NO MORE KANDHAMAL
NCCI Commission on Unity, Mission and Evangelism
NO MORE KANDHAMAL
August 25, 2008 was an unforgettable day which marred the face of Indian Democracy with an ugly scar. This was the day, when a group of right wing fundamentalist people brutally attacked and tormented several hundred Dalits and Adivasis in Kandhamal (Odisha). This day should not have happened. It’s occurrence is against the spirit of the Indian Constitution drafted by Dr. B R Ambedkar and against the spirit of Unity and Harmony in India.
This pre-planned and organised ‘communal attack’ against minorities is among the biggest in the history of India, after the Gujarat Godhra attacks. Over 350 Churches were demolished and around 6500 houses of Dalits were looted , 90 innocent lives were taken, 40 women were sexually assaulted and over 56000 people were displaced.
Eight full years have gone by but no justice is established favouring the victims of this communal violence. Rather the culprits have been legally freed. Several cases of forced ‘ghar wapsi to hindusim’ have been initiated by the hindutva elements.
Therefore, the Commission on Unity, Mission and Evangelism of the National Council of Churches in India, appeals to all the member churches and organisations to organize events for one week around August 25, 2015 to mark the memory of Kandhamal.
We appeal to you to express solidarity with the struggle of the people of Kandhamal, in order to provide adequate pressure on the governmental institutions to provide justice for the victims and survivors.
Let us encourage all the local congregations to pray for the communal riot victims in Kandhamal and other such places.
Let us unite ourselves to pray for ‘NO MORE KANDHAMAL’.
With Prayers,
HG Rt. Rev. Dr. Isaac Mar Philoxenos
Chairperson
Rev. R. Christopher Rajkumar
Executive Secretary
August 12 is observed as International Youth day all over the world every year. Commission on Youth also has been observing International Youth Day through organizing various programmes through its constituent members who are around 14 million people. Among the 14 million, approximately 4 million are young people. Commission on Youth has been catering to these young people on International Youth day by enabling them to realize their skills and by acknowledging the contributions youth make to the Church and society.
Beck Began, Kolkata, August 10th 2015: Church leaders, priests and members of various churches such as Church of North India, Church of South India, Salvation Army, Mar Thoma, Presbyterian and Baptist observed a candle light vigil in front of the Bishop’s College in Kolkata as part of the observance of the ‘Black Day’ demanding equal rights of Dalit Christians. This protest was jointly organised by the Commission on Dalits of NCCI, Bishop’s College and various member churches of NCCI.
The member churches of the National Council of Churches in India celebrated Tribal and Adivasi Sunday across India on the 9th of August (on the United Nations Indigenous Peoples’ Day) with the theme, “Tribals and Adivasis: Custodians of God- given Land and its Eco- systems”.
NCCI – Commission on Unity, Mission and Evangelism on the request from Indian Missions Association (IMA) organized 3 days ‘Legal Literacy and Training Programme for the Mission Leaders and Mission Workers. There were 35 Mission Leaders and Mission Staff including 3 women from 18 Mission Organization from all over India representing 7 language groups. It was a first time experience for the participants in working with NCCI.
The Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order 1950 was signed on 10th August 1950 by the then President of India which says that “No person who professes a religion other than Hinduism shall be deemed to be a member of the Scheduled Caste” which was later amended to include Sikhs (1956) and Buddhists (1990) in the Scheduled Caste net. This order is against the secular nature (Preamble of the Constitution) of the country, against Article 14(Equality before the law), article 15(Prohibition of discrimination of any citizen on ground of only religion), Article 25 (Freedom of Conscience and free to profess any religion), Article 26 (Equality before the law and equal protection of the law) and against the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which India is a party.
The National Council of Churches in India’s (NCCI) Indian Disability Ecumenical Accompaniment (IDEA) joined with the Engage Disability Network (EDN) and Christian Service Agency (CSA) to organize a consultation on ‘Towards Inclusive Society: From Disability Perspective” at NCCI Campus on 21st July 2015.
The Church of Finland and with help from promoters and partners from Church of Ireland and Church of England in Ecumenical Christian Centre, UTC, Bangalore from June 26-27, 2014.
A programme on Interfaith Dialogue on Child Labour and Child Rights was jointly organised by United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India (UELC) Conflict Transformation and Peace-building Programme and the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) Commission on Justice, Peace and Creation recently at the NCCI Campus, Nagpur, on the occasion of International Day against Child labour.