Christian Bodies to launch 10–point action plan to empower Dalits and Tribal Christians

Trichy – A 10–point program has been formulated to empower the Dalit and tribal Christians and the Tamil Nadu Catholic Bishops’ Council (TNBC) and Tamil Nadu CRI are all set to launch it in Tamilnadu and Pondicherry.

The new action plan was unveiled at a function held at Trichy on October 16, 2004. It was presided by Archbishop Peter Fernando, Archbishop of Madurai and the president of the TNBC, and attended by Bishop A.M. Chinnappa, SDB, chairman of the CBCI & TNBC Commissions for SC/ST/BC, Bishop Peter Remigius of Kumbakonam, Bishop Antony Devotta of Trichy, Bishop Neethinathan of Chegalpattu, Bishop P. Antony of Dindigul, and Bishop Lawrence Dorairaj, Administrator of Madras–Mylapore. Heads of many religious Congregations, commission secretaries and a large number of laypersons attended the function.

Fr. A. Philomin Raj, Executive Secretary of the CBCI Commission for SC/ST/BC, who was the former Secretary of the TNBC Commission for SC/ST/BC, explained the 10–point program briefly to the audience.

“65–70 percent of the members of the Tamilnadu Catholic Church belong to Dalit and Tribal Communities. But their place and role in the Church leaves much to be desired,” he said. “They suffer the same socio–economic disabilities. This is aggravated by the denial of Constitutional and statutory benefits from the Government just because they follow the Christian faith. The Dalit Christians demanded from the Church leaders their recognition and development.”

“The 10–point program was drafted at Vellore in January 1990 during the TNBC meeting. The Programme was thought, at least in principle, to be a Charter, a Magna Carta for the empowerment of the Dalit Christians. It is the definitive recognition by the Tamil Nadu Church of the plight of the Dalit Christians,” explained Fr. Philomin Raj.

The 10–point program drafted in 1990 had covered almost all aspects of development and have the socio–economic, educational, religious and political aspects in it. The declaration aimed at eliminating discriminations in the places of worship and burial grounds, intake of more candidates to priesthood and religious life, participation in the decision making structures in the parish and diocese, more admissions in schools and professional and vocational courses like teacher training institutes, special coaching classes to weak students, preference in appointments in Church sponsored institutions and organizations, special projects for their development and that too with their involvement in planning, special scholarship fund, formation of SC/ST/BC Commission in each dioceses and active engagement in obtaining equal rights from the government. The last decade (1990–2000) was also declared the Dalit Decade by the Church.

However, as the decade drew to a close it was felt that things did not go as planned. The Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) evaluated the progress of the program and found that, though, there has been considerable improvement in the situation, yet, a lot more remained to be desired.

In response to MIDS study, the new action plan was formulated and it is believed to be a considerable improvement on the 10–point program of 1990. Instead of general recommendations, the new plan spells out specific indicators or improvement in areas such as, elimination of discriminations, education, employment, integrated socio–economic development, participation in the administrative and decision making structures, vocation to priesthood and religious life and obtaining equal rights from the government. Unlike the previous declaration, the new action plan specifies the persons and organizations accountable for carrying out the action plan. The plan also specifies time frame for the implementation of the specifics, monitoring and periodic evaluation of the implementation.

The credit for drafting this enterprising and bold program for the development of a people, for making an evaluation of the implementation of the programme and re–launching it with more consciousness and determination, goes to the Bishops and the Religious Congregations of Tamil Nadu.

Indeed, the new 10–point program can be considered to be the product of social engineering, for changing the mindset, for taking a fresh look at itself in the light of the Gospels and the social teachings of the Church.