|
Rationale
The issue of uprooted people’s concern in India is essentially related with the country’s experiment with sovereignty and democracy in the last fifty and odd years. The legacy of colonialism and the trend of neo-colonialism have also played a significant role in what India today is. The growth and development of the country over the years is the dialectics of social, cultural, political, religious and environmental factors. Since independence India has experimented with varied economic planning- ranging from mixed economy to liberalization. However the ever-increasing number of the internally displaced people still stand out as a challenge to the vision of an egalitarian society based upon good governance.
The nature and dynamics of events leading to internal displacement has been varying from state to state depending upon the composition of the population and the related context of conflict. For instance, Gujarat and Kashmir have seen waves of religious intolerance in the post independence period. The manifestations have included Hindu-Muslim violence, retaliation attack by Muslims, Hindu Nationalist groups’ attack on Christian communities and so on. The context in north east India shows a different aspect. Once sparsely populated, in recent decades it has swelled with the arrival of millions of ethnic Bengali Hindus and Muslims from Bangladesh and from India’s West Bengal state. Population growth has led to competition for land, jobs; culminating in tensions among ethnic minority groups as well as between migrants and ethnic groups. These tensions gave rise to ethnic and politically based insurgencies that have battled the Indian Armed Forces, have attacked each other and turned on civilian populations belonging to rival ethnic groups. Thousands of people have been displaced due to this violence.
The plight of indigenous people vis-à-vis displacement in India is basically a matter of policy failure and unaddressed alienation in the name of national interest. Tribals/Indigenous people in India constitute approximately seven percent of the population. The major threat to their livelihood is because of large scale alienation of their lands by state machinery for mega projects such as mining, large dams, industries, highways, army firing ranges, military cantonments etc.
With the increasing privatization of resources mining has become a double edged sword-lucrative for the government but destructive for the marginalized people of the region. Most minerals like Bauxite, Uranium, Chromite and Coal are in tribal areas of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra. Uranium mining in Jharkhand and Meghalaya has not only led to the destruction of vegetation, water resource, fish etc. but has caused serious damage to the health of Tribals. Narmada Valley project is yet another case in point which raises many valid questions on social justice, common property resource management and conditional foreign aid.
These and many more un-highlighted cases bring out the issue of Internal Displacement as a major development concern in India. This concern in turn is related to certain vulnerable communities, whose life and existence are endangered.
In response to this imminent situation, the NCCI-Commission on Life organized a National Workshop on “Indian Churches’ Ministry for Internally Displaced People: with special reference to victims of religious conflict, internal war and development interventions”. This workshop is a joint endeavor of Christian Conference of Asia-
(Program Area on Justice, International Affairs, Development & Service) and NCCI-Commission on Life.
Overall Objectives of the workshop:
To challenge the churches in India to stand by the side of the uprooted people to protect their sovereignty, human dignity while pursuing their fullness of life and peace.
Specific Objectives:
8 Have a comprehensive data on the national situation with regard to Internal displacement in the context of religious conflict, internal war and the so called development intervention by the government
8 Have information about churches’ engagement in such concerns if there is any.
8 To prepare a resource map for addressing the issue
8 To facilitate networking between churches and other civil society groups in order to address the issue in appropriate forums
Future Prospects envisaged through the program
·Facilitate churches’ initiatives/ engagements with regard to Eco Just Peace Movement
·To develop a direction to the movement at the given context.
·To relate the identified issue to an integrated concern so that it becomes a strengthening factor for Life and Peace
Participants
Participants represented the NCCI member churches. They shared the experiences of their churches with regard to Internally Displaced People in their own context.They discussed the issue either in the context of religious conflict or internal war/ conflict or the so-called development interventions – as manifested in their own region.
Facilitators
Noted social activists facilitated the Program. They include Mr. Mohan Kotekar (NFFPFW), Mr. Rajan Singh (New Totladoh Sangarsh Samiti), Mr. Rajesh Jadhav, Mr. Sanjay Wankhede (VCLC), Mr. Irfan Engineer (Director, CSSS), and Mr. Moti Kaul (President, Panun Kashmir)
Bishop D. K. Sahu, General Secretary (NCCI) inaugurated the program. Rev. PBM Basaiawmoit, Chairperson (NCCI-COL), delivered the theme address.
Outcome
The Workshop decided on the following
- To sensitise the churches on the issue of internally displaced persons and to challenge them for mission in this direction.
- To document cases relating to displacement and disseminate such information to churches and agencies
- To network with agencies involved in this issue for mutual learning
- To lobby for policy change on issues of development, rehabilitation, etc.
Ms. Sagarika Chetty
Executive Secretary, NCCI-COL | 
