SC Welfare Wing

These communities’ people are most backward that they would not have any resources or money to send their children to school so these scholarships were the life line for their education and many of these scholarships helped the dire poverty stricken conditions of the parents too. Due to this facility several received education and got themselves degrees and progressed. Then he also advocated for reservations in the government jobs for those from the scheduled castes. That helped a lot to get into jobs and become financially settled to care for themselves and for their families. Also reservations were granted in the political arena to ensure that the downtrodden communities get their share in ruling and making the laws in various States of India and at the Centre as per the reservations or quotas. 

Several have become the Members of Parliament at the centre and Members of the Legislative Assemblies in the State legislatures, utilizing these reservations granted for those communities. There is a good progress through this process though it has not fully completed the task of liberating them socially, economically, politically and so on. The irony of the caste feelings or caste divide is so deep that surveys proved that even in the higher ranking jobs the officers from the Scheduled Caste communities are looked down and ridiculed citing their birth in a so called lower caste. Currently, there are some vested interests that raised a bogey of demands that these reservations should be stopped now. They say that everything should be done on the basis of merit. But they try to underestimate the generations of suppression and systematic subjugation that these communities have gone through and suddenly glorify that concept of merit belittling reservations. They are fully mistaken in their understanding of historical commissions and omissions that are not simple to forget. It is far from truth that these Scheduled Castes have fully developed. They have not made it yet fully except some getting education, some getting jobs and a few that have entered into politics.  The centuries of oppression that these communities have suffered actually should make one demand for reparations for their great loss and systematic suppression. The verbal and physical abuse and violence committed on these communities for several hundreds of years for them just being from the lower castes is highly deplorable.

Looking at their spiritual side they were not given access to a god or temple or to divine texts. Cruel penalties have been accorded  to them if any of them try to read any religious holy texts or hear any holy texts. A dog or a pig or cow could enter the religious places (temples) but they were counted as untouchables and thus they were told that their presence would pollute the deity and the rest of the people and were brutally denied any access to the temples or holy places for worship or prayer. In this back drop the Christian missionaries entered the Indian scene and started treating the untouchable as touchable and touching them and giving them a bath and telling them the biblical fact that they are also made in the image of God and that can believe in Jesus and become partakers of all the spiritual blessings in Jesus that the Scripture promises.  They have started Schools for them to study, started hospitals / clinics that they can get treated in if and when they become sick and started Churches to worship a God and to pray. This was outright liberation to them and people in great numbers from those communities embraced this faith and God that accepts them and gives them liberation, dignity  and salvation to their souls. Many women felt the liberation of Jesus as in the previous regime though they were untouchables their bodies were used to enjoy for sexual pleasures by men of all castes. The body of a woman as a sexual object was not untouchable but soon after the physical act she becomes fully untouchable. And the worst part is that they spread some stupendous theories that raping a dalit woman is not sin as she has no soul. So the message of Jesus and the worth that he gives to a women attracted millions to His saving message for them to embrace and to internalize it joyfully and with a grateful heart.

The government at the Centre and in the States has a ministry dedicated to the welfare of Scheduled Castes persons and most times a Scheduled Castes leader from the winning political party is made the minister for that ministry to serve their own community and work for their upliftment. NCC SC Welfare Wing works in conjunction with that SC Welfare Ministry of the Government to ensure liberation to all the SCs economically, socially, emotionally and spiritually.  The Wing will propagate the schemes and projects of the SC Welfare department to all and also work towards getting the government design other needy schemes for them as per the requirements. As many of those families are not literates the NCC SC Welfare Wing will assist them in finding information about the available  schemes of the government and give them help in filling up the prescribed forms and in submitting to the concerned government authorities. 

The Wing also will guide them spiritually to be free to decide their choice of religion and to follow their conscience and to freely worship the living God if they desire to. The issues pertaining to the SCs will be made known to the Churches, Pastors and lay leaders in all the Churches requesting them to give special attention to assist SCs in their development. This wing will cater to the needs of the SCs in the Church.. It will also follow the teachings of Jesus to love and help out these castes people in the society that may not be members of any Church.

One of the major rights abuse that the Indian Government has been doing is committing human rights violations on the SC persons by discriminating them officially when they adopt certain religions including Christianity. The scheduled benefits of the government are extended to all until they convert to Christianity and immediately stopped once a Scheduled Caste person adopts Christianity as their faith. It is such a gross violation of the spirit of the Indian Constitution that gives freedom to all citizenry to believe, practice or preach any religion of one’s choice. It also violates the spirit of several United Nations  articles that prohibit discrimination on the grounds of one’s faith or religious practices. In some states of India like Odisha (and in about 6 other states of India) there were laws introduced called as Anti-Conversion laws that had bizarre descriptions that if a SC person takes baptism he and the person baptizing also will be imprisoned. These laws sadly declare that a SC person as incapable of thinking and deciding for himself. They also have ridiculed the power of a dalit woman to decide her faith and officially stated that a Dalit woman is incapable of deciding her choice of faith. But the fact is that the both Dalit man or a Dalit woman is fully capable of deciding their spiritual path and future as much as they decide whom to vote when elections are conducted for political parties in India. In many ways they can decide their personal choice or spiritual choice much better than them deciding which political party to vote for. When they are given voting rights and choices to decide why these discriminating laws in the realm of their decision of their faith? It is clear that there is official discrimination of the Indian government on the SCs and it should end immediately by bringing laws that de-link government benefits to their choice of a religion. The draconian, so called Anti Conversion laws that throw slur on the capabilities of Dalit men and women should be repealed completely and be forgotten.

This Wing will advocate for liberation to the SCs in all spheres. It will sensitize the Church to be burdened for them to pray and to assist in their overall development following in the footsteps of the previous missionaries that have served in very hard conditions to bring them liberation in their day. Much development of these communities goes back to the sacrificial services of the missionaries by physically going to these untouchable colonies with their biblical mandate of loving their neighbour and empowering them socially, emotionally and spiritually to worship and follow the God that created them in his image and loves and accepts them and gives a new life to them.

This process of liberation should continue more and more. The government activities / schemes for them should be propagated to them ensuring that information reaches to every eligible individual to avail those schemes. Much public and private lobbying should be done by this wing to see that the government will introduce further noteworthy and necessary schemes or projects to further empower them more and to liberate them fully. The Churches should be encouraged to have a Dalit Empowerment Desk to openly invite any one to come there to seek information of what is available for them with the government or to take assistance in filling up the prescribed forms to avail any schemes and also to be prayed for if and when they require spiritual solace.

There are a few issues that this wing will help to raise them within the Church. In some states like the Telugu speaking states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and in some parts of Karnataka, there is a vast divide within the various lower castes groups that are following Jesus. They don’t honor one another or don’t inter marry with the other caste persons and tutored by some misguided leaders to harbour animosity against the other caste. This evil divide should be removed and that both castes should maintain peace with one another and live in the unity of faith. This wing will work with all the caste groups leaders to train them to accept one another and to live in unity, learn to esteem one another and to stand one another and not be divided in mind and spirit.

In parts of Tamil Nadu several Churches have different pews for the high castes Christians and the lower caste Christians. Even the cemeteries are different for the high caste Christians and for the Dalit Christians of the same Church. This divide that has come from the centuries of societal divide in India and should be preached against and that this Wing should endeavour to preach the Pauline theory that “in Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew” contextualizing it to India, “in Christ there is no upper caste and lower caste” and that all are partakers of the same salvation and recipients of same grace and will be living in the same heaven. This noble truth of unity should be taught and fully practised. Leaders of these communities to be educated to remove any caste based barriers within the Church.  This message if preached and accepted everywhere we will welcome a new society of peace and true communal harmony in India. 

This Wing and the National, State and District President and any member of SC Welfare Wing will see overall development of SCs as their mission. They will keep sensitizing the Church (across all denominations) to be more welcoming and addressing their needs.  The many forms of services of the Church to empower the SCs should be encouraged.  This wing will work to bring down any caste based unhealthy divisions and upper and lower caste attitudes that exist in some parts of the Indian Church. It will work towards ushering of the required laws and Constitutional Amendments required letting the SCs adopt a religion of their own choice without losing their benefits from the government. It will also encourage the SC leaders that have slightly progressed economically or politically to remember to give back to their community the resources of time, guidance and financial helps to those that are still struggling.

MAJOR ACTIVITIES OF SC WELFARE WING

Following the example of Shadow Minister appointed by the leader of opposition in some countries’ parliamentary system the NCC National, State and District Wing leaders fulfil the responsibility of  scrutinizing (closely examining) the work of the government department and individual ministers. Each Shadow Minister concentrates on the work of a particular minister and a government department. They thoroughly understand the department that they “shadow” and make necessary suggestions and bring up issues that needs to be highlighted. So the SC Welfare Wing President will be a Shadow Minister to:

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

1. State SC Welfare Wing will meet two or three times a year
2. One or two major state wide programs should be conducted for SCs.
3. The State SC Welfare Wing President should recommend District leaders of the Wing to the NCC District President who will appoint them for suitable positions in the District SC Welfare Wing.
4. SC Welfare Wing District Committee will meet twice a year to plan out their programs.
5. Events should be planned for the Districts’ SC people in the areas of sports, empowerment seminars, quiz, competitions etc.
6. The State SC Welfare Wing President or his nominee of the SC Welfare Wing should travel to all the Districts motivating the SCs to develop and to progress in the mainstream society.
7. Issues of importance pertaining to the Dalit Community’s development should be brought to light and given wide publicity about.
8. The Issues faced by the Dalit Communities around the State should be brought to the notice of National Christian Council and to the relevant Govt. departments as required.
9. The NCC SC Welfare Wing Office bearers should be in constant touch with the State and Central Commissions for the SCs. Or any official authorities set up for the SCs.
10. Network with other Christian agencies that have a division for SCs empowerment.
11. Plan for immediate action where the atrocities on Dalits take place which might include:

• Informing the Local Police and Political leaders.
• Informing the Central SC/ST commission or State Government officials as appropriate
• Writing to submit to the National Human Rights Commission about each incidence of violence on them.

12. Ensuring the proper cases are booked under appropriate laws of the SC/ST atrocities prevention Act.
13. To strive to bring Christian Unity among the lower castes in Christianity that is divided in some states along the caste lines.

To bring down the walls of segregation in the Church and to unite the so called upper and castes Christians as there are no  upper and lower castes in God’s sight.