Reformation Sunday to be observed in CNI

Of the many important and historic decisions taken by the 78th Executive Committee of Church of North India Synod on 17th and 18th August 2006 at CNI Bhawan, New Delhi, the decision to observe the Reformation Sunday in all its congregations stands impressively high.

The Sunday to be observed on the last Sunday in October each year as that Sunday is the closest to October 31st when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the Church door in Wittenberg. That dramatic event marked the beginning of a movement of reformation in the Churches and set forth a spirit of reform that is at the heart of the Gospel.

As this year’s celebration is focusing on Accra Confession declared by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in Ghana 2004, the themes would depict issues of peace and justice reclaiming spirituality, a Theology of God’s Economy and Mission. To make it relevant to Indian contexts of issues and orientation the Synodical Board of Social Services of Church of North India has been given the responsibility to prepare the order of worship and resources for the congregations.

Enos to continue as General Secretary of CNI for another triennium

Leadership given extension is always leadership given recognition. The last three years have seen tremendous development in the whole movement of Church of North India Synod under the able and munificent leadership of Rev. Dr. Enos Das Pradhan, General Secretary of Church of North India Synod. Be it streamlining of departments and administration according to the mission statement of Church of North India or review of policy and plans, Enos has always been orthodox about his decisions.

Being a devoted Christian person he has already established himself as a committed church leader also. His ecumenical networking with the churches in India and overseas has famed him so greatly that now his leadership has become a model. During the last three years of service as General Secretary, he gave CNI Synod not only efficient leadership in terms of programmes and administration but exhibited a genre of collegiality and malleability in the larger interest of the church.

Definitely, a dynamic and skillful leader like Enos is parallel to none in CNI. Therefore, the Executive Committee of CNI Synod in its last meeting at CNI Bhawan, New Delhi on 17th August 2006 commended his works and came out strongly to extend his leadership for another term of three years for the office of the General Secretary. We request the recipient of this news to uphold Rev. Dr. Enos Das Pradhan in their prayers.

Indian Floods: Several CNI Dioceses Affected

It is said that “the best thing one can do when it rains is to just let it rain”. The week-long flooding triggered by annual monsoon rains has killed more than 460 people and left more than 4 million homeless across at least five Indian states of which Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan were the worst hit. The floods, caused by overflowing rivers and the sudden release of vast amounts of water from dams and reservoirs, have also hit agricultural land and petroleum, gas and power plants. Although water levels have receded significantly in many parts of the country where floods had swamped scores of villages and cities, people are still finding it difficult to return back to homes fearing spread of water-born diseases and lack of food stuffs.

The State Governments are working hard to reach the people with relief materials and rescuing the people who are still caught up in the water. Air force helicopters are dropping food packets and winching up people marooned on rooftops and trees, while navy divers rescued villagers and searched for more bodies. In the city of Surat in Gujarat, dead bodies were seen floating on water as the rain lashed the city continuously for five days. “My house is on the second floor, and I have not been able to get home for the past five days,” said I.K. Patel, a businessman in Surat. As water levels fell in Surat, after submerging around 80 percent of the city of 3 million, desperate residents battled to get medical assistance in hospitals after days of being cooped up in their homes. Situation is Rajasthan seems to be limping back to normalcy. Our Dioceses in these States are busy organizing relief camps and reaching the people with all available resources. Please uphold them in prayers.

Rains Create Havoc in Vidarbha

Consistent rains have created havoc in Vidarbha. Most of the areas under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Nagpur are merged in water. Last 24 hours rain has detiorated the situations in Vidarbha region. Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, Amravati, Buldhana, Yavatmal and Akola are nine districts that have been affected. In Chandrapur, there are 2,000 families caught in the high water level surrounding their houses, in Yavatmal about 75 villages are affected and nine people have died. In Amravati 50 villages of Dharni block are disconnected totally from the habitation. A couple has drawn in the flood. 16 villages are affected in Wardha; about four public transports were caught in flood. One passenger bus was drawn in the flood. In Akola about eight thousand people were shifted to relief camp. A three year old girl died due to wall collapse and 15 year old girl drawn in the floods and many villages are affected in the Washim district.

The above details five a brief about the situation as heavy rainfall continues and dam gates of various rivers have been opened all the rivers are flowing above dangerous mark. More than 200 people died so far and above 500 villages have been affected. The Nagpur Dioceses has formed a committee and appointed a Coordinator and Deputy Coordinator to oversee the Flood Relief and Rehabilitation work. Under the leadership of The Rt. Rev. Paul Dupare, Bishop, Nagpur Diocese, the Diocesan Institution Heads and all the Presbyters came together to find a solution and to work out a strategy to combat the flood situation in the Diocese. Please uphold Nagpur Diocesan members in your prayers and help them as you can.

Promoting Life: A Case Study from SBSS

Still in eon of democracy, Dalits-the SC and ST communities inhabit outskirts of the villages. Malwadi in Sangli district, Maharashtra is one of such villages where 150 dalit families reside in the outskirts dalit-basti, earning their meager daily wages working in the grape farms nearby. As this is seasonal, most of them migrate to towns and cities taking up any work for livelihood.

Since October 2000, the Kolhapur Diocesan Board of Social Service has been operational in this area’s reference community identifying it as an ideal place for Community Study Center (CSC) focusing specially on children. Ms Maya More, one of the residents, is working along with DBSS as an active facilitator. She faced quite an opposition from her community as well as from family too but she had lived through the hardships as a girl child of dalit family. Gradually she succeeded in winning hearts of the people with her work making them realize that whatever she’s doing will be for their best.

Attending staff meetings, watching others struggling against the inequities, sharing with people’s organization and participating in dharanas & morchas against oppression gave her new confidence to emerge as an activist. Her work during 2005 floods with DBSS, SBSS and CASA helped her to win the confidence and hearts as well of her community. They, especially women folks, accepted her as their leader realizing that at times of need, Maya would be always there for them.

Motivated with communal support and DBSS’s guidance she contested and won the Gram-Panchayat elections. Becoming more conscious of her responsibilities, she created awareness among dalit women to attend GramSabhas so to know their rights, entitlements, etc. She motivates young women to come up as leaders and deal with social injustice and issues like problem of girl child, improving standard of living, etc. Maya with the support of her community and DBSS, managed to do face-lift of the dalit-basti getting a corporation tap connection for water supply, , installed street lights, constructed latrines, sewage lines and helped the deserving families to get houses through government schemes.

Similar story is of Ms.Vijaya Aitwade, resident of Aitwade village from Sangli district. She has been identified as a potential candidate to be the CSC Facilitator. Kolhapur DBSS has been working here since October 2000 with SBSS.

Attending the staff meetings, taking part in struggles and thus getting involved actively with DBSS’ initiatives, Vijaya utilized CSC facility to organize women-folks. A self-help group was started which gradually grew into a women’s club. This gathering discussed the problems faced by the community and also the possible ways to deal with.

In one of such meeting the issue of BPL was brought up. After probing the matter they were surprised to learn that there were only 80 names and all these families belonged to the upper caste. About 1000 deserving families were nowhere to be found in the BPL list! In successive meetings, Vijaya with her fellow-folks and NGOs prepared a plan of action and came out with a charter of demands. This charter of demand was presented on 26th January 2006 at the Gram Sabha but the response they got was very downbeat.

But Vijaya and her team were not at all disheartened. They marched off to the tehsildar office, Islampur Taluka and set a hunger strike there. Finally, on the eighth day, tehsildar was moved and he accepted the charter of demand promising to take a step to investigate and mend the flaws in the list. He ordered a fresh survey to be conducted involving these villagers too in it.

Vijaya’s efforts were noticed by the Block Development Officer of Islampur and lauded her by entrusting with the responsibility of Family Counseling Center in one of the school premises at Islampur.

This recognition motivated Vijaya to dedicated herself for her village and community at her fullest and now she says that even if tomorrow I do not get salary from the DBSS or even if the project closes down I will keep on working for the upliftment of the dalit community as “These are my people and this is my Community”.

Maya and Vijaya are just couple of actors representing numerous other agents of social transformation, emerging as a unifying force in tackling social injustices making an impact on the lives of women. Women with such potential, with DBSS and SBSS’s intervention and guidance can surely give rise to a strong movement which is need of the hour.