The Indian TV News Channels ( ndtv, timesnow, headlinestoday, newsx, cnnibn, etc) don’t give any coverage to issues related to Christians in India for reasons best known to the people who run these news channels. Here in Bombay during the last one month various Christian groups have been protesting & protesting against the illegal demolitions of heritage crosses by the BMC but not a single national TV news channel has bothered to give any coverage inspite of the fact that all these TV news channels have their regional office and reporters in Bombay.
In Gorai – Manori – Uttan the local Christians have been protesting & protesting against sez, utan garbage dumping ground, powerful builders mafia, hotel lobby, damage done to mangroves, etc but all this does not appear in any TV news channel. In some parts of India churches, graveyards & crosses are still being vandalized, Christians are loosing land, Christians are being denied government jobs, govt housing & civic facilities, church properties are being sold off, church funds are being misused, children of poor Christians are being denied admission in Christian/Convent/Catholic schools and a lot of other issues that affects Christians in India is not reported in any of the Indian TV News Channels. So what is the solution ?? Can some Independent Christian groups which are associated with lay christians/catholics like the Bombay based Association of Concerned Catholics (AOCC) pool resources and start a news channel and give coverage to various issues that affects Christians in India ???
Sure a IMPOSSIBLE dream but Dig for it. Put your desires into motion not just thought. Act. Be bold and courageous. Will it be easy? Not likely. Will it be worth the work, the risk, the frustration? Absolutely. Persist, persevere. Life gives you the opportunity now so don't let one more moment escape your capacity to have, be, or get what you want. Remember that YOU are the instrument of change, the mechanism that with all your capacity will see new things unfold as you put thought into action. Anything is POSSIBLE. If at all AOCC or any other independent Christian group succeeds in setting up a News channel then apart from giving coverage to above issues related to Christians the channel will also have to ensure that coverage is also given to current affairs, solar power, clean water, forest rights, tribal rights, farmers rights, fisherfolk rights, land acquisition, special economic zones, inflation, pollution, environment, land encroachment by builders & slumlords, the incestuous network between the land mafia, bureaucracy, builders and politicians, money laundering, etc etc etc.
The Parish Priests are not selected and elected by local parishoners and obviously the parish priests are not accountable to the parishoners. This system has to change. It is the local parishoners who should select and elect their parish priests. Only those parish priests should be selected & elected who have indepth knowledge of Bible, current affairs, environment who are good, humble & honest who will disclose how church funds are utilized in parish bulletins who will disclose the vacant church properties in possession of the church in parish bulletins who will utilize vacant church properties for the housing needs of poor christians who will not refuse admission to children of poor christians in parish schools who will be prepared to lead from the front who will be prepared to take up the problems faced by the lay christians with the goverment, muncipality, etc.
There are more than 1000 heritage crosses all across Bombay city & suburbs which were built during the Portuguese era. The Bombay Municipal Corp. wants to demolish these heritage crosses for road widening project. Christians in Bombay are not opposing the road widening project but want these heritage crosses to be lifted by cranes and relocated a few feet backward which the BMC is not interested in and if the BMC is not interested in relocating these heritage crosses then Christians in Bombay are fully justified in opposing the demolition of these heritage crosses by BMC. The EastIndians & Kolis were once upon a time the true owners of Bombay – Mobai – Bambai – Mumbai – Slumbai or whatever name you use to refer to this megapolis. The eastindians & kolis have been reduced to a status of Backward Class because of various reasons especially all their ancestral lands surrounding their villages ( gaothans & koliwadas ) in the Bombay region being taken over first by the British Raj & next by the Maharashtra Govt. without giving them proper compensation or Government jobs and the Maharashtra Govt. & Bombay Muncipal Corporation turning a blind eye to the various housing & civic problems the eastindians & kolis face in the Gaothans & Koliwadas.
A century back there were around 300 Gaothans & 100 Koliwadas in the Bombay ( salsette island plus seven islands ) region that number has been reduced to 189 Gaothans & 43 Koliwadas. The Gaothans & Koliwadas are spread across Bombay city & suburbs. These gaothans & koliwadas are surrounded by residential complexes, co-op housing societies, Industrial complexes, govt. housing colonies, skyscrapers, public sector undertakings, central/state govt. undertakings, shopping malls, seepz, sports stadiums, midc, hotels, slums, textile mills, airports, railways, universities, cinema halls, etc. Whereas the native Christians of Goa, Mangalore, Kerala are known as Goans, Mangaloreans & Keralites respectively, a large section of the native Christians in Maharashtra are known by the name EastIndians.
The name East Indian is not an exclusive one, for it is also used by some in West Bengal who are in no way connected with those in and around Bombay bearing the same name. Few would be expected to be aware that the name eastindian has a historical and not geographical connotation. Because of the inappropriate and misleading name very few people know about the eastindians of bombay. Some east indians are also at a loss when people ask "What are you?" or "Where are you from?" or “Where is your muluk ( native place )”. For the answer will elicit more questions than he or she would be able to answer. The East Indians were also known by the name 'Salsette Christians' though no territorial significance was attached to the name 'Salsette' and it merely meant a Christian of the North Konkan region which inlcludes present day Bombay, Thane & Raigad Districts. The North Konkan Region is also known as the Bombay Metropolitan Region.
SALSETTE ISLAND: The metropolis of Bombay and the city of Thane lie on the large Salsette island. The southern part of the salsette island, which includes Bombay City was originally seven small islands. The credit for reclamining all the seven small islands into one island goes to the British who gave the islands the name Bombay anglicized from the previous name BomBahia. Politically, most of the Salsette island falls into the municipality of Bombay. The municipality is divided into two separate districts, Bombay City and Bombay Suburbs. The northern portion of the Salsette Island lies within Thane District, which extends across Vasai and Thane creeks onto the mainland. The EastIndian Christians in Bombay city & suburbs lost all their lands and now it is the turn of Christians in gorai manori uttan. Today the lush greenery, the homes, the villages, the occupation exists in gorai manori belt. Everyone knows, each and every village in this Manori Gorai belt. A lot of funcitions are held, even till late night, road side crosses exists.
The same could be said of the seven islands (bombay city) about a hundred years ago, the same could be said of Salsettle island (present day bombay suburbs) about 50 years ago. If Gorai-Manori is lost, there will not be a single recognizable East Indian village in the Bombay Metropolitan region. The culture and language that has taken thousands of years to develop will be lost. The people will lose their homes and occupations. The residents will lose their means of livelihood which would lead to disintegration of their community both economically, spiritually and socially. If the people lose their homes and occupations the present churches in each of the villages would be reduced to monuments.
The over one thousand year old culture of the locals would be wiped out and the locals would suffer similar fate as the sons of the soil have in the island city and the suburbs of Bombay. The ‘Bombay/Salsette East Indians’ are the descendants of the thousands of indigenous people of Bombay and its environs who trace their conversion to Christianity back to AD 55 with the arrival of Christ’s disciple St.Bartholomew in north konkan, west maharashtra and who later were converted to the teachings of rome/vatican i.e. Catholicism by the four great preaching orders –Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians and Jesuits who arrived in the 15th Century alongwith the Portuguese. The Portuguese between the 15th and 17th century had controlled almost the entire Western Coastal Plains of India and the control extended from Daman to Vasai to Bombay to Goa to Mangalore to Kerala coast this explains why you will find many catholics in these regions. The Western Coastal Plains of India is a narrow strip of land sandwiched between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea, ranging from 50 to 100 km in width and more than 2000 km in lenght. It extends from Gujarat in the north and through Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala.
Numerous rivers and backwaters inundate the region. Originating in the Western Ghats, the rivers are fast-flowing and mostly perennial, leading to the formation of estuaries. Major rivers flowing into the sea are the Tapi, Narmada, Mandovi and Zuari. The coast is divided into the Konkan, which is situated in Maharashtra, Goa and northern parts of Karnataka; the Kanara in Karnataka and the Malabar coast in Kerala. Vegetation is mostly deciduous, but the Malabar coast moist forests constitute a unique ecoregion. The Western coast of India with its wetlands, lagoons, mangroves, sea-grass beds, coral reefs and shallow bays, creeks and estuaries is rich in natural resources. Unfortunately, much of this wealth is often exploited in an indiscriminate or ill-planned manner resulting in rapid resource depletion and irreversible environmental degradation.
Major driving forces for coastal degradation include (a) high rate of growth in population leading to reclamation of coastal areas and release of wastes, (b) over-fishing due to lack of alternative livelihoods, (c) large commercial enterprises aiming at quick profit at the cost of sustainability and their insensitivity to the interests of local inhabitants, (d) ignorance about management of resource sustainability among stake holders and policy makers, (e) lack of understanding of environmental significance and importance of coastal habitats, and (f) inadequate enforcement of environmental rules and regulations.
Gabriel D'souza,
Bombay.
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