Will do our best to ease suffering: Vijayan
Thrissur (Kerala), Aug 23 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday assured the people battered by floods that his government will do everything possible to help them start life anew.
Taking off on a helicopter from the state capital along with a cabinet colleague and senior officials, Vijayan first touched down at Chengannur and visited a relief camp. From there he went to camps in Pathanamthitta district and Alappuzha.
He flew later to Paravur in Ernakulam district and rounded off his visit at Chalakkudy in Thrissur district.
Spending about 15 minutes in each camp, the Chief Minister briefly heard the woes of the people and assured them that they need not worry about anything as the government would come to their help.
"We will do everything possible to help the people. We know that when people from the relief camps reach their houses, they will be going to their homes which will have nothing.
"The state government will play its role to help the suffering," Vijayan told the media at Chalakkudy.
The worst ever flooding in nearly a century in Kerala has claimed some 370 lives, caused unprecedented destruction and forced around 1.2 million people to take shelter in 3,314 relief camps.
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Thiruvananthapuram: An article in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) mouthpiece Organiser has stated that the Catholic Church of India holds more land than the Waqf Board, which has long been believed to be the second-largest landowner in the country.
The article, titled "Who has more land in India? The Catholic Church vs Waqf Board Debate," as cited by The New Indian Express, challenges the commonly held view and asserts that the Catholic Church is the largest non-governmental landholder in India.
"For many years, there has been a common belief that the Waqf Board is the second largest landowner in India after the government, however, this claim does not align with the actual data on land ownership in the country. The Catholic Church of India holds the distinction of being the largest non-governmental landowner, possessing vast tracts of land spread across the country,” the article stated.
The Church is said to own approximately 17.29 crore acres (7 crore hectares) of land, with an estimated value of Rs 20,000 crore.
The article further noted the significant influence of the Catholic Church in India’s real estate landscape, listing scores of schools, hospitals, nursing colleges, and other institutions under its management. “As of 2012, the Catholic Church has 2,457 hospital dispensaries, 240 medical or nursing colleges, 28 general colleges, 5 engineering colleges, 3,765 secondary schools, 7,319 primary schools and 3,187 nursery schools in the field of education and healthcare sector in the country. Much of its land was acquired during British rule. In 1927, the British administration passed the Indian Church Act, facilitating large-scale land grants to the Church," it added.
However, the Organiser article also raised contentious issues, alleging that some of the Church's land acquisitions might have been questionable. It suggested that the Church’s charitable services, particularly in education and healthcare, could be a way of luring economically disadvantaged individuals into converting to Christianity, with some reports claiming that tribal and rural landowners were coerced into converting in exchange for Church-run services.
“Several cases have surfaced where tribal lands, once belonging to indigenous communities, were gradually transferred to Church authorities under various pretexts," the article stated.
This published write-up comes at a time when BJP leaders, particularly in Kerala, are celebrating the passing of the Waqf Amendment Bill, which they have described as a "gift" to the Munambam protesters, who are led by the Catholic Church.
Interestingly, Organiser has deleted the article after it was published.
