Christians submit charter with 12th Five Year Plan expectations

Leaders of the church community last week participated in a national consultation that evolved a Charter with a Christian perspective on the 12th Five Year Plan covering years 2012 to 2017.

Presided by the Archbishop of Delhi Vincent Concessao, the consultation hosted by the All India Christian Council, saw the participation of leaders from the CBCI, NCCI, CNI, EFI, as well as Evangelical and Pentecostal churches, NGOs, and lawyers from across India.

The keynote address was delivered by Vivek Mehrotra, Secretary of the Ministry of Minority Affairs. The chief guest, Wajahat Habibullah, chair of the National Commission of Minorities, also addressed the gathering.

In its Charter of demands, the Christian community urged the State to reassure minorities on the rule of law by curbing communalism and prosecuting hate crimes, and further implementing the Prime Minister's 15 Point Programme in full "letter and spirit".

Christians asked the Government to conduct a comprehensive survey of the social, economic, and development condition of the community in every state and union territory as was done by the Sachhar Committee in the case of Muslims.

The other enumerated concerns in the Charter included the need to ensure the proposed Caste-Religion-BPL survey correctly register the identity and situation of Dalit Christians; the protection of land rights of Dalit Christians; financial assistance to encourage educational institutions; setting up of a Christian Education Financial Corporation; formulate Special Income Generation and housing schemes for minorities in rural and tribal areas; and ensure appropriate representation of Christians in civil, military, administrative and judicial services.

In addition to it, the Christian community urged the Government to honestly implement Constitutional Provisions including freedom to Practice, Profess and Propagate Faith; to bring forth suitable legislation to end the "terrorizing of the community by the so called Freedom of Religion Act"; and provide legal and welfare protection to working women in the unorganized sector.

Adequate security of Christians also found mention in the Charter with demands being made for a revised bill aimed at preventing communal violence. "In many states, violence against house churches and religious personnel is a daily affair. Therefore a revised 'Communal Violence Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation and Reparations for Victims Bill' must be introduced in Parliament at the earliest," the document stated.

Further, it also underlined the need for a holistic vision of the tribal society and not "segmented or stratified" in terms of Christian Adivasis and non-Christian Sarna Adivasis. "Christian Adivasi problems are Adivasi problems in general as far as 'development' is concerned (education, health, mortality rate, human rights)."

The Charter has been presented to the Secretary, Ministry for Minority Affairs, and the Chairman, Working Group on Minorities for the 12th Five Year Plan. It was signed by Archbishop Vincent Concessao, Alwan Masih, General Secretary of the Church of North India Synod, Rev. Paothang Haokip, Vice Chairman of the All India Christian Council and John Dayal, Member of National Integration Council and Secretary General of All India Christian Council.