Maharashtra: the diocese of Amravati appeals against farmers’ "genocide"
The state is known for its high rate of suicide among farmers. The local diocesan social development agency helps farmers overwhelmed by debt. Within the diocesan territory, Catholics number only 7,000 out of a population of 11 million. The bishop makes an appeal to Christians in the Year of Mercy because “Your generous contribution will immensely enable us to empower” people.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – In Amravati (Maharashtra), the Catholic Church is leading the charge against poverty and other social evils that are decimating farmers in a virtual “genocide,” Mgr Elias Gonsalves, bishop of Amravati, told AsiaNews.
“The Catholic Mission Diocese of Amravati is one of the drought-hit areas where the farmers have been committing suicides,” said the diocese’s charity trust. “Over the past six years the diocese has been directly involved in reaching out to the farmers in distress, providing immediate relief for the victims of the farmers’ suicides, raising awareness among them regarding economical, sustainable and viable agricultural methods and also creating awareness among the marginal farmers about government schemes and entitlements. [. . .] Hence, we, the priests, religious and lay faithful [. . .] appeal to your monetary donations towards this worthy cause. Your generous contribution will immensely enable us to empower the poor and marginalized farmers”.
To achieve its goals, the diocese can rely on the Jeevan Vikas Sanstha (JVS), the Amravati Diocesan Social Development Society, and the Manav Shakti Sanstha, its charity trust, to help alleviate farmers’ plight and prevent extreme actions.
And some of the actions are indeed extreme. "In 2011, officially, 4,427 debt-burden farmers took their own life over the previous ten years,” Bishop Gonsalver said. “However, activists say that the reality is far worse and that the number of suicides is three times that number."
In the past eight years, the JVS helped more than 400,000 farmers in the districts of Amravati, Akola, Buldana, Washim and Yavatmal. The Church also provided assistance to 11,000 people caught up in natural disasters, 3,000 debt-burdened farmers, and some 1,500 AIDS patients, Fr Puthenpura added. All this, the clergyman noted, “despite the fact that Catholics are not numerous”.
In fact, out of a population of 11 million, only 7,000 are Catholics, or 0.01 per cent of the total. Thus, “98 per cent of those who benefit from the Church's work hold different beliefs from our own."
At present, the diocese is celebrating its 60th anniversary (founded in 1955). Together with Caritas India, it is emphasising an ‘animation’ approach to social work on behalf of farmers. For Mgr Gonsalves, this “implies that the beneficiaries are not passive recipients of aid but are active and responsible agents of their own development, and the role of social work agencies is to facilitate the creation of such mindsets.”
Since Pope Francis made this the Year of the Jubilee of Mercy, the prelate wants everyone “to rediscover the richness encompassed by the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.”
Therefore, “It is appropriate that we who experience God as rich in mercy and compassion, show tangible expressions of mercy to those who have been victims of the 'structures of sin' that prevent the economically disadvantaged from accessing the resources so generously given by the Creator.”
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