Posted byDr. Chhungi

National Tribal Seminar on “Life with Dignity and Together with Nature”
August 6-9, 2011
Durgapur, West Bengal, India

Rationale:
The life of the Tribal/Adivasi/Indigenous peoples in India is always an intertwining of struggles and celebrations.  It is a struggle against the forces of certain elements that come in various forms under the broad umbrella of development with the anti-thesis of the life style and the sitz-im-leben of the indigenous peoples in India.  Due to their feeble voices, the tribal/adivasi/indigenous communities in India are often the targets of socio-cultural, economic and political manipulations of the State authorities, politicians, business entrepreneurs and even the environmentalists. Some of the major hard realities which the tribal/adivasi/indigenous communities are facing in our society today can be highlighted as follows: 

1. Lopsided development policy, which denies Livelihood and Existence;
2. Deprivation of fundamental human rights to Dignity of Life;
3. Discrimination and non-recognition of their particular lifestyles, spirituality, cultures, languages, indigenous identity, and traditional knowledge;
4. Denial of traditional and customary rights;
5. Unavoidable choice - either total integration or extreme marginalization;
6. Power politics and mainstream globalization process; 
7. Exclusion and no-participation in planning, decision-making process and in formulation of projects; 
8. Extreme Poverty, Migration, Human Trafficking;
9. Lack of Education, Information and Health Care;
10. Lack of leadership, coordination, networking and collective voice among the tribals and adivasis people.     

However, alongside these hard realities of life the Tribal, Adivasi and Indigenous communities in India today continue to hold on to their cultural values and life style that keeps them together and make their existence worth celebrating, which in short can be spelled out as follows –

The life style of the Tribal/Adivasi/Indigenous communities can best be found in their symbiotic relationship with their environs where the children are born and grow up with the understanding hearts that they are part of an all connected system such as land, rivers, hills,  trees, plants, animals, family, people, etc. that they have responsibility even as children to hold together and keep strong as they grow …..’

This year, to celebrate the UN International Indigenous Day on August 9, 2011 is quite appropriate for the NCCI as the NCCI also for the first time, is going to observe the NCCI Tribal/Adivasi Sunday on August 7 inviting all the 13 million members within the NCCI constituents from 31 Member Churches, with 17 Regional Christian Councils, 17 All India Christian Organizations and 7 Related Agencies in India. Within the NCCI constituent member churches, the Tribal and Adivasi communities occupy quite a significant place in terms of numbers, for instance –

- almost 100% members in the Presbyterian Church of India, Council of Baptist Churches in North East India (CBCNEI), Baptist Church of Mizoram, Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chotanagpur, Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church, Jharkhand,
- More than 80% in Good Samaritan Evangelical Lutheran Church, Andhra Pradesh
- for about 70% in the Church of North India     

The above statistics are just the pointer to have a broad idea of the why and how significant it is for the NCCI to celebrate UN International Indigenous Day and to observe the NCCI Tribal & Adivasi Sunday across the country. Also To mark these two important occasions for the indigenous peoples, the Commission on Tribals & Adivasis is organizing a Seminar. “Life with Dignity and Together with Nature”, will be the theme for these three events.

Aim and Objectives

• To highlight the urgent need for a serious intervention of the Churches in India in their mission of God while taking cognizance of the multi-crises encountered by the Tribals and Adivasis communities in India today.
• To have a new paradigm shift in our understanding of the ‘Mission to the tribal & adivasi communities’ in India that the Mission of God is not for the Peoples out there, but it is for the peoples who are created in the image of God.
• To give a new meaning of the Kingdom of God for the Tribal and Adivasi communities in India that the Kingdom of God is a liberation from the bondages of all kinds of oppressions to be experienced in this very world - here and now not only in a new word, life somewhere beyond the blue
• To bring out the two contrasting realities of the tribal & adivasi communities life’s situation, which on the one hand portraying the cries and the struggles of the tribal and adivasi peoples in India and on the other hand portraying the cultural heritage, social and family values of the communities that are worth celebrating and re-calling and re-affirming.
• To bring out the rich cultural diversities, colours and heritage of the Tribal, Adivasi and the Indigenous peoples of India and the liberative motifs they portray
  

Methodology:
A Four Days programme beginning with the Inauguration of the NCCI Tribal & Adivasi Sunday on the Sunday morning of August 7, 2011. All the NCCI member churches across the country are also requested to obserce this August 7 as the NCCI Tribal and Adivasi Sunday. This programme will be followed by A One and a Half Day Seminar (August 7 – 8, 2011). Here a request is made to all the participating churches and institutions to make a brief presentation on their ministry for a “Just-Mission” towards the Tribal & Adivasi communities in India. The Fourth Day that is the 9th August, 2011 will be celebrated with cultural events to show case the dynamics and the cultural beauties of the Tribal, Adivasi and the Indigenous communities across the country. A theme “Life with Dignity and Together with Nature” will run through for all these three events in order to bring out the contrasting reality of the two worlds of the indigenous peoples in India.

Program Components

Place and Date:
Durgapur, West Bengal during August 6-9 2011. Arrival August 6th and departure from 9th evening.

Contact Person:

The Rt.Revd.Dr.Probal kanto Dutta
Bishop of Diocese of Durgapur
St. Michael's Church Compound
Aldrin Path, Bidhan Nagar
Durgapur 713 212
West Bengal
Tel 0343 2536220, 0343 2534552

Number of Participants:
For Seminar about 40 participants and for 9th August UN International Indigenous Day additional 100 indigenous participants from across the country.

With kind regards,
 
Dr. Hrangthan Chhungi
Executive Secretary
Commission on Tribals & Adivasis
National Council of Churches in India
Ph: 09845880239

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