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 The Christian community welcomes the Union Government’s promise to publish a White Paper on the status of minority communities and a comprehensive law to deal with communal violence. At the same time, the community also expects the government to have provisions in the budget for the economic empowerment of minorities, specially the Christian community, which is among the poorest of the poor. In a joint statement issued in Delhi recently on behalf of the All India Catholic Union, the India Christian Council, the Satyashodkah Samaj and the Delhi-based United Christian Action, Dr John Dayal drew the attention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram to the silence of the budget on these issues. Dr Dayal said it was good that the budget had a large component for women and children and a small portion of it would also benefit Christian women. But while the Budget had provisions for the advancement of Muslim youth, there was none for Christian youth. The reports of the 2001 Census and their own surveys had shown the pathetic condition of the Christian community in rural areas of several states, particularly of Tribal and Dalit youth professing the Christian faith. “The Rs 5000 million corpus of the National Minorities Development fund has not devolved at all on our community. Our youth, specially Christians of Dalit origin, urgently need institutions, scholarships and support in training in entrepreneurship, self-employment and artisanship. There is also growing need for hostels to bring education to many areas. All these require infusion of state funds, apart from efforts by the community itself,” he said. Quoting President Dr Abdul Kalam’s address to Parliament “ It is not enough for India to shine if it does not shine for all”, Dr Dayal called upon the Union Government to make provisions for these segments in the current budget.
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