Thursday, February 28, 2013

YES, WE NEED TO FACE OUR DEMONS!



YES, WE NEED TO FACE OUR DEMONS!*


Dear Chetan,

Your article ‘Time To Face Our Demons’ in ‘The Times of India’ (February 25th, 2013) was indeed very interesting.  As always, you need to be congratulated for your brilliant simplicity in communicating a message. 

There are several good points in your article which the average reader will surely welcome; however, I cannot help but express my discomfort, in at least three areas, at the way you have skillfully nuanced your piece. 

  • the selective use of words
In the opening para itself, you write about ‘the Godhra train carnage’ and the subsequent riots’ ……there is something extremely misleading in this statement. Let’s accept that the burning of the train was a carnage, then to put things in perspective what followed were NOT riots but also a carnage, if not a genocide.

Later on you write ‘if Hindu groups target a few innocent Muslims in a few stray attacks…..’  I honestly fail to understand if Malegaon, the Samjautha Express, Ajmeri Sharief among others, were just ‘stray attacks? 

One certainly does not have to quibble about words, but when an author of your eminence writes a piece, the choice of words is important, as they are undoubtedly very carefully selected.

  • the theory, not to point fingers at some
It is a good theory to hold “all of us” responsible. But one has “to attach villains to the incident”, as this is an incontrovertible fact, even if you don’t agree with it.

Someone is responsible for the killing, the loot, the rapes; someone who presides over it or gives the order that it should happen or perhaps someone who can stop it, but does nothing. 

We know that all over and particularly in India, mobs are manipulated. Someone calls the shots, be it in the carnage of the Sikhs in 1984 or in the Gujarat carnage of 2002.  In the latter we know, nothing happened in Gujarat or anywhere else in the country for full twenty four hours after the burning of the train; besides, when the violence took place, it happened only in Gujarat.  We certainly need to ask why and who was responsible?

  • the fact that ‘wounds need to be healed’
I certainly agree with you when you categorically write that “wounds need to be healed”.  But wounds can be healed when the person who is hurt forgives the one who caused the hurt.  I am a Catholic priest and one of the important Sacraments we have in the Church is the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  We believe that our God is a forgiving one, whose love transcends every narrow confine; but we also believe that forgiveness is always a consequence of realisation of the sin and of deep remorse.  We have the famous parable by Jesus called the ‘Prodigal Son’, wherein the wayward son realises that what he has done was totally wrong and unacceptable and in true contrition, he says to himself, ‘I will arise and go to my father and tell him that I have sinned against Heaven and against thee’.

Forgiveness results in healing, but then one does not forgive in a vacuum. Only when those responsible for a wrong have realised the enormity of their acts and are willing to show remorse, can one actually forgive them!

Some years ago, Australia set the world a classic example when it instituted a ‘National Sorry Day’ (May 26th) to remember and commemorate the crimes that the white Australians had committed on the aborigine population over several years. In 2008, the then Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd moved a motion of apology to Australia’s indigenous peoples in Parliament and apologized for the past laws, policies and practices that literally devastated the aboriginal people.

Having said this, you rightly acknowledge that for you “this has to be the most difficult piece to write.”  There is no doubt about that.  It is always difficult to write about another’s pain and trauma. Yes, wounds need to be healed but wounds are only healed when those who are wounded can truly experience caring, acceptance, a sense of justice and are able to live without fear.

Until this takes place, we will continue to allow the demons to haunt us!

Terror knows no religion. We all agree on that but there are certainly some who take their diktats in the name of their religion. And civil society needs to act on this and put a stop to it. Every act of terror (including the recent Hyderabad blasts), is totally unacceptable. None of us should hold a brief for anyone (however powerful the person may seemingly be) who commits or encourages such acts.

We surely need to transcend the narrow confines of the religious, ethnic and caste divide. As a people, we do have a long way to go. To ‘put the nation first’, would mean guaranteeing to every single citizen the non-negotiables of TruthJustice and Inclusiveness.  Only if we put our hearts and minds to ensure this for all, will we have arrived at the time to squarely face our demons.

Satyameva Jayate!

                
                 - Cedric Prakash



27th February, 2013
* (A Response to an Article by CHETAN BHAGAT in The Times of India of Feb 25th 2013)

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

FORGOTTEN CITIZENS OF 2002




February 27, 2013
     FORGOTTEN CITIZENS OF 2002

 Victim Survivors of 2002 who are also IDPs (internally displaced persons) continue to languish in sub-human conditions eleven years after the state sponsored massacre which saw the brutal killings of over 2,000 members of the minority community and rendered thousands homeless.

A year long protest programme to demand dignified rehabilitation from the Gujarat government will be launched from Citizen’s Nagar, Bombay Hotel area from Thursday, February 28 2013, the eleventh anniversary of the pogrom. A detailed memorandum highlighting the many demands of the residents of Citizens Nagar, Faisal Park and Ekta Nagar will be released and submitted to the Gujarat government thereafter. Until these demands are met the protest will continue and extend to other rehabilitation colonies and IDPs living all over Gujarat.The memorandum will be accompanied by a detailed survey of 180 homes from these localities.

 The Gujarat government has shown scant respect to the Millennium Development Goals for Gujratis in general and particularly for the Victim Survivors of 2002. The CJP will assist IDP communities all over Gujarat throughout the state to ensure regularization of their lands and homes, the provision of safe drinking water and sanitation facilities, access to primary health and education.

You are invited to participate in the Remembrance Prayers tomorrow as also the launch for this campaign of the Forgotten Citizens of Gujarat for Justice and Dignity.

We request the media to cover the launch this unique people’s campaign

Venue: Citizen’s Nagar, Bombay Hotel area, Danilimda
Time:    3 – 5 p.m.
Date:     February 28, 2013       

Fr Cedric Prakash                                Teesta Setalvad


____________________________________________________________________________
           Nirant, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, Mumbai – 400 049. Ph: 2660 2288 email: cjpindia@gmail.com,



--
Teesta Setalvad
'Nirant', Juhu Tara Road,
Juhu, Mumbai - 400 049
http://teestasetalvad.blogspot.com/
www.cjponline.org
www.gujarat-riots.com
www.sabrang.com

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Mirage of development..... LYLA BAVADAM



Frontline
08MAR2013
GUJARAT
Mirage of development
LYLA BAVADAM
Social development indicators in Gujarat are poor, proving that development in the State is lopsided.
On a hot day last November near Rajkot, Ramjibhai Patel, an octogenarian farmer, pointed to the middle distance and said, “See that lake?” There was indeed a shimmer in the dry landscape indicating water, but after a relatively poor monsoon, it seemed improbable. Chuckling, he said, “Yes, I see doubt on your face and you are correct. It is a mirage!” With this he launched into a diatribe against the government on issues that ranged from the non-availability of water and the high cost of farming to the skyrocketing prices of basic commodities and the cost of higher education of his grandchildren. “Life is a struggle for us. Whatever we have achieved, it is by our own sweat. Promises of the government for ordinary people like us are a mrugjal [mirage].”
The story of growth in Gujarat mirrors Ramjibhai’s mrugjal. Social development indicators in this State of over 60 million people tell a story completely different from the one of success, prosperity and economic development that Chief Minister Narendra Modi would have everyone believe. The Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summits and Modi’s projection of himself as a vikas purush, a sort of development leader, are all part of the illusion that Modi builds around himself.
Despite the much-touted Vibrant Gujarat programmes, it is interesting to note that foreign direct investment is not the highest in Gujarat. Maharashtra leads this list while Gujarat is fifth. Vibrant Gujarat summits have not yielded as much as the State government would like others to believe. According to the government’s own “Socio-Economic Review, Gujarat State, 2011-12”, the promised investments in 2011 were over Rs.20 lakh crore, but only about Rs.29,813 crore was actually invested. In the same year, out of more than 8,300 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) signed, only about 250 became a reality. The importance given to the Vibrant Gujarat programmes is explained simply. The Gujarat model of development is focussed solely on economic growth via industrial development. For this blinkered approach to succeed, it is necessary for the government to look to private capital. A comparison of promised and actual investments in Vibrant Gujarat programmes since 2003 shows a consistent trend of investors promising more than they actually deliver.
Even though the growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the State has been significant over the past 15 years, Gujarat scores low in areas of nutrition, education, employment, wages, consumer price index, rural planning, health, the status of the environment and other indicators of the overall health of society. Indeed a look at official data gathered from the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), Census 2011 and others shows that the high economic growth rate in Gujarat has been at the expense of basic human development.
Employment growth stagnates
Paradoxically, employment has not kept pace with the spurt in economic growth. NSSO data show that growth in employment has dropped to almost zero in the past 12 years. Rural Gujarat has been particularly hit despite the fact that there has been an increase in growth in the rural sector. The explanation seems to lie with the policy changes in the sale and purchase of land. Small and medium farmers, who make up a large part of the agricultural community, are increasingly being tempted into selling their land. The lure of a large amount of money is often too much for cash-strapped farmers to resist, but the outcome of this is the sudden creation of a jobless section of people. Thus, rural residents are hit. The jobs that are created in rural areas through the construction of special economic zones (SEZ), small-scale industries and similar projects are usually unsuitable for local people.
Even though there is a slightly higher workforce participation rate in Gujarat, it is offset by the fact that it is poor-quality employment and the nature of the work is largely casual. Transport infrastructure accounts for a large number of work opportunities in the State, but since these are project based, the jobs are temporary. A high demand for casual labour combined with an increase in migrant labour from other States means that the job security of workers is low and the levels of exploitation are high. The average wages (for jobs other than those under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) are also very poor, putting Gujarat at a low 14th rank among the States.
The disparity in wages speaks of exploitation and an increasing use of contract workers. According to NSSO 2011 figures, the average daily wage a labourer in the informal sector in urban areas can expect in Gujarat is Rs.106 against Rs.218 in Kerala (which ranks first). In rural areas, Punjab ranks the highest at Rs.152 a day while Gujarat stands 12th at Rs.83. About 98 per cent of the women workers and about 89 per cent of the male workers in the State are engaged in informal work (against the corresponding national figures of 96 per cent and 90 per cent).
Health and nutrition
The workers’ low wages and poor purchasing power result in poor nutrition or malnutrition among them and their children. According to statistics from a report of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, “Children in India, 2012—A Statistical Appraisal”, between 40 and 50 per cent of children in Gujarat are underweight, which bursts one more myth in Gujarat’s story of growth. Other States in this low weight category are Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha. Human Development Report 2011 said around half of Gujarat’s children were malnourished.
Infant mortality, one of the basic indicators of the success of a government, is high in Gujarat, which ranks 11th countrywide in the rate of decline of infant mortality. According to “Children in India, 2012”, the infant mortality rate in Gujarat was still high, with 44 fatalities of infants per 1,000 live births. And with fewer health care facilities in rural areas, it is no surprise that the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, both of whom are kept at the bottom of the social ladder, have a higher mortality rate. In its 2012 State-wise report, the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said, “Almost every second child in Gujarat under the age of five years is undernourished and three out of four are anaemic. Infant and maternal mortality rates have reduced very slowly in the last decade…. One mother in three in Gujarat struggles with acute under-nutrition….” The issue of children’s health is further compounded by the continuance of child marriage. Gujarat ranks fourth in reported cases of child marriage.
Education spending low
Education also seems to be low on priority when it comes to government spending. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) election manifesto claims to have achieved 100 per cent enrolment in primary schools and reduced the overall dropout rate by 2 per cent. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) statistics show that Gujarat ranks 18th when it comes to success in keeping children in schools. The school life expectancy of children in Kerala (which ranks first) is 11.33 years, while that of children in Gujarat is 8.79 years. The State also ranks seventh among 15 major States in terms of literacy rates.
UNICEF said the quality of education needed to be improved, with less than half the students being able to read, write and understand mathematics at levels appropriate for their age. Rather than improving the existing government educational infrastructure and thereby making education accessible to all, the government is leaning more towards private educational institutions. This trend was apparent at the January 2013 Vibrant Gujarat summit, where Modi proposed setting up a global forum for forging partnerships between universities across the world.
A marginal decrease in rural poverty put to rest Modi’s election boast of being a development-oriented Chief Minister. On the whole his government has a poor record of poverty reduction measures. Statistics of the NSSO show that the percentage of reduction of poverty between 2004 and 2010 was the highest in Odisha at 20.2 per cent, and the lowest in Gujarat, at 8.6 per cent.
The Gujarat government’s inattentiveness towards poverty reduction is all the more apparent when it is compared with Odisha, whose GDP growth is lower than that of Gujarat. Much-publicised handouts in the form of various benefits (with names like Garib Kalyan mela) were quite common in Modi’s last term, but an active anti-poverty programme was missing.
Low employment, low wages and high prices—the formula is one of despair. Indeed, food, fuel, clothing and housing in rural and urban Gujarat are the eighth most expensive in the country. This means that even though the per capita income is higher than the national average, the per capita monthly expenditure in both rural and urban areas is low when compared with other States and the national average. While the percentage of the population below the poverty line in Gujarat seems better than in some States, Planning Commission data show that the percentage of poverty reduction in a seven-year period between 2004 and 2010 was not creditable. In a comparison of percentages of poverty reduction in seven States, Maharashtra fares the best, West Bengal the worst, and Gujarat is fifth.
Water and sanitation
According to Census 2011, 43 per cent of the rural households in Gujarat get water supply on their premises and 16.7 per cent get treated water from a common tap. In urban households, the corresponding percentages are 84 per cent and 69 per cent.
The data show that 67 per cent of rural households in the State have no access to toilets and members of more than 65 per cent of the households defecate in the open, very often polluting common water sources. Waste collection and disposal are matters practically unheard of.
The larger issue of the environment is also severely neglected. Despite the Modi government’s pride in the economic boom brought on by the industrial clusters of south Gujarat, these are actually environmentally dead zones. The levels of air, land and water pollution are measured to arrive at what is called the Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI). Anything over 70 on this index is considered to have crossed critical levels, that is, the pollution exceeds the capacity of the environment to handle it and it becomes a dangerous health hazard. According to statistics from the Central Pollution Control Board, Ankleshwar and Vapi in Gujarat top the list of 88 severely polluted industrial areas in India. Ankleshwar has a CEPI rating of 88.50 while Vapi’s is 88.09. Of the 88 areas, eight are in Gujarat. Even Dhanbad in Jharkhand, with its intensive coal mining and a longer history of pollution than the Gujarat centres, ranks only 13th on the list.
In the race to be seen as a State where growth (read industrialisation) is on the fast lane, Gujarat has forgotten human development. A former member of the administration told Frontline: “Modi runs Gujarat like a shopkeeper. Profits and losses are measured only in economic and monetary terms. The larger picture of human development, and I include the environment in this, is completely ignored. Not neglected, mind you. It is wilfully ignored.”
When the BJP released its election manifesto on December 3 last year, the party billed the document as a sankalp patra, or a pledge to the people. In it, the Gujarat government applauded itself and the “all-round development” it had created in the State. The reality is that this development has been one-sided and socially exclusionary. The State government’s claims are nothing but a mirage.



-- 

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Tomorrow(Feb 14th 2013) ONE BILLION RISING!....JOIN IN!!!


            Dear Friends,

Tomorrow (Februarry 14th 2013) will indeed be a historic day for the world...as millions all over will come out in a totally apolitical event to say STOP to the violence against women! Do visit www.onebillionrising.org for complete details and updates!

Gujarat has witnessed terrible crimes against women!The horror tales of the Gujarat Carnage of 2002 will make any sensitive human being hang one's head in shame...Day-in-and-day -out we hear of all kinds of crimes and violence against women...

There are several programmes being organised ALL over the State tomorrow as part of OBR ..

We are partners in the Ahmedabad initiative  
        called AHMEDABAD RISING(www.ahmedabadrising.org).So if it is convenient,do join in
          (details below)....Or do join in any other event, wherever you are.... Or ORGANISE one yourself...

But DO NOT BE SILENTGet INVOLVED ..Let your VOICE BE HEARD...This is the LEAST we owe to the victims of violence and to the generations that will follow us.......

Do forward/share this with others too...Thanks

sincerely
Fr Cedric Prakash
Director
 PRASHANT  
-  A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace
 
Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India

Phone : +91  79   27455913,  66522333
Fax : +91  79  27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com
www.humanrightsindia.in

----- Original Message -----
From: Natarani
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2013 1:23 AM
Subject: AHMEDABAD RISING

Dear Fr. Cedric Prakash,
On the 14th of February 2013, people across the world, in 184 countries, are going to raise their voices by rising and dancing to say ENOUGH to violence against women. The project is called OBR – One Billion Rising. Recent events in India and the continuing rise and horrifying violence in crimes against women have shown us that all of us have to actively campaign against, and intervene to stop these crimes. We can no longer silently disapprove. We need to shout against it, guard against it., together.
 And now this opportunity has appeared in the form of OBR. We want 20,000 Ahmedabadis to dance the garba and ras together on February 14th, to songs specially created to highlight these issues, and to pledge together to fight and report any form of violence against women that they see or encounter, and that they will not indulge in it. Why garba and ras? This is Gujarat. This is a state that spends nine nights dancing. And the call is to dance against violence. So, what better than garba or ras? This is also a state which has many villages and communities without girls, a state where hundreds of young girls and girl children are abducted and never found, where women burn because of dowries, where rape and molestation is on the rapid rise.
 We all need to come together on this, put aside our differences and commercial interests, our competition and personal interest and join hands to raise a loud and clear voice.  We shall find a gathering place. We will ask artists to write and create the songs for us. And together we will dance – for all the girls not allowed to be born, for our sisters and mothers with acid on their faces, burns on their bodies, and bruises on their souls. It doesn’t matter if you can dance or not. This isn’t about skills. It is about heart and raising a voice against genocide.
 We invite you and all your colleagues to take part and join with us. All we need is two hours of yours on the 14th and a change of conscience. If you wish, we can come and explain this to all your colleagues. Or you can talk to all of them. We must have the numbers to raise our voices.
LET’S ALL JOIN HANDS ON THE 14TH OF FEBRUARY 2013 AT THE SPORTS GROUND OF GUJARAT VIDYAPITH BETWEEN 05.00 PM AND 07.00 PM
In anticipation,

Mallika Sarabhai
http://yfarer.smugmug.com/AhmedabadRising/yourise/i-V7ZN2L8/0/L/ahmedabad%20rising%20footer%20email%2004-L.jpg
+91 79 27550010






Tuesday, February 12, 2013

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI FOR LENT 2013


MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS
BENEDICT XVI
FOR LENT 2013


"Believing in charity calls forth charity"
“We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us” (1 Jn 4:16)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The celebration of Lent, in the context of the Year of Faith, offers us a valuable opportunity to meditate on the relationship between faith and charity: between believing in God – the God of Jesus Christ – and love, which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit and which guides us on the path of devotion to God and others.
1. Faith as a response to the love of God
In my first Encyclical, I offered some thoughts on the close relationship between the theological virtues of faith and charity. Setting out from Saint John’s fundamental assertion: “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us” (1 Jn 4:16), I observed that “being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction … Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn 4:10), love is now no longer a mere ‘command’; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us” (Deus Caritas Est, 1). Faith is this personal adherence – which involves all our faculties – to the revelation of God’s gratuitous and “passionate” love for us, fully revealed in Jesus Christ. The encounter with God who is Love engages not only the heart but also the intellect: “Acknowledgement of the living God is one path towards love, and the ‘yes’ of our will to his will unites our intellect, will and sentiments in the all-embracing act of love. But this process is always open-ended; love is never ‘finished’ and complete” (ibid., 17). Hence, for all Christians, and especially for “charity workers”, there is a need for faith, for “that encounter with God in Christ which awakens their love and opens their spirits to others. As a result, love of neighbour will no longer be for them a commandment imposed, so to speak, from without, but a consequence deriving from their faith, a faith which becomes active through love” (ibid., 31a). Christians are people who have been conquered by Christ’s love and accordingly, under the influence of that love – “Caritas Christi urget nos” (2 Cor 5:14) – they are profoundly open to loving their neighbour in concrete ways (cf. ibid., 33). This attitude arises primarily from the consciousness of being loved, forgiven, and even served by the Lord, who bends down to wash the feet of the Apostles and offers himself on the Cross to draw humanity into God’s love.
“Faith tells us that God has given his Son for our sakes and gives us the victorious certainty that it is really true: God is love! … Faith, which sees the love of God revealed in the pierced heart of Jesus on the Cross, gives rise to love. Love is the light – and in the end, the only light – that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage needed to keep living and working” (ibid., 39). All this helps us to understand that the principal distinguishing mark of Christians is precisely “love grounded in and shaped by faith” (ibid., 7).
2. Charity as life in faith
The entire Christian life is a response to God’s love. The first response is precisely faith as the acceptance, filled with wonder and gratitude, of the unprecedented divine initiative that precedes us and summons us. And the “yes” of faith marks the beginning of a radiant story of friendship with the Lord, which fills and gives full meaning to our whole life. But it is not enough for God that we simply accept his gratuitous love. Not only does he love us, but he wants to draw us to himself, to transform us in such a profound way as to bring us to say with Saint Paul: “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (cf. Gal 2:20).
When we make room for the love of God, then we become like him, sharing in his own charity. If we open ourselves to his love, we allow him to live in us and to bring us to love with him, in him and like him; only then does our faith become truly “active through love” (Gal 5:6); only then does he abide in us (cf. 1 Jn 4:12).
Faith is knowing the truth and adhering to it (cf. 1 Tim 2:4); charity is “walking” in the truth (cf. Eph4:15). Through faith we enter into friendship with the Lord, through charity this friendship is lived and cultivated (cf. Jn 15:14ff). Faith causes us to embrace the commandment of our Lord and Master; charity gives us the happiness of putting it into practice (cf. Jn 13:13-17). In faith we are begotten as children of God (cf. Jn 1:12ff); charity causes us to persevere concretely in our divine sonship, bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal 5:22). Faith enables us to recognize the gifts that the good and generous God has entrusted to us; charity makes them fruitful (cf. Mt 25:14-30).
3. The indissoluble interrelation of faith and charity
In light of the above, it is clear that we can never separate, let alone oppose, faith and charity. These two theological virtues are intimately linked, and it is misleading to posit a contrast or “dialectic” between them. On the one hand, it would be too one-sided to place a strong emphasis on the priority and decisiveness of faith and to undervalue and almost despise concrete works of charity, reducing them to a vague humanitarianism. On the other hand, though, it is equally unhelpful to overstate the primacy of charity and the activity it generates, as if works could take the place of faith. For a healthy spiritual life, it is necessary to avoid both fideism and moral activism.
The Christian life consists in continuously scaling the mountain to meet God and then coming back down, bearing the love and strength drawn from him, so as to serve our brothers and sisters with God’s own love. In sacred Scripture, we see how the zeal of the Apostles to proclaim the Gospel and awaken people’s faith is closely related to their charitable concern to be of service to the poor (cf. Acts 6:1-4). In the Church, contemplation and action, symbolized in some way by the Gospel figures of Mary and Martha, have to coexist and complement each other (cf. Lk 10:38-42). The relationship with God must always be the priority, and any true sharing of goods, in the spirit of the Gospel, must be rooted in faith (cf. General Audience, 25 April 2012). Sometimes we tend, in fact, to reduce the term “charity” to solidarity or simply humanitarian aid. It is important, however, to remember that the greatest work of charity is evangelization, which is the “ministry of the word”. There is no action more beneficial – and therefore more charitable – towards one’s neighbour than to break the bread of the word of God, to share with him the Good News of the Gospel, to introduce him to a relationship with God: evangelization is the highest and the most integral promotion of the human person. As the Servant of God Pope Paul VI wrote in the EncyclicalPopulorum Progressio, the proclamation of Christ is the first and principal contributor to development (cf. n. 16). It is the primordial truth of the love of God for us, lived and proclaimed, that opens our lives to receive this love and makes possible the integral development of humanity and of every man (cf. Caritas in Veritate, 8).
Essentially, everything proceeds from Love and tends towards Love. God’s gratuitous love is made known to us through the proclamation of the Gospel. If we welcome it with faith, we receive the first and indispensable contact with the Divine, capable of making us “fall in love with Love”, and then we dwell within this Love, we grow in it and we joyfully communicate it to others.
Concerning the relationship between faith and works of charity, there is a passage in the Letter to the Ephesians which provides perhaps the best account of the link between the two: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God; not because of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (2:8-10). It can be seen here that the entire redemptive initiative comes from God, from his grace, from his forgiveness received in faith; but this initiative, far from limiting our freedom and our responsibility, is actually what makes them authentic and directs them towards works of charity. These are not primarily the result of human effort, in which to take pride, but they are born of faith and they flow from the grace that God gives in abundance. Faith without works is like a tree without fruit: the two virtues imply one another. Lent invites us, through the traditional practices of the Christian life, to nourish our faith by careful and extended listening to the word of God and by receiving the sacraments, and at the same time to grow in charity and in love for God and neighbour, not least through the specific practices of fasting, penance and almsgiving.
4. Priority of faith, primacy of charity
Like any gift of God, faith and charity have their origin in the action of one and the same Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 13), the Spirit within us that cries out “Abba, Father” (Gal 4:6), and makes us say: “Jesus is Lord!” (1 Cor 12:3) and “Maranatha!” (1 Cor 16:22; Rev 22:20).
Faith, as gift and response, causes us to know the truth of Christ as Love incarnate and crucified, as full and perfect obedience to the Father’s will and infinite divine mercy towards neighbour; faith implants in hearts and minds the firm conviction that only this Love is able to conquer evil and death. Faith invites us to look towards the future with the virtue of hope, in the confident expectation that the victory of Christ’s love will come to its fullness. For its part, charity ushers us into the love of God manifested in Christ and joins us in a personal and existential way to the total and unconditional self-giving of Jesus to the Father and to his brothers and sisters. By filling our hearts with his love, the Holy Spirit makes us sharers in Jesus’ filial devotion to God and fraternal devotion to every man (cf. Rom 5:5).
The relationship between these two virtues resembles that between the two fundamental sacraments of the Church: Baptism and Eucharist. Baptism (sacramentum fidei) precedes the Eucharist (sacramentum caritatis), but is ordered to it, the Eucharist being the fullness of the Christian journey. In a similar way, faith precedes charity, but faith is genuine only if crowned by charity. Everything begins from the humble acceptance of faith (“knowing that one is loved by God”), but has to arrive at the truth of charity (“knowing how to love God and neighbour”), which remains for ever, as the fulfilment of all the virtues (cf. 1 Cor 13:13).
Dear brothers and sisters, in this season of Lent, as we prepare to celebrate the event of the Cross and Resurrection – in which the love of God redeemed the world and shone its light upon history – I express my wish that all of you may spend this precious time rekindling your faith in Jesus Christ, so as to enter with him into the dynamic of love for the Father and for every brother and sister that we encounter in our lives. For this intention, I raise my prayer to God, and I invoke the Lord’s blessing upon each individual and upon every community!
From the Vatican, 15 October 2012

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
top

Sunday, February 10, 2013

A perfect day for democracy by ARUNDHATI ROY


OPINION » LEAD

A perfect day for democracy

ARUNDHATI ROY
SHARE  ·   COMMENT (78)   ·   PRINT   ·   T+  
Arundhati Roy. File Photo: M. Vedhan
The HinduArundhati Roy. File Photo: M. Vedhan
Wasn’t it? Yesterday I mean. Spring announced itself in Delhi. The sun was out, and the Law took its Course. Just before breakfast, Afzal Guru, prime accused in the 2001 Parliament Attack was secretly hanged, and his body was interred in Tihar Jail. Was he buried next to Maqbool Butt? (The other Kashmiri who was hanged in Tihar in 1984. Kashmiris will mark that anniversary tomorrow.) Afzal’s wife and son were not informed. “The Authorities intimated the family through Speed Post and Registered Post,” the Home Secretary told the press, “the Director General of J&K Police has been told to check whether they got it or not.” No big deal, they’re only the family of a Kashmiri terrorist.
In a moment of rare unity the Nation, or at least its major political parties, the Congress, the BJP and the CPM came together as one (barring a few squabbles about ‘delay’ and ‘timing’) to celebrate the triumph of the Rule of Law. The Conscience of the Nation, which broadcasts live from TV studios these days, unleashed its collective intellect on us — the usual cocktail of papal passion and a delicate grip on facts. Even though the man was dead and gone, like cowards that hunt in packs, they seemed to need each other to keep their courage up. Perhaps because deep inside themselves they know that they all colluded to do something terribly wrong.
What are the facts?
On the 13th of December 2001 five armed men drove through the gates of the Parliament House in a white Ambassador fitted out with an Improvised Explosive Device. When they were challenged they jumped out of the car and opened fire. They killed eight security personnel and a gardener. In the gun battle that followed, all five attackers were killed. In one of the many versions of confessions he made in police custody, Afzal Guru identified the men as Mohammed, Rana, Raja, Hamza and Haider. That’s all we know about them even today. L.K. Advani, the then Home Minister, said they ‘looked like Pakistanis.’ (He should know what Pakistanis look like right? Being a Sindhi himself.) Based only on Afzal’s confession (which the Supreme Court subsequently set aside citing ‘lapses’ and ‘violations of procedural safeguards’) the Government of India recalled its Ambassador from Pakistan and mobilised half a million soldiers to the Pakistan border. There was talk of nuclear war. Foreign embassies issued Travel Advisories and evacuated their staff from Delhi. The standoff lasted for months and cost India thousands of crores.
On the 14th of December 2001 the Delhi Police Special Cell claimed it had cracked the case. On the 15th of December it arrested the ‘master mind’ Professor S.A.R Geelani in Delhi and Showkat Guru and Afzal Guru in a fruit market in Srinagar. Subsequently they arrested Afsan Guru, Showkat’s wife. The media enthusiastically disseminated the Special Cell’s version. These were some of the headlines: ‘DU Lecturer was Terror Plan Hub’, ‘Varsity Don Guided Fidayeen’, ‘Don Lectured on Terror in Free Time.’ Zee TV broadcast a ‘docudrama’ called December 13th , a recreation that claimed to be the ‘Truth Based on the Police Charge Sheet.’ (If the police version is the truth, then why have courts?) Then Prime Minister Vajpayee and L.K. Advani publicly appreciated the film. The Supreme Court refused to stay the screening saying that the media would not influence judges. The film was broadcast only a few days before the fast track court sentenced Afzal, Showkat and Geelani to death. Subsequently the High Court acquitted the ‘mastermind’, Professor S.A.R Geelani, and Afsan Guru. The Supreme Court upheld the acquittal. But in its 5th August 2005 judgment it gave Mohammed Afzal three life sentences and a double death sentence.
Contrary to the lies that have been put about by some senior journalists who would have known better, Afzal Guru was not one of “the terrorists who stormed Parliament House on December 13th 2001” nor was he among those who “opened fire on security personnel, apparently killing three of the six who died.” (That was the BJP Rajya Sabha MP, Chandan Mitra, in The Pioneer, October 7th 2006). Even the police charge sheet does not accuse him of that. The Supreme Court judgment says the evidence is circumstantial: “As is the case with most conspiracies, there is and could be no direct evidence amounting to criminal conspiracy.” But then it goes on to say: “The incident, which resulted in heavy casualties had shaken the entire nation, and the collective conscience of society will only be satisfied if capital punishment is awarded to the offender.”
Who crafted our collective conscience on the Parliament Attack case? Could it have been the facts we gleaned from the papers? The films we saw on TV?
There are those who will argue that the very fact that the courts acquitted S.A.R Geelani and convicted Afzal proves that the trial was free and fair. Was it?
The trial in the fast-track court began in May 2002. The world was still convulsed by post 9/11 frenzy. The US government was gloating prematurely over its ‘victory’ in Afghanistan. The Gujarat pogrom was ongoing. And in the Parliament Attack case, the Law was indeed taking its own course. At the most crucial stage of a criminal case, when evidence is presented, when witnesses are cross-examined, when the foundations of the argument are laid — in the High Court and the Supreme Court you can only argue points of law, you cannot introduce new evidence — Afzal Guru, locked in a high security solitary cell, had no lawyer. The court-appointed junior lawyer did not visit his client even once in jail, he did not summon any witnesses in Afzal’s defence and did not cross examine the prosecution witnesses. The judge expressed his inability to do anything about the situation.
Even still, from the word go, the case fell apart. A few examples out of many:
How did the police get to Afzal? They said that S.A.R Geelani led them to him. But the court records show that the message to arrest Afzal went out before they picked up Geelani. The High Court called this a ‘material contradiction’ but left it at that.
The two most incriminating pieces of evidence against Afzal were a cellphone and a laptop confiscated at the time of arrest. The Arrest Memos were signed by Bismillah, Geelani’s brother, in Delhi. The Seizure Memos were signed by two men of the J&K Police, one of them an old tormentor from Afzal’s past as a surrendered ‘militant’. The computer and cellphone were not sealed, as evidence is required to be. During the trial it emerged that the hard disc of the laptop had been accessed after the arrest. It only contained the fake home ministry passes and the fake identity cards that the terrorists used to access Parliament. And a Zee TV video clip of Parliament House. So according to the police, Afzal had deleted all the information except the most incriminating bits, and he was speeding off to hand it over to Ghazi Baba, who the charge sheet described as the Chief of Operations.
A witness for the prosecution, Kamal Kishore, identified Afzal and told the court he had sold him the crucial SIM card that connected all the accused in the case to each other on the 4th of December 2001. But the prosecution’s own call records showed that the SIM was actually operational from November 6th 2001.
It goes on and on, this pile up of lies and fabricated evidence. The courts note them, but for their pains the police get no more than a gentle rap on their knuckles. Nothing more.
Then there’s the back story. Like most surrendered militants Afzal was easy meat in Kashmir — a victim of torture, blackmail, extortion. In the larger scheme of things he was a nobody. Anyone who was really interested in solving the mystery of the Parliament Attack would have followed the dense trail of evidence that was on offer. No one did, thereby ensuring that the real authors of conspiracy will remain unidentified and uninvestigated.
But now that Afzal Guru has been hanged, I hope our collective conscience has been satisfied. Or is our cup of blood still only half full?

Tuesday, February 05, 2013

Father Pedro Arrupe (1903- 1991)

The following prayer is attributed to Father Pedro Arrupe (1903- 1991) from the Basque region of Spain who became the 28th Superior General of the Society of Jesus. I was first given this prayer on a card several years ago but have recently also come across it on Ignatian Spirituality.com
It may seem like an unusual one to publish as a Lenten prayer but Lent is meant to be about re-evaluating our life focus. Finding and falling in love with God really does change everything in a way that is totally transformative of our lives.
Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is,
than falling in love in a quite absolute final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination,
will affect everything.
It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekend,
what you read, who you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in love,
stay in love,
and it will decide everything.

Sunday, February 03, 2013

Join in AHMEDABAD RISING on February 14th 2013


From: Natarani
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2013 1:23 AM
Subject: AHMEDABAD RISING

Dear Fr. Cedric Prakash,
On the 14th of February 2013, people across the world, in 184 countries, are going to raise their voices by rising and dancing to say ENOUGH to violence against women. The project is called OBR – One Billion Rising. Recent events in India and the continuing rise and horrifying violence in crimes against women have shown us that all of us have to actively campaign against, and intervene to stop these crimes. We can no longer silently disapprove. We need to shout against it, guard against it., together.
 And now this opportunity has appeared in the form of OBR. We want 20,000 Ahmedabadis to dance the garba and ras together on February 14th, to songs specially created to highlight these issues, and to pledge together to fight and report any form of violence against women that they see or encounter, and that they will not indulge in it. Why garba and ras? This is Gujarat. This is a state that spends nine nights dancing. And the call is to dance against violence. So, what better than garba or ras? This is also a state which has many villages and communities without girls, a state where hundreds of young girls and girl children are abducted and never found, where women burn because of dowries, where rape and molestation is on the rapid rise.
 We all need to come together on this, put aside our differences and commercial interests, our competition and personal interest and join hands to raise a loud and clear voice.  We shall find a gathering place. We will ask artists to write and create the songs for us. And together we will dance – for all the girls not allowed to be born, for our sisters and mothers with acid on their faces, burns on their bodies, and bruises on their souls. It doesn’t matter if you can dance or not. This isn’t about skills. It is about heart and raising a voice against genocide.
 We invite you and all your colleagues to take part and join with us. All we need is two hours of yours on the 14th and a change of conscience. If you wish, we can come and explain this to all your colleagues. Or you can talk to all of them. We must have the numbers to raise our voices.
LET’S ALL JOIN HANDS ON THE 14TH OF FEBRUARY 2013 AT THE SPORTS GROUND OF GUJARAT VIDYAPITH BETWEEN 05.00 PM AND 07.00 PM
In anticipation,

Mallika Sarabhai
http://yfarer.smugmug.com/AhmedabadRising/yourise/i-V7ZN2L8/0/L/ahmedabad%20rising%20footer%20email%2004-L.jpg
+91 79 27550010



- - - - - - -     - - - - - - - -    - - - - - - -   - - - - -
PRASHANT   (A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace)
Street Address : Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India
Postal Address : P B 4050, Navrangpura PO, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat, India
 
Phone : 91  79   27455913,  66522333
Fax : 91  79  27489018
Email:
sjprashant@gmail.com     www.humanrightsindia.in

Friday, February 01, 2013

India: Backsliding on Human Rights Situation Worsens for Civil Society, Women, Accountability for Abuses





For Immediate Release
India: Backsliding on Human Rights
Situation Worsens for Civil Society, Women, Accountability for Abuses
(London, February 1, 2013) – India’s human rights situation took serious turns for the worse with respect to civil society protections, sexual violence against women, and the longstanding failure to hold public officials accountable for abuses, Human Rights Watch said today in the release of its World Report 2013. The government did make progress in some areas, including new legislation to protect children from sexual abuse and stronger support for international resolutions to protect human rights in other countries.
In its 665-page report, Human Rights Watch assessed progress on human rights during the past year in more than 90 countries, including an analysis of the aftermath of the Arab Spring.
Efforts to end serious abuses by India’s security forces will be hampered so long as a culture of impunity persists in the country, Human Rights Watch said. The government did not revoke the abusive Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which provides effective immunity to soldiers who commit serious rights violations. In 2013, legislation to prevent torture in custody and hold torturers accountable was once again not enacted. 
The government continued to use a colonial-era sedition law and other legislation to silence critics on a range of issues, Human Rights Watch said. These included its handling of the Maoist insurgency to protests against a nuclear power plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. There were new restrictions on internet freedom arising in part from concerns about the use of social media to organize protests. And the government continued to use the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act to restrict access to foreign funding for domestic organizations. 
“The Indian government still doesn’t recognize the serious harm caused by unaccountable security forces and immunity laws,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “While top officials frequently point to India’s vibrant and independent civil society as a sign of a thriving democracy, the government increasingly uses its draconian laws that can silence dissent.”
Abuses by both government and opposition forces occurred in India’s conflict areas, Human Rights Watch said. While the level of violence in Jammu and Kashmir has been on a decline for the last two years, several elected village council leaders resigned following threats and attacks from armed separatist militants who oppose any election in the disputed state. In Maoist insurgent areas, villagers remained at risk from both Maoist and state security forces. Violence persisted in the northeastern state of Manipur, while in Assam, violence between indigenous Bodo tribes and Muslim migrant settlers killed at least 97 people and displaced over 450,000. 
Violence against women continued unabated with increased reports of sexual assault. After the World Report 2013 went to press, massive protests sparked by the December 16 gang rape and subsequent death of a 23-year-old student in New Delhi roiled urban centers across India.

“Global revulsion over the Delhi gang rape should send a message to the Indian leadership to bring about long overdue reforms to criminalize the full range of sexual assault and to protect women’s dignity and rights,” said Ganguly. “Urgently needed are resources to enforce India’s laws and hold accountable officials who don’t discharge their duties in a sensitive way.”

Criminal justice in India took another step back in November when the government ended its eight-year unofficial moratorium on executions by hanging Pakistani national Ajmal Kasab, convicted for the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. Some political leaders have made renewed calls for the execution of others on death row, and urged the execution of rapists.
As a positive step, the parliament passed a new law to protect children from sexual abuse and the government sought to extend the ban on employment of children under 14 to many industries beyond hazardous jobs. The government also took significant action toward encouraging medical care centers, especially cancer centers, to offer palliative care to alleviate the suffering of millions of persons with incurable diseases from pain and other symptoms. 
For some victims and families of victims of the bloody 2002 Gujarat riots, justice came at last in the form of prosecutions of several suspects, resulting in more than 75 convictions in the last year. These included the conviction of Maya Kodnani, a former minister and a leader of Bajrang Dal, a militant Hindu organization.
Internationally, India supported several United Nations resolutions aimed at promoting human rights in other countries, most significantly Sri Lanka. Deviating from its past unwillingness to publicly criticize the Sri Lankan government for alleged war crimes and other abuses, India voted in favor of an important resolution at the UN Human Rights Council calling for post-war reconciliation and accountability. On Syria too, it voted in favor of UN Security Council resolutions concerning the escalating violence there. 
“The Indian government’s obligations to support and respect universal human rights should not stop at India’s borders,” said Ganguly. “India can and should improve the human rights situation at home while speaking out firmly on behalf of the oppressed abroad.”
To read Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2013 chapter on India, please visit:
www.hrw.org/world-report/2013/country-chapters/world-report-2013-india
For more Human Rights Watch reporting on India, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/asia/india

For more information, please contact:
In New Delhi, Jayshree Bajoria (Hindi, English): +91-8130-737-878 (mobile); orbajorij@hrw.org. Follow on Twitter @jayshreebajoria
In San Francisco, Brad Adams (English): +1-510-926-8443 (mobile); or adamsb@hrw.org.
In Mumbai, Meenakshi Ganguly (English, Hindi, Bengali): +91-98-20-036032 (mobile); or gangulm@hrw.org. Follow on Twitter @mg2411






-- 

PRASHANT  
-  A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace
 
Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India

Phone : +91  79   27455913,  66522333
Fax : +91  79  27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com
www.humanrightsindia.in