nothing and a religion is not a thingthat simply drops from the sky or thatit comes out by itself. It has to comeout of something; it has to be initiatedby man either individually orcollectively. It must have both ahistorical and a geographicalbackground and it must have bothhuman and divine elements. A peopleor race must be there in thebackground. Apparently Christianitymay be said to have a Jewishbackground but is is not so. TheFounder of the Christian church,Apostle Paul, was a Jew and hewanted to found the Christian Churchupon the Jewish Background. Hestarted the work in Jerusalem but hesoil and to enable him to do so he hadto move out of Palestine.The New Testament of the Bibletells us that if it was not for his timelyappeal to Rome by right of being aRoman citizen, Paul would have beenflogged by the Jews for repudiating theMosaic Law and it was his RomanCitizenship that saved him horn thewhips en perhaps from execution. Indespair he had to cry out, “Bewarethen that the message- of God’ssalvation has been sent to theheathens”. Christianity had thus: noplace in Palestine and it is so eventoday where the Christians form only2 ½% of the total population. Havingrejected by Palestine it had to benurtured somewhere else and such aplace was Rome, a city of polytheismand of the Pantheon, a city of emperorworship.and a city marked by theabsence of any religion worth thename. It is not surprising at all thatRome should claim that the ChristianUniversal Church should be RomanCatholic Church with the Pope of Romeas its supreme head. Shouldcircumstances permit, Christianityshould have taken the Roman Culturebut that could not be and so eventuallyChristianity had to he built on theJewish Background with someadditions to make it more pompousand more attractive by borrowingelements from religions of neighboringcountries.That was the reason whyChristianity had been made to have noCulture of its own and as it has noCulture of its own wherever it goes itsimply rides roughshod over thecultures and traditions of other racesand peoples. When such is itscharacter and background it is butinevitable that it has to cut off Religionfrom man’s social life and activitiesexcepting of curse Politics which hasbecome it handmaid. The RomanCatholic Church here in Meghalayafrom time to time through its ChurchNews-papers declares that it is hereto uphold our Khasi Culture and theynever know that it is a far cry. What itwants is simply to fool people for thesake of conversion or just to makegood for the loss it has been made tofed What enamated from the EuropeanConquest was not only physicalconquest but also cultural conquestand those who have made themselvesvertex able have been uprooted fromtheir Culture and Religion and theyhave been made to make a cleanbreak from the Past to becomedetribalised.There is no such thing asChristian PhilosophyAgain, Christianity is one religionin the World that has no Philosophy.There is a tendency in some RomanCatholic and Protestant forms ofChristianity to use reason for thedefence of their faith but basically thetrend is to keep Philosophy out ofReligion. Apostle Paul himself, thefounder of the Christian Church, says,“We are fools for Christ’s sake” andhe also says, “Beware lest any manspoil you by Philosophy”. MartinLuther, the father of the ProtestantReformation, says, “Reason should bedestroyed in all Christians’ The word“Knowledge” with all its theologicalmeaning as per Eastern Thought is notthere in the Western Thought. Theword, Gnosis’ which means‘Knowledge’ is there in Gnosticism, aBranch of Christianity which flourishedin the early centuries of the ChristianEra but it had been stamped out bythe Roman Catholic Church. The BibleScholars of our Age say that if the word‘Gnosis’ had had a place in Christianitythen Christianity would have been aVedanta Christianity where Philosophywould have its due place and Reasonwould be there for ii is Reason alonethat can reconcile man to his daily lifeand existence.The Fate of Western CivilisationEurope’s Civilisation is no otherthan the Christian Civilisation which isin its totality a material-civilisation andwhich has miserably failed tospiritualise the West. It is theCivilisation in which Religion, Cultureand Philosophy have beencompartmentalised and a Civilisationin which Religion has beennonchalantly made a matter ofconvenience. What appeals now isthat the West has become spirituallystranded and it is looking now to theEast for spiritual guidance. Churcheshave been locked or sold and somehave been converted into temples ofthe Eastern Thought. The West hasforgotten that man is never a complexif we know how to locate him and thatthere are two aspects in him—-the‘spiritual’ and the ‘natural’ and it is thespiritual that is his ultimacy. Man isan entity where the life-forces play andinterplay and if he is to maintain thatunity, apart from other things, theTriangle of three Life-forces must betheir to uphold him.The Khasi Concept of CultureThe Khasis as a Race go by theEastern Thought or Eastern Conceptwhere Religion, Culture andPhilosophy form a compact trio tomake us what we are. Our Culture andReligion are sisters twain and theyform a structure based on Philosophy.Ours is a circumscribed triangle oftheocentricity and in all Our actionsand existence God is there at thecentre. We never go to God without areason and God would not listen to usif we don’t have a reason. Our Cultureis a Religious Culture and through itwe have been able to preserve andmaintain ourselves through the Ages.True it is that we have been made toface the impact or the West that hasbeen effected through the BritishAdministration, Christianisation andWesternisation but we have been ableto vindicate ourselves that we are aRace with a destiny.(Contd. to Page 6)<strong>Heritage</strong> Explorer 3 January 2013
National Conference of Kalyan Ashram Concluded at Ujjain, MP- Narayan Dev SarmaOn completion of 60 years of itsinception, the Akhil Bharatiya VanvasiKalyan Ashram has organised a grandconference inviting all the differentJanajati communities and socialworkers from across the nation on 24-26 Dec.2012 at Ujjain, the importantplace for pilgrimage. Some of thedelegates reached from the far-flungareas of Arunachal Pradesh by travelling5 days from their villages. 2335delegates from more than 400 differentJanajati communities from al the statesparticipated in their colourful attires.There were culturalpresentations,observation of rituals andpuja to exhibit how eachof the communities maketheir offerings to AlmightyGod and intellectualdiscussions on differenttopics. Beside the abovemany resolutions werealso passed in theConference to show its concern to theNation. An important resolution thatwas passed in the Karyakari Mandal(National Executive Committee) on‘Land Acquisition and MMDR Bill 2011’read as follows:‘Bill replacing the Land AcquisitionAct (LAAct), 1894 is underconsideration of the Parliament since2007 and the Mines and Minerals (Devand Regulation) MMDR Act, 1957 ispending since 2010. Vanvasi KalyanAshram (ABVKA) has resolved itsviews earlier on both these issues afterdue consideration but we areconsidering these again in view of freshdevelopments on the issue.‘Standing Committee of both thehouses has returned the LandAcquisition, Rehabilitation andResettlement (LAR&R) Bill, 2011 to thegovernment after long–deepdiscussions and deliberations whichhas been put on floor of the Lok-Sabhato replace the LAAct, 1894. ABVKAtoo raised many issues concerning theSTs and demanded necessaryamendments in the Bill and theCommittee accepted them. Followingare some of the provisions which haveundermined the interests of ScheduledTribe, in the bill which has, presently,been tabled.‘Provisions related to rehabilitationin this Bill will be applicable only if theland being purchased or acquired byPrivate Company is 50 Acres or morein the Urban Area and 100 Acres ormore in the Rural Area. Thisdiscrimination is unfair when we seethat basic resources like Water, Coal,Iron-ore and lime are available in therural areas, particularly in the tribalareas. Moreover, governments aregiving so many tax concessions andsimilar rebates in order to encourageindustrial development in such areas.Consequently, many mega-ancillaryindustries like Steel, Cement, Powergeneration and Mining are installing intribal areas at large scale. Thisparticular provision of the Bill will denybenefits to the Rural/Tribal PAPsbecause R&R package will not beprovided if the land being acquired is100 Acres,‘All the disputes arising in matterof LAR&R have been kept out of thejurisdiction of the existing Civil Courtsand Special Courts called Authority willhear them. Serving or Retired Judgesshall be appointed as Presiding Officers(POs) in these Authorities. “Number ofsuch Authorities in a State” and “everydistrict will have this Authority or not”,is not clear in the Bill. This will not onlyaffect independence and impartiality ofthe judiciary but the victims-thedisplaced people will have to roam outof their districts for justice and it isbound to be more hard and costly.‘KKM of the ABVKA thereforedemands the Central Government that:‘Provisions of protection andrehabilitation of the proposed law shouldbe applicable equally to the Rural andUrban Areas and discriminatory ceilingof 50 and 100 acres should be removed,when a private company purchase oracquire land.‘Only those Judges in Serviceshould be appointed as POs in theproposed Special Courts-the Authorityand make it sure that no victimdisplaced-affected person will have totravel out of his home district forjustice.‘In the case of R&RtheRehabilitationPackage, provisions ofthe proposed law shouldbe made applicable withretrospective date-thedate of the year 2007 onwhich the Bill was firstintroduced in the Lok-Sabha and‘Land Reforms should be made inTribal Areas across the country andall the STs should be issuedinstruments of Land-Rights (Patta) ina time bound manner.‘So far as MMDR Bill 2011 isconcerned, ABVKA wants to say thatprovisions of compensating ProjectAffected Persons (PAPs), due tomining, will be shared the profits in themining activities, have been proposedin order to compliance of the NationalMining Policy, 2008; directions of theApex Court in the Samatha VersusState of Andhra Pradesh (1997) and inline of similar principles of profit sharingfollowed in countries like Australia,Canada, USA, Norway, Botswana andPapua New Gunnies across the worldwhere they are sharing profits with thePAPs ranging from 20 to 30%.‘Growing opposition of peopleagainst indiscriminate land acquisitionand mining activities in tribal area,earning huge profits of billions ofrupees by these miners on one handand denial of two square meals of thePAPs whose land are being used for(Contd. to Page 6)<strong>Heritage</strong> Explorer 4 January 2013
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