrests. At present, there are no Christians or Hindus in police custody barring the printer and publisher of the banners.

On February 23^rd, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Prakash Singh Badal assured the aicc delegation’s head, Dr. John Dayal, aicc Secretary General and member, National Integration Council, that he viewed the matter seriously and has ordered officials to unravel the “entire conspiracy”. Dr. Dayal demanded a judicial enquiry into the incidents during the meeting.

Part of Larger Religious Discrimination in Punjab

At the last meeting of the National Integration Council in New Delhi on 13 October 2008 chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Dr. Dayal had personally briefed Mr. Badal on the tension brewing in the rural districts of western Punjab where tens of thousands of Christians, most of them of Dalit origin, live and are suffering from caste oppression and attacks on their freedom of religion. Church meetings are routinely denied permission, for example, and caste epithets are used against the Christians. The chief minister had promised to have the situation investigated and remedial action taken.

The recent incidents also exposed the utter lack of Christian representation among the Punjab government. Less than half a dozen Christian leaders, many of them related to each other, hold positions in the Akali Dal, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Indian National Congress. They have little connection with the masses living in villages, slums and poorly constructed ghettos outside some villages. Most live in shadow of mansions owned by local Jat Sikhs with relatives living abroad or the trading classes. Class and caste barriers are clearly evident. In some villages, we were shocked to find Dalit Christian working under bonded labour conditions with family in brick kilns, and many employed in the fields during the sowing or harvesting season where they compete with cheaper labour from Bihar. The exception is Christians who have risen to high positions in academics, the military, and the Church, with one becoming a CNI bishop some years ago.

Punjab’s Christian population is around 300,000, about 1.2% of the state population, mostly concentrated in Amritsar and villages in west Punjab. The government is Akali-BJP coalition elected in February 2007.

Fact Finding Team Composition

The fact finding team included: Dr. John Dayal; Rev. Madhu Chandra, aicc Regional Secretary, Delhi; M. Adeeb, Human Rights Law Network lawyer; and Mr. Marang Hansda, aicc assistant. They visited Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar, and Gurdaspur districts, including villages deep in the rural hinterland from 22 to 25 February 2010, and Chandigarh.

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A Salute to the Worthy

The priests of Kandhamal

Kandhamal is deadly beautiful. A tropical forest, but with close mountains and deep valleys, and a climate that can get alpine in winter, without the snow. The topography of this plateau in the middle of the Indian province of Orissa may have saved the lives of tens of thousands of Christians who fled to the forests as mobs with murder, arson and rape on their minds, attacked 300 villages on 25 August 2008. At the peak of the violence, 54,000 men, women and children were hiding in these forests of tall Sal trees, where bear and big cats still abound, and wild elephants can be heard in the dark of the night. Among those 54,000 were the families of perhaps three dozen Catholic priests and twice as many Nuns, and two dozen priests themselves, hiding and waiting for the moment the police would come to restore order. For some of them, it came too late. A hundred people may have died there, among them three protestant Pastors and a Catholic priest, Fr Bernard Digal, who was grievously wounded and succumbed some time later. A nun, Sister M, as I will call her, was among at least three women raped.

The brutal tragedy however also shed light on how close are the bond that the local priests have with their flocks. Unlike in many other parts of India where he parish priest may have come from as far as three thousand kilometres, be of a different ethnicity and with a different mother tongue, priests and nuns in Kandhamal are of the soil. The villages that were torched were where they were born, the churches destroyed were the priest too had been baptised, and where they celebrated their First Mass.

There is therefore something remarkable about the Priests and Nuns of Kandhamal, be they Dalits or the Tribals. Some of them, such as Fathers Vijay Naik and Vijay Pradhan, the first a Dalit and the second a Tribal, have doctorates from Roman universities. Many others chose to study social work, and were active at the grassroots. They helped galvanise a people who for centuries had suffered from a situation close to serfdom in which food was rare and education unknown, where women were vulnerable and children could bare hope to grow to adulthood. No wonder the work of the priest sand nuns had angered vested interests, the local equivalent of big business, and the power brokers. When the violence broke out, the families of the priests were particular targets. The brother of Fr Mrityunjay, the secretary of the Archbishop of the region, was forcibly converted into Hinduism by a murderous gang shaving off his head and forcing cow dung and urine down his throat. The youth suffered in silence, but was back in the church in the refugee tent as soon as it was humanly possible.

As elsewhere in the world, the clergy and women religious in India too face occasional charges of financial wrongdoings, but those in Kandhamal can easily be said to be crystal clean. The family of father Bernard Digal, who was Treasurer of the Archdiocese and became its first martyr in the violence, lived in a mud and thatchl hut when I visited them some years ago. After the violence, they were among thousands living in a government refigure camp. They still have to return to their village.

I salute the priests and Nuns of Kandhamal.

Daliot Christians on Protest Fast

MEMORANDUM SUBMITTED TO THE CHIEF MINISTER OF TAMIL NADU AT THE PROTEST FAST AND DHARNA IN CHENNAI ON 13^TH FEBRUARY 2010 TO PRESS FOR IMPLIMENTATION OF JUSTICE MISRA COMMISSION REPORT FOR FULL RIGHTS TO DALIT CHRISTIANS

Chennai, 13 February 2010

The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

With the request to impress our demands on the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India

Respected Chief Minister

Greetings

Christians leaders and members of the Civil Society, led by The Most Reverend Dr. M Chinappa, Archbishop of Madras Mylapore and President of the Tamilnadu Catholic Bishops Conference, Dr john Dayal, Member, National Integration Council and Secretary General, All India Christian Council, Advocate M Arockiadoss, President NUDCIA and Past Treasurer, All India catholic Union, and others have sat on a day long Protest Fast and Dharna at Chennai to demand that the State government and the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party use its political goodwill with the United Progressive Alliance Union government to help in the immediate implementation of the Justice Misra Commission report for full human rights to Dalit Christians.

The Hunger strike and Dharna was jointly organised by the All India Catholic Union, Tamil Nadu unit, and the National Union of Dalit Christian India. Similar agitations are to be organised in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and New Delhi in coming weeks.

Immediate action by the State and Union government will also defeat the conspiracy by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Hindutva forces to disturb national peace on this issue, speakers at the Dharna noted. We denounce the communal designs of the Sangh Parivar and call on all democratic and secular forces to preserve the secular identity of India by restoring Dalit Christian and Dalit Muslim rights which were taken away by the then government at the behest of powerful communal elements. It is now time to exercise political will and restore these rights which include not merely reservations in government employment and educational systems but such fundamental political rights as participation in the Panchayati raj elections from which they are debarred in their home villages.

We recall the long history of our injury, and the painful journey we have made of protest. Christians and Muslims of Dalit Origin have agitated now for 60 years, urging the Government not to discriminate on grounds of religion, but to once again restore the political, economic and development privileges accorded all Dalits by the Constitution of India when it was signed into law on 26^th January 1950. These rights were taken away brutally by the Presidential Order of 1950 which strengthened the right wing fundamentalist religious lobby and which continues to constitute a slur on the Secular foundations of the Indian Nation.

We have repeatedly seen the Central government go back on its promises though most political parties and many state governments including that of Tamilnadu have supported our cause. The government must understand the limits to our patience. Government must understand that in a democracy, the rights of the smallest and weakest minority must also be protected.

The Government some years ago referred this issue to the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities headed by Justice Rangnath Misra. The Commission report has since be presented in Parliament, recommending, inter alia, that Christians and Muslims of Dalit origin be given all benefits now accorded to Scheduled Castes professing the Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist faiths.

We, the Dalit Christians together with our brothers and sisters in the Muslim faith, do once again demand the following:

1. The Government inform the Supreme Court of its decision on the report, and
2. The Government through Legislative action in the Budget Session of Parliament or by a Presidential Ordinance entirely scrap the notorious Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 and restore our rights to the full.

Thank you

The Memorandum is signed by the following:

1. Archbishop of Madras Mylapore and President, Tamil Nadu Bishops Conference

2. Dr John Dayal, Member, National Integration Council, Government of India

3. Adv Edward Arokio Doss, President, NUDCI,

4. Lawrance, State President, All India Catholic Union, Tamil Nadu

5. F A Nathan, President, Chennai Catholic Assn.

6. M Selvam, Secretary, CA, Chennai

And

Christians call for Reconciliation, Justice and Peace in Kandhamal

PRESS STATEMENT

Saturday, 6th February 2009

Archbishop Cheenath’s call for full reconciliation in Kandhamal through justice; deep concern at slow pace of reconstruction and rehabilitation; Cynical authorities diverting issues from restoring human dignity of the 2008 anti- Christian violence survivors

[The following is the statement of His Grace Raphael Cheenath, SVD Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar at a Press Conference today on the current situation in Kandhamal, Orissa and issues of rehabilitation and reconciliation and justice in the District. The press conference was also addressed by Dr John Dayal, Member, National Integration Council, and Secretary General, All India Christian Council.]

Archbishop Raphael Cheenath, the senior Church leader of Orissa, said today that despite the claims of the state and district administrations, the human dignity, rights and life of the Christian victims of the 2008 violence remained far from normal. Fifteen months after they were uprooted, thousand still live in makeshift shanties along the road, and in the forests, with no seeming hope of rehabilitation, and harassed daily by Block and panchayat officials and the police. Hundreds of babies have been born in these conditions. “We want full reconciliation and lasting peace in Kandhamal which will be possible when justice is transparent, lives are rebuilt and people return to their own villages without fear. We do not want any ghettoisation in the district.”

He faulted the attitude of the authorities on three major issues – the criminal justice dispensation system in the Fast Track courts which was being subverted by terrorising of witnesses and shoddy investigations, the utter inadequacy of government assistance in rebuilding houses, and the absence of genuine employment, livelihood and education schemes. It may be recalled the present District collector was very much on duty and present at the spot with the Deputy Inspector General and other top police officers when the violence started, and the mob attacked the Phulbani Church in the District headquarters.

The Church, which had received no assistance at all in rebuilding its own places of worship social development institutions, had extended great help, but the task was far too big for non government organisations. “It needs political will to implement special schemes by the government. We are willing to help to the best of our ability and resources,” he assured the government. But, he said, he would have no hesitation in again approaching the Orissa High Court at Cuttack and the Supreme Court of India in New Delhi if the misery of the people was not ameliorated. They cannot be allowed to live through another summer and other monsoons without a shelter over their heads. The victims need sympathy but administration is raising all sorts of rules and regulations in the matter of relief and rehabilitation. Various human rights groups have warned of trafficking in young girls of the district.

Initially,10 to 11,000 families were displaced from their homes by the violence. An estimated 1,200 families have migrated from the immediate area, many of them to Bhubaneswar or to other states in India . Over 6,000 refugees are living in the Saliasahi slums of Bhubaneswar, the State capital, and tens of thousands are working as labour in Andhra and other states, some as far away as Kerala and Punjab. 200-300 families continue to reside in private displacement camps in the district. At least 4,400 families continue to live in tents, makeshift shelters or the remnants of their damaged houses. The remainder of families have returned either to their villages or near their villages. The number who have received financial assistance from the government or the church or NGOs is not known for certain, but is believed to be 1,100.

The Dalit Christians remain the worst sufferers and have been denied employment, land and other entitlements. The state government’s schemes announced by the Chief minister must embrace all communities. This is so even in the employment of Special Police Offices, SPOs,” he said. The District Collector has no hope to offer to the Dalits.

In the violence between 25the August and December 2008, as many as 5347 houses were looted and destroyed by fire, many women and girls were raped, and more than 75 people were murdered in the name of religion and ethnicity. Large-scale displacement and migrations followed with over 54,000 people becoming refugees in their own motherland. The administration arbitrarily fixed Rs 50,000 for fully destroyed houses, even though the reconstruction cost of even a simple house was from Rs 85,000 upwards. Similarly the administration arbitrarily designated fully destroyed houses as partial-damaged category with much lower relief. Most houses are indeed fully damaged and we want the administration to give full compensation.

The Church is helping towards minimum support of as many as 2,500 houses, but even after this, 3,000 families remain homeless. So far the Catholic Church has helped 181 fully damaged houses and 546 partly damaged houses. Building materials have been distributed over to 752 families and the work in progress in Raikia and Nuagam Blocks only. Even though we do not have exact statistics regarding the victims who have returned to their villages and settled down, a rough guess would be that, about one third of 54,000 Christians displaced due to violence, have returned to their villages, despite the claim of the administration. Some of them just do not want to go aback for fear as they are being threatened to become Hindus if they want to come back home. Many affected households are yet to be enlisted in the government list for compensation depriving them all the support and rehabilitation. There is gross malpractice due to corrupt and indifference attitude of the local officials.

Justice is critical to long term peace. The two Fast Track Courts, and the Court premises, have seen a travesty of justice. Witnesses are being coerced, threatened, cajoled and sought to be bribed by murderers and arsonists facing trial. The court premises are full of top activists of fundamentalist organizations. The witnesses are also threatened in their homes with elimination, and even their distant relatives are being coerced specially in the murder and arson cases against Legislative Assembly Member Manoj Pradhan. Though some witnesses have deposed strongly on his involvement in the crimes, he has been let off in case after case.

We are demanding a Special Investigation team to investigate every case of murder and arson. Similarly, there is also need for transferring the cases against politically powerful persons such as Manoj Pradhan, MLA, to outside Kandhamal, preferably to Cuttack or Bhubaneswar.

We are deeply concerned the high rate of acquittals in the fast Track courts. The victims filed 3,232 Complaints in the police stations of Kandhamal. Of these, the police registered cases in only 832 instances. As many as 341 cases were in G Udaigiri alone, 98 in Tikabali and 90 in Raikia, followed by the others. Even out of this small number, only 123 cases were transferred to the two Fast Track Courts. So far 71 cases have been tried in the two courts, and 63 cases have been disposed off. Of these, conviction is only in 25 cases, and even that is partial as most of the accused have not been arrested or brought to trial. Only 89 persons have been convicted so far while as many as 251 have been acquitted and set free for want to witnesses against them. Among them is Manoj Pradhan. It is strange that in the case of ten deaths by murder, nine cases have been closed without anybody being convicted while there has been partial conviction in the case of one death. Who will bring justice in the case of the nine murder cases?

We demand that independent lawyers be associated with the Special Public Prosecutors who are overworked. The witnesses and the victims need full legal help so that the cases can be pursued with vigour and justice is available.

Compensation, Employment and Land issues: The compensation package declared by the State Government is very meagre, which is not sufficient for the house construction or any other purpose. This is a national calamity and demands a special package for the affected people which should include land, income generation, education and health care, etc., so that the poor innocent families who have lost everything can be rehabilitated properly. The government and the administration are giving all sorts of excuses to displace people from land they have lived on and farmed for generations. There should be proper settlement of land in the district, including lands to landless.

The Government should publish a “white paper” on the land issue.

Above all, the Government must maintain a position of neutrality and transparency. The block officers have been playing with the facts, indulging in corrupt practices and cosmetic exercises whenever political and other dignitaries come to visit or inspect. Innocent people are coerced into giving a false picture. The Chief minster must investigate the role and functioning of the entire District administration, including the Collector, the block and tehsil officers and others connected with the operations. It is strange that officers in whose presence the violence took place and thousands of houses were burnt are still in office and are declaring that there is peace in the district.

For further information please contact Fr. Mrutyunjay – 09437644796, John Dayal 09811021072

RSS penetrates education some more

Mail Today

RSS hopes to woo youth with 1 lakh teaching jobs

Piyush Srivastava

Lucknow, January 27, 2010

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is pushing its weight behind the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to attract the youth to its fold.

The RSS has discovered a new way to deal with the problem of the youth's lack of interest in its activities - woo them with employment opportunities.

The RSS will open more than one lakh schools, called the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashrams, in the hinterlands of the country where only young people will be employed as teachers.

The Sangh has failed in all its recent endeavours to widen its mass base and couldn't provide any support to the BJP, ostensibly a political wing of the parivar. So now, youth who have a leaning towards right wing ideology will be employed in these schools.

The Sangh will also help them look for other career prospects.

Ram Madhav, a senior RSS functionary who was in Ayodhya to attend a programme of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad - the youth wing of the BJP - confirmed they had been focusing on the youth.

"The RSS is running 70,000 single-teacher schools in the tribal areas of the country. Now there is a plan to open one lakh more schools for which we need energetic young teachers. These youth will also be given an opportunity to shape their careers elsewhere," he said.

Madhav said the youngsters had to decide whether they wanted to work for money or also contribute in nation-building.

For all these grand plans, the members of the Bharatiya Adhyapak Parishad (BAP), a bank of teachers affiliated to the RSS, are mostly overage.

The Sangh employs them in its Saraswati Shishu Mandir schools. But they have mostly remained ineffective in giving any political boost to the BJP. It is believed that the Sangh Parivar expects to 'catch' maximum politically vibrant youngsters in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa where the tribal population is fairly high