Dr.John Dayal Honoured For His Life Time Contributions For The Minorities

 

John_DAYAL

Dr.John Dayal was honoured for his life time contributions for the cause of minorities in India. He was conferred the honour by Sj. Ramesh Chandra Majhi, minister for ST/SC Development, OBC & Minority Welfare, Government of Odisha on behalf of Odisha Minority Alliance, Bhubaneswar at the IDCOL Auditorium, Bhubaneswar. The function was organized on the occasion of International Minority Day in the presence of more than 300 religious minority leaders, human right defenders, social workers and academicians coming for different parts of Odisha.

Barendra Kumar, New Delhi based motivational speaker, Convenor of Odisha Minority Alliance, Bhubaneswar introduced Dr.John Dayal as the multi-faced human rights crusader, towering leader of the religious minorities in India. His contributions for the commitment and dedication for the cause of minorities remain unparallel.

Jugal Kishore Ranjit, Co-convener of Odisha Minorities Alliance list out as why Dr.John Dayal was selected for the honour as it is first time such honor is being given and it would be annual affair to award such distinguished person for the cause of the minorities.

“Dr.John Dayal, former member of National Integration Council has the privilege founder General Secretary of All India Christian Council, President of All India Catholic Council and present spokesperson of All India Catholic Council. He is the first person to be there be it fact finder of the atrocities in any corner of the country or be it defending the rights of violated minority communities on both print and electronic media. Moreover, he does not mince his words and writings when it comes to the defending the cause of the minorities. As a crusader and human right defender, he leads from the front and remain inspirations for every minority communities. His commitment to the cause of other religious minority communities ; be it Sikh and Muslim remain steadfast as much as Christian communities. Hence, the Committee feel priviledge to recognize and honour him so that the new generations continue the mission and spirit of Dr.John Dayal in the challenging times ahead in the country. It is life time contributions for the cause of minorities in India”.

Sj. Ramesh Chandra Majhi, minister for ST/SC development, OBC & Minority welfare, Odisha emphasised on brotherhood. All of us need to live cooperatively be it hindu, or sikh, or jain. It is a good sign that state government has taken initiative to construct 100 hostels for minority students and 25 multipurpose sectors in the state. He said that his government would look into establishing State Minority Commission. He called upon the Minority community leaders to come for a consultations to have special budgetary allocations for the minorities welfare according to their priorities.

Dr. John Dayal while acknowledging the honour and wished that there need to be sustained and collective efforts to address the issues and concerns of the minorities in India. Today their plight and challenges were seemed to be more vulnerable and pliable than ever before. As Odisha has faced the violent attacks and asked the state and minority leaders to come forward to ward off any further attacks. We need to multiply our efforts to balance the religious fanatics who has taking centre stage for peaceful co-existence of the communities in India. Challenges have soared up as the religious minorities are under threats in several parts of the world too; hence we need to be on guard ourselves as seemingly the discourse is not saner for the minorities in the continents.

Fr.Ajaya Kumar Singh, Human Rights Defender appealed to work for realization of constitutional rights that provide them equal and equitable opportunities as equal citizenship of the countries.

KP Sass’s Kandhamal documentary: Voices from the Ruins was screened and appreciated the for capturing and struggles of Kandhamal victims and survivors.

The day long observance of International Minority Rights Day began at 930 am. Eminent guests and speakers included Former Union Minister, Bhajaman Behera, Muna Khan, Actor turned politician cum President, Minority Cell of Odisha Ruling party, Social Activist Ashish Parichha, Biju Janata Dal, Bishop Dr.Pran Parichha, Evangelical Church, Film maker, KP Sasi, Social Activists, Dhirendra Panda, Tanvir, Manasa Mishra, Pradipta Nayak, Pallav Lima, Secretary, Minority Cell, BJD, Dalit Activist Abhiram Mallick and many other distinguished guests.

The programme jointly organized by Odisha Minority Alliance, Bhubaneswar, United Christians Forum and Odisha Forum for Social Action.

Sudhansu Kumar Digal is a writer from Bhubaneswar

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