Minutes

Minutes of the Meeting of the National Dalit Task Force held
on 26th November 2004 at New Delhi

Members Present:
Dr. K. Rajaratnam Chairman
Dr. Y. Moses Secretary
Prof. Devadanam Member
Dr. James Massey Member
Ms. Esther Kathiroli Member

Ex-Officio:
Rt. Rev.Dr. S. Jayapaul David President, NCCI
Dr. Ipe Joseph General Secretary, NCCI
Rt. Rev. D.K. Sahu General Secretary Designate, NCCI

The meeting began with a prayer by the Rt. Rev. Dr. S. Jayapaul David, President NCCI.

The Chairperson Dr. K. Rajaratnam presented a brief oral report on his world tour to promote the cause of Dalit liberation agenda of the NCCI and in particular on the formation of the Global Church Advisory Consultancy on the Dalit Liberation in India. The establishment of the Global Church Advisory Consultancy was greatly appreciated.

The Programme and budget proposals presented already to the NCCI Executive Committee meeting in August 2004 was discussed. The following programme priorities for commencing the liberation movement from 2005 were identified and budget for each programme was approved.

Publication of periodical Newsletters on Dalit Liberation Movement
Information Technology: Website, Internet
Training Pastors and other voluntary workers in 50 congregations from all over India
Legal Aid -Action and Training
Action programmes - congregation based
Capacity building for dalit activist groups
Secretarial Assistance - Office

These programmes be initiated in 2005.

Rev. Dr. Chandran Paul Martin be requested to edit and publish the official newsletter in association with the Chairperson of the Dalit Task Force.

The funds available with the NCCI for the programme be utilised to start the newsletter. Initially the newsletter in English be published quarterly. The first newsletter can come out on 1st April 2005. Translation of the Newsletter into Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada be explored after securing local resources for meeting the costs of publication.

The Chairperson contact Bishops to propose congregations as pilot projects and train their leaders as liberation activists and to raise resources in terms of the approved programmes and budgets. As budget proposed is for current Quadrennium beginning from 2005, the Chairman may raise resources for the first year pro rata if raising the total budget immediately is not possible.

The help rendered by Ms. Aruna Gnanadason, World Council of Churches, for the Dalit Desk NCCI, so far is greatly appreciated. She be approached for continued help.

The Chairman is requested to approach other funding agencies for raising necessary resources for the Dalit Task Force budget.

DR. K. RAJARATNAM
Chairman, NCCI Dalit Task Force