kly\mZw
Diocesan Bulletin May 2012 - Eparchy of Idukki
Diocesan Bulletin May 2012 - Eparchy of Idukki
- No tags were found...
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
123456789012345678901234<br />
123456789012345678901234<br />
123456789012345678901234<br />
123456789012345678901234<br />
1234567890123456789012345<br />
1234567890123456789012345<br />
1234567890123456789012345<br />
1234567890123456789012345<br />
Post Synod Exhortation’s sections on “Economic Social<br />
Realities”: all variously present an India which is not wholesome in<br />
all aspects of her life: an India which yearns to be a better India.<br />
At the end of the survey of “Economic and Social<br />
Realities” in the Post Synod Exhortation, it was observed that<br />
“this necessarily brief reflection upon the economic and social<br />
realities of Asia would be incomplete if recognition were not<br />
given to the extensive economic growth of many Asian countries<br />
in recent decades.......”(§7). This is certainly true of India; and it is<br />
usually attributed to globalization; but her economic growth has<br />
not lightened the burden of the poor on society, as the following<br />
report of 2006 Economic Survey shows:<br />
The economy of India is now the fourth largest in the world -<br />
this is accredited to trade liberalization. Growth in the Indian<br />
economy has steadily increased since 1979, averaging 5.7%<br />
per year. India, now a global leader in software and business<br />
process outsourcing services, rakes in revenues of US$12.5<br />
billion per annum. 3 However, in 2006, the UNDP’s human,<br />
development index ranked India at 126th out of 177 countries.<br />
Nearly 35% of the population was living below $1 a day, while<br />
at $2 a day it was nearly 80% of the population, which means<br />
some 800 million people, more than the entire population of<br />
sub-Saharan Africa.<br />
This report was from 2006<br />
I have just attended the World Economic Forum in Davos<br />
in the Swiss Alps where the motto, “Committed to improving the<br />
state of the World” seems to encompass our “Better India” and<br />
strive in the same direction. Moreover, just last November, the same<br />
organization held an India Economic Summit in Mumbai and<br />
entitled the ensuing report, “Linking Leadership with Livelihood”<br />
which seemed to have espoused a vision, similar to the theme of this<br />
<strong>kly\mZw</strong><br />
sabv 2012<br />
357<br />
Conference of Bishops: It was about livelihood in India, the<br />
betterment of life in India. Here is a brief summary of the economic<br />
situation in India from the India Economic Forum:<br />
With the lingering impact of the global economic crisis and<br />
the unfolding sovereign debt crisis in Europe roiling global markets,<br />
growth in the Indian economy has slowed while inflation and interest<br />
rates have climbed. Meanwhile, recent public protests have clearly<br />
signaled that citizens are unwilling to tolerate the waste, bribery,<br />
patronage and cronyism that are undermining India’s vision of<br />
achieving sustainable and equitable growth in this large, unwieldy,<br />
yet flourishing democracy. 4<br />
If the report had stopped there, I might not have noticed,<br />
since what it says seems to echo some of what you, as Bishops,<br />
have been saying for years, and it only hints at what we would call<br />
the most basic problems of grinding poverty and rampant<br />
discrimination: the yearning for a better India. But then the report<br />
does go on to make what seems to me is a frank and penetrating<br />
critique of business and political leadership, astonishing because the<br />
critique goes beyond economics and politics to enter the domain of<br />
right human conduct, the domain of ethics and morality. The report<br />
speaks of India as<br />
... a world of broken trust where people have lost confidence<br />
in their leaders, in their regulators and in the ability of those with<br />
influence and power to work together to solve persistent problems,<br />
from the unfairness of the global trading system to the creeping threat<br />
of climate change. Many people have come to view politicians and<br />
corporate chiefs, particularly those in the finance and banking sector,<br />
as well as the media, as incapable of doing the right thing instead of<br />
whatever would be most profitable or beneficial to them in the next<br />
election, quarterly report or ratings survey. 5<br />
358<br />
sabv 2012<br />
The task facing the Church in India: the obstacles and<br />
<strong>kly\mZw</strong>