by Naveen Menezes
Pics by Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore
Belthangady, Sep 30: As many as 5000 youth from across the state, one archbishop, 13 bishops from Karnataka and more than 100 priests, nuns and political leaders witnessed the concluding ceremony of ‘Karnataka Yuvajanostava-2012’ held at Holy Redeemer Church, Belthangady on Sunday, September 2012.
Addressing thousands of youth, Ronald Colaco, NRI entrepreneur and philanthropist said, “In India even though Christians are in minority our contribution in the field of education, health care and social service is commendable when compared to the contributions of any other community. Earlier during the gurukula system education was the privilege of only the rich and the powerful. Due to the efforts of the missionaries education was available to the common people”.
He further added: “India’s progress is always linked to the progress we have achieved in the field of education. Christian missionaries have been pioneers in providing education to the masses. Regrettably, the government has failed to recognize the selfless services rendered by the community. It failed to show its gratitude by giving due administrative positions in the government to Christians”.
Colaco also pointed out that even though we have many Christian institutions people of other communities have been given adequate representation, whereas not even 1% of people from Christian Community enjoy such status in representations in other institutions.
Referring to the cases of atrocities against minorities he said that Christian community has been facing lot of problems at various levels and we are unable to find a quick solution to them. “Lack of representation from our community in politics, administration and in the judiciary has been our undoing. We have to encourage more and more youngsters to get into these streams”, he stated.
On the occasion Colaco announced the formation of a “Corpus Fund” of Rs. 3 crore (one crore each for 3 consecutive years) in the name of a Trust. The interest accrued from this will be solely utilized to financially assist IAS, IPS and KAS aspirants from the community through scholarships.
Colaco also gave a clarion call to the youth to join politics in order to empower the community. “It is high time Christians take part willingly in the political field. We have to contest in elections starting from grassroots level like gram panchayats and taluk level elections. Politics, bureaucracy and Judiciary are the ‘hot seats’ of power”, Colaco pointed out. ,
In his presidential address, Rev Bernard Moras, Archbishop of Bangalore called upon the youth to take the initiative of inculcating leadership qualities in them and thereby build the church and nation at large.
Appreciating the contributions of Christian missionaries, Dr M Verrappa Moily, minister of power, Govt of India said, “During my young days, it was the Christian nuns and priests who encouraged me to study hard and take up the mantle of leadership”. Moily also stated that where there is a church, there is a school to disseminate education or an ashram to care for the poor which shows the service mind of the people of the community”.
Encouraging Christians to excel in all fields Moily said “India is very young in age; we have lot of human resource and youth form a sizeable chunk of these human resources. Naturally our productivity should have been more as compared to other states where they lack such wealth of young human resource”. Moily also called upon the youth to take active interest in politics.
Vincent Pala, minister of state for water resources and minority affairs, Govt of India said, “It’s your nation, your democracy, therefore, your participation matters the most”.
MP Oscar Fernandes also spoke highlighting the power of youth and the need to make the best use of this vital resource of youth power. Vasanth Bangera, member of legislative assembly, Belthangady also spoke at the occasion.
During the occasion, outstanding young achievers were honored with Karnataka Catholic Yuva Rathna Award. Award were presented to Cajetan Karwar, Roshan Ferao Mangalore, Roshan Ouseph Mandya, Jose Jacob Bangalore, Sabitha Monis Mangalore and Don Bosco, Tech Karnataka, NGO organization Bangalore. These five achievers were felicitated for their distinctive achievements at a young age. Don Bosco Tech received the honor for serving the poor and illiterate youth to provide them with better employment opportunities.
Along with the Archbishop, as many as 13 bishops shared the dais along with the office-bearers of youth organizations. Bishops Henry D’Souza of Bellary, Lawrence Mukkuzhy of Belthangady, Geevarghese Mar Divannasios of Puttur, Joseph Arumachadath of Badravathi, Peter Machado of Belgaum, Thomasappa Anthony Swamy of Chickmangalore, Robert Miranda of Gulbarga, Deric Fernandes of Karwar, Aloysius Paul D’Souza of Mangalore, George Nijaralakkatt of Mandya, Thomas Vazhapally of Mysore and Jerald Isaac Lobo of Shimoga diocese witnessed the splendid youth convention.
In addition, Ramanath Rai, MLA, Muguli Narayan Rao, president of town panchayath, Belthangady, J R Lobo, Vinay Kumar Sorake, Fr James D’Souza, parish priest of Belthangady, Fr Franklin D’souza and others were present on the dais.
The formal function was followed by a live concert by Kevin Misquith. The occasion also saw the launching of CCBI youth commission website. Fr Marie Joseph, Secretery, KRCBC youth commission welcomed the dignitaries and the gathering.
Earlier, Vincent Pala flagged off the peace march from Belthagady town which then proceeded to the church. As many as 5000 youth participated in the peace march singing patriotic slogans.
The convention named as “Karnataka Yuvajanotsava-2012” was organized by the youth commission of Karnataka Regional Catholic Bishop’s Council and locally hosted by the Indian Catholic Youth Movement of the Diocese of Belthangady. The theme of the convention is ‘Transformed by Faith- Transforming the world’, ‘Networking human dignity, employability, caring for the earth’.
Talking to daijiworld on the sidelines of the convention on how he would manage the Trust for the progress of youth, Ronald Colaco pointed out that the Trust would be headed by a widely knowledgeable person who will be assisted by other committee members. The members of the Trust would choose suitable candidates for awarding the scholarships. He also stated that awareness would be created in the state including in the rural areas about the scholarship so that right and needy candidates will be able to avail the scholarship to get an opportunity to answer the most competitive exams of Civil Services.
During the last two days, various young leaders enlightened the sessions on various topics such as youth identity in the socio-cultural context of today and their response, young achievers and such other topics.
The three day convention concluded with a solemn thanksgiving Holy mass, presided over by the Rev Bernard Moras, Archbishop of Bangalore and concelebrated by the catholic bishops of Karnataka.
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