In addition, they have enormous potential to lead but always follow someone. They have good knowledge but never speak out. They always wanted very good political leadership but always stay away from politics except voting in the public election. They are very creative but never start anything new. They are courageous but never challenge anything. They are rebellious but always follow the stereotypical customs and unequal social structure. They always dream for a better world but never stop dreaming and start working to achieve it. I am one among them

Yes, Indian youth are like hibernating computers, they are so powerful, intelligent, and swift but they should wake up and start up. On the whole, in this essay I am trying to explore Indian youth and their problems with special regard to politics. To approach this issue systematically, first I am going to study their present status which help us to understand them better and secondly, finding their crucial problems in order to understand the reason for this potential group’s lack of political contribution and finally suggesting some helpful practical and policy recommendations which will empower their political contribution as well as political inclusion.

Current scenario

It is estimated that some 47% of India’s current 1 billion populations is under the age of 20, and teenagers among them number about 160 million. By 2015, Indians under 20 will make up 55% of the population.[1] It is one of the significant facts that India has to celebrate. Youth base of a nation is the backbone of its political, social and economic power. However, here, Indian youth are tremendously contributing in social and economical arena and greatly sidelined in political arena. I always wonder why this paradox of exclusion and alienation? For example the current prime minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh aged 76 (Date of birth: September 26, 1932)[2], L.K.Advani, the present opposition party leader and the proposed prime ministerial candidate from the opposition party for the upcoming general election in 2009 aged 81(Date of birth: 8 November 1927)[3], and M Karunanidhi, the chief minister of my state, Tamilnadu aged 84 (Date of birth: 3 June 1924)[4] . The top politicians and policy makers of our countries are more than 70’s, generally the retirement age is 58 in India and maximum it can go up to 65. Logically speaking, they all are supposed to be at their home and taking rest with their families but unfortunately they are running the governments. However, it is very true that the weaker health status of these aged leaders which creates a narrow mindedness and an insecure feeling about the future of their political party and the family blocks the way for youth participation in politics. Rahul Gandhi, one of the young politicians and a high ranked    policy maker of India admitted this fact honestly and he said “The youth want to join politics but don’t know the way. Once they enter politics, they don’t find it clean. They are confused about politics and it looks as if there is a wall between them and politics. We have to break this wall.”[5] This is the primary problem, inIndia politics is an exclusive asset of privileged families and it can be transferred to their generations and no one can inherit it and not even enter into it without their permission. And it is run by as of their family asset .Who is going to break this wall of exclusion and hierarchy?

Young people’s position and problems

In this context, how young people are approaching politics? It is very interesting to note that majority of them believe that it’s a junk and committed to the rogues of the nation. They strongly believe that a good person cannot survive in politics. Madhuri Krishnan, reported about the youth of Bangalore, one of the cosmopolitan cities of India with regard to their last general state election as follows,  “Most confessed they knew little about the political system till now, and that they were going through an “undecided” or “confused” period.( to decide to whom to vote)” . It is very helpful to understand the political awareness of the youth in the mega cities. However, I am from a small village andIndia’s most of the population is living in the villages. Through my own experience and study village youth has two positions with regard to politics. One group of people does not know anything about politics. It’s more or like a season (election) for them. Another group of youth blindly follows the local leader and the party on the basis of the petty benefits they receive from them starting from a time of food, liquor and so on. When we speculate this scene it is clear that they are far away from positive politics and policy making. Meantime, we cannot simply blame political parties as well as leaders for youth’s exclusion from politics. If we look deeper the reason is more personal. Predominantly all the youth inIndia run behind money, to be frank they are product of modern consumerism. They love to accumulate money, to live a life of a king. They are selfish and no one is ready to be challenged and sacrificed.

Though we critically look into the current political scenario in India in particular and the whole world in general we have to accept the fact that anyone involves politics needs more courage, commitment and sacrifice. Unfortunately, Indian youth are not ready to put themselves into public life. There is a crude proverb in Tamil (my mother tongue) goes like this “Those who enter into pubic service reach a pathetic death”. It is true to some extent that public service and politics may let you empty handed. Democratic politics based on election is like gambling if you win you are the king if you loose you are the servant. Because in education or employment there is no absolute defeat though there are ups and downs but in election certainly there is winning and failure and the modern youth never wanted to be failed and in contrary, not ready to take that much risk to win also. This kind of pragmatic and selfish indoctrinations bombarded the youth and put their life away from political participation. According to a survey conducted by Coca-Cola (KO), the primary ambition of young Indians from the smallest villages to the largest cities is to ”become rich.” Young people hope to achieve this goal through enterprise and education.[6] Every youth wants to become millionaire like N. R. Narayana Murthyof Infosys and Shiv Nadar of HCL. They certainly believe that money making in a right way is not possible in politics so they honestly concentrate on their work. And it is very interesting to note that all these people are strongly believe that entering into politics may harm their money wallet so it is better to stay away from politics to save money without losing it.

Lesson to learn from Corporations and Global organizations

Everyone knows the power of youth including all politicians in India. Cleverly they use youth as errand boys to fulfill their vested interests and political agenda. However, Indian corporate companies are catching potential youth to develop their business empire. The Reliance, one of world’s biggest Indian companies believes in youth power. There is an appropriate blend of Youth and Experience with approx 50% of the workforce below 40 years of age. The average age of around 34 years continues to move downwards in alignment with the company ethos of providing and entrusting responsibilities at a young age.[7] It has many creative programme to develop their youth. One of the programme called Dronacharya, launched at Jamnagar manufacturing division. Under the programme, a senior person called “Dronacharya” takes under his tutelage 2-3 youngsters – “Arjunas” – and trains them ready to manage independent positions in 3-6 months. This programme has had resounding success with over 1500 “Arjunas” being trained. With the resounding success of this programme, this is now being rolled out to other manufacturing divisions.[8]

Infosys, another biggest software company in India strongly based on youth. It has implemented several programmes to utilize youth power. One of them is Catch Them Young(CTY) CTY is a two-week program that gives school students across India a head start in understanding Information Technology. Top performers in the program get an opportunity to work with our experienced professionals on exciting projects. Since its inception in 1997, CTY has introduced more than 1,000 school students to various facets of IT.[9] Another one to include village students is Project Genesis, it is aimed at addressing the talent requirements of the business process outsourcing industry, by making youth from Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns employable in the IT-enabled Services (ITeS) industry. Genesis includes programs like Train the Trainer and Principal’s Conclave to align curriculum and teaching methodologies at colleges with industry requirements. Started in 2005, Project Genesis has now spread to 407 colleges across five states in India.[10] This is all the success stories of corporate companies. They know they can survive, grow and compete with global power only with youth power. Politician should learn from this corporate success of blending and balancing youth and old in leadership.  There is a common complaint that elites are taken by corporations and junks only come to public service and politics. But it is not true. On the whole corporate professionals count less than 1% of total youth population .The real story is corporate companies are pouring out money in their youth force and make them potential professionals. They understand their potential youth are the backbone and are investing generously upon them to develop their skills is the only way to make their companies stronger.

The global organizations like UN and WCC understand the importance of youth. They came to a conclusion that policy making without youth participation is incomplete. And global policies should reach every youth in order to implement effectively. Consequently, UN every year publishes an exclusive youth edition of Human development report (HDR) prepared by global youth for global youth. World Council of Churches, move further and employs global youth in its head quarter as a staff through its highly competitive internship programme and teach them to become global leader and provide them tools and freedom to learn and grow in the international city of Geneva. These are all examples how organizations investing on people understanding their worth. Indian government as well as all the global political institutions should know the value of youth and help them to be part of politics and policy making.

Youth in politics: re framing the future

It is time to accept youth into the politics and give space to them to make politics very fresh and energetic. They are ready to come in but nobody ready to include them into their fellowship of policy making. First, the government should accept youth in their policy making portal they are the fountain of creativity and empowered with modern technological advancements to do things effectively as well as swiftly. In order to give space to youth, the old politicians should retire when they feel its time. At least Indian politicians should retire at 70. Nepotism should be removed in politics through judicial intervention and should be considered as an offense if it is illogically implemented. For example many of the politicians relatives and children into politics without any commitment, knowledge of politics and so on their only criteria is “leader’s relative”. Because of their entry many of the young visionaries chances have disappeared. Indian government should reserve 25% of election seats to young candidates in order to increase youth participation.

Government and political institutions should invest on youth to develop their capacity as politicians by guiding them though eminent politicians and straight forward statesmen .Political leadership training should be given starting from the school level to the college and the importance of politics and policy making should be taught to the students regularly. Meantime, youth should remove their biases against politics and enter into politics in order to create a better world. The attitude of money making and education for employment (encashment) should be changed and they should understand that life is beyond money. They should understand that the politics is one of the best ways to execute good things to the masses. They should consider public service as a noble one and should not be carried away by consumerism alone. They should be ready to be challenged, sacrificed and speak out; it is the need.

Conclusion

The courageous and committed youth who have passion for positive change are everywhere. Finding them, molding them and letting them in the right place matters. Committed governments as well as the political institutions should undertake this noble duty of mentorship to find, cultivate and fix our youth in policy making and politics will result in a new positive world of possibilities and challenges.   It is not possible without the help of existing politicians and political structures, the present people should generously accommodate these youngsters in order to revive politics. I hope Indian politics will change with more youth representation and will reach every corner of democracy with all its energy, enthusiasm and creativity.

Written on 2^nd February 2009 and posted on 7^th January 2011

It is believed that John the Baptist probably belonged to the Essenes. The Essenes were an ascetic Jewish sect during the times of Jesus. John calls people to return to God. Without more ado, the people pose a question- “what should we do.” That is a sincere response to the divine message, and John explains the way to repent. I would like to highlight two simple things from his teaching of repentance that will nurture our life and faith.

Basic needs should be shared:

Firstly, people ask John what they should do to repent. Immediately he replies that anyone who had two dresses could share with the one who had none, and similarly with those who had more food. Personally speaking, this is an amazing fact! If someone came and said that one has to just share one’s dress and food in order to obtain repentance that would be the greatest joke. Yet here, a prophet says this! What does this mean? Is he trying to minimize repentance to a simple act of sharing?

“Food and dress”-the basic needs of humanity! Food is given by God, but dress is human-made; food is natural, but dress is artificial; yet, both are essential to human life in this world in order to live a life of dignity. Repentance was not a new concept for those people; it was a part of their life and spirituality. However, the teaching of repentance of John the Baptist is new in terms of method. In essence, men who repented tore their tunics (dress), fasted and prayed to God, in order to return to God from their transgression. Here, John the Baptist calls for repentance and asks people to repent sensibly by saying, “Don’t tear the tunics, please share it with the needy and give your food to the needy, rather than just abstaining from food in the name of fasting. For John, real repentance should reflect in one’s action. The same idea is already recorded by Isaiah, pointing that real fasting was to share food to the needy, and not just fasting alone. Also in Luke 19: 1-10, when Zacchaeus says “half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over,” Jesus immediately replies, “Today salvation has come to this house.” It is very important for us to make our spiritual practice relevant to the community needs rather than just remaining isolated.

Sharing should ensure equality:

When we talk about sharing it is very important to think about the proportion, how much we have to share, and how much we have to keep back with ourselves. Our society always teaches us to share what remains after we have filled ourselves sumptuously. In societal point of view our sharing should in no way affect our personal life. However, the Gospel of Luke also known as the “sharing gospel” particularly takes us a step ahead into telling us that sharing should ensure equality and not hierarchy.

Postmodern understanding of charity is negative in terms of justice. The Greco-Roman world was also known for its sharing to the people, carried out in order to fulfill their religious practices. Here, John the Baptist challenges the crowd that the spiritual practice should ensure social justice. If you have two dresses share one; logically taking this into an account, if you share one when you have two, the recipient who receives it also becomes equal to the donor, as both would now have one each. In the Zacchaeus event also, it is very interesting to note that when he said “half” of my positions and “4 times” of repayment he did not talk about charity but justice. How is our sharing? Are we sharing in terms of charity to help a person just for the present, or for justice, which not only reaches one’s need but also gives a new identity and social recognition? Sharing food means making a commitment or relationship between two people not just in terms of subsistence sharing. Christian sharing never subjects people; it enriches their life and empowers their day-to-day experience. Here, John the Baptist calls for a radical generosity in which everything beyond subsistence necessities is vulnerable to the claim of need.

This gives us a clean chit that living in Christological hope does not ignore social concerns but provides the ground for such concerns as well as its motivation. John did not require his followers to follow his typical desert life-style; rather the life of one awaiting the kingdom of God was to be lived out in the world. The ultimate point is that right repentance will show itself in right behavior. When Jesus walked on the earth he never made anybody rich but he called many rich folk to share their wealth with the poor. Jesus knew that it is not socialism or capitalism that controls economics but human hearts and its desire.

Christian life is a life to share what we have: our wealth, knowledge, and above all, our life as our Savior gave life for you and me. May the good Lord give this grace to each one of us. Amen.

*Short transcript of a sermon , preached in UTC chapel,Bangalore .

Taize spirituality is the eastern version of the western Christianity which greatly absorbed the ideas of community life, corporate worship and Christ centered theology. Ecumenical in character, inclusive in liturgy and simple in lifestyle. On the whole Taize is trying to reconstruct the whole European Christianity which was in a great search for peace after two cruel world wars through geopel centered “love doctrine”. Though it was started in 1940s after 1950s only people were attracted towards it,according to Taize website. Geographically it is an European movement strategically serve the needs of European countries and its people without any biases. Bro.Roger, the founder of this movement is an outstanding leader and who started and built this community to a larger extent. I think his own efforts to innovate an alternative movement on the basis of gospel values and the doctrine of love ended up in Taize community, however I am very happy that it did not  emerge as an another institution at the beginning itself.

Brother Roger says  “God is love and love alone” , the emphasis on love from a gang of men is amazing however I did not find any way for a women in this society of  compassion and common living. Sometimes it reminds me of Puritans of Briton as well as the Pietist movement of Germany idealogically. However the liturgy uniquelly differentiate Taize from everyone, it’s a mixure of orthodox and catholic liturgy open to every traditions. Throughout my I stay I never come across an old Testament reading or bible meditation from Old testament, that challenged me a great extent and  proved me  living with gospel as well as the doctrine of Christ is possible though they never under estimated or ultimately subjugated Old testament as well as Old testament God.

I met vaiorus youths from throughout the Europe and their search for God is amazing.  Youth  involvement is remarkable in each and every area of this camp site starting from chapel to the wash room.  The religious hierarchy is still on with Taize I feel, though it could be avoidable one. I could not understand Taize community too follow the same monotanous alter table hierarchy. Living away from money and power is really surprising but meanime the pertaining question is whats their ultimate contribution to the larger humanity?

They have their own art expressions and standardisation of symbols which established as a trade mark of Taize. Symbols are expressed though modern art rather than a classical painting. To conclude Taize community has all features to be a church but its not. And all brothers are looking and working like priest  but they are not. Its an unique experimentaion how a simple life in the name Christ in this selfish and broken world is possible and a great extent this spirit of love and simplicity will spread throughout the humanity though the Taize visitors and volunteers. Taize will survive at least for a century since they are living in aloof. However , it would be wonderful if they reach out the larger world through love in action which Bro.Roger professed.

*Written after visiting  the Taize community, France.

*Written after participating in the Evangelical Kirchentag 2009 in Bremen, Germany.

Consumption with compassion

1.6 billion people – a quarter of humanity, live without electricity and approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished (http://www.globalissues.org/). However, the basic truth lies that every human in this world has the right to live with sufficient food. In reality, the majority of the world population is seen to have been always living in poverty and hunger, and ironically, this majority does not have any right to alter their destiny amidst the suppressing global economic orders. On the other hand, the remaining minority of the world are living in abundance, enjoying everyday life amidst unimaginable luxury. If one tries to decode this mystery of imbalance and inequality, one would eventually be thrown out the dominant system of global politics. Everyone knows the reason of this inequality and nobody really seems to be wanting to change the existing system. None of us dare to think beyond money.

In this context, it is our duty to ensure good life to our neighbors and the remaining creation. Compassion for neighbors and the remaining creation can be viewed as one of the solutions to resolve this crisis. We have realized that compassion is one of the powerful forces driving human beings to experience one another’s pain. When one feels the pain of one’s neighbor, what automatically follows, is an action to resolve the crisis. A compassionate heart is the source of goodwill and the cradle of positive change. Contemporary world has lost the value of compassion and is thriving in selfishness. Here we are discussing about the need for an attitudinal change in each and every person of the world to help one another and to share what we have with others in need. Compassion initiates transformation in a person, and continuous transformation results in the embellishment of the quality of life in society. Compassion is the prerequisite for being called human. Any human without compassion is not a human and whatever political, economical or social order without space for compassion is like vacuum. Be compassionate, consume with compassion, consider everyone in the world while laying development agendas, and lead the change.

Policy making with commitment

Policy makers are more responsible for global policies. Commitment of policy makers is the backbone of the world since we live in a political world. They should be committed to the welfare of people. They should be away from vested interests, political agendas and power clashes. The main cause of the current crisis is selfish policies of policy makers. Because uncommitted policy makers come to power for name and fame with great scholarship, family background and political influence, many of them never have experienced, or are ready to understand the real pain of any issue they are dealing with. Therefore, it is quite clear that the education, experience and achievements are an additional qualification where commitment is the prerequisite of policy making. When they commit themselves to the ideals of a just world in which all are living with peace, justice and equality, the world will live in peace and prosperity.

I have a fine illustration to quote. The Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh wanted to sign a nuclear deal with the US to meet the energy needs of India. However, majority of the political parties opposed the deal as part of their trivial politics in the name of “saving fraternity of India”(some criticisms are valid though). At the end of the high drama, Dr. Singh’s coalition government was ready to face the challenge and he even took up the risk of losing power to sign this agreement. In the Parliament, before the vote of confidence he submitted his response to the house (since the members did not allow him to read it), in which he stated, “Every day that I have been Prime Minister of India I have tried to remember the first ten years of my life which were spent in a village with no drinking water supply, no electricity, no hospitals, no roads, and nothing that we today associate with modern living. I had to study in the dim light of a kerosene oil lamp. This nation gave me the opportunity to ensure that such would not be the life of our children in the foreseeable future.” His personal commitment for the welfare of people single handedly made the agreement. And the not-so-good example from the US is the unwillingness to implement Kyoto protocol clearly depicting the selfish mentality of US policy makers. What a terrible example of their being uncommitted to humanity!

Conclusion
Compassion and commitment is the need of the day. Whether an ordinary man or a powerful policymaker, all are required to touch their heart and check whether they have compassion for the starving child in Africa and the dying people in Asia? These two binding qualities are the basics in order to contribute to the well being of life in the society. We have adequate money, multitude of resources and millions of people, yet no heart to help one another. If people and policy makers work together with commitment and compassion, then the crisis-free, human-centered development is possible with equal sharing and joy for all amidst this entire crisis because ALWAYS WE CAN

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ⁵Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. ⁶Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.                                                                                                                                            

Rejoice in the Lord always, this is the theme for our short reflection this morning. The above passage was written by St.Paul in the context of when the Philippians had sent Epaphroditus their messenger, with contributions to meet the needs of Paul; and on his return Paul sent this letter with him. Philippian church is one of the growing churches in Europe that time predominantly consists of ordinary people who have great passion for Paul and his ministry; they supported his ministry through their generous contributions. Paul knows the social, economic, political backgrounds of Philippian church and he wrote them to rejoice in the Lord always. 

Is it possible to rejoice in the Lord always? It’s very common to rejoice in the lord when we feel happy, secure and safe. But is it possible amidst crisis, chaos and controversies. It is not very easy to answer. However, the fact that the world is filled with both joys and sufferings and as Christians we are called to rejoice in the lord always. 

As we read Psalm 93 – it is a portrayal of a royal God. New Testament portrays a God of solidarity who identified himself with suffering humanity. So practically everyone is undergoing suffering though God is present always as a king and/or as a servant. So sufferings are unavoidable and rejoicing amidst suffering is the specialty of Christian faith.  

Asian Christian theologies which predominantly rooted on people’s struggles and their search for identity always transcend the sufferings and injustices and keep it afresh through rejoicing in the Lord always. Rejoicing in the Lord amidst chaos and disasters of this world sustains ones faith as well as self motivation and bring hope which is the backbone of Christianity. Yes, Rejoicing in the Lord always is not an abstract but an action, a state of mind filled with real joy in God.

Now I would like to challenge all of you though 3 living testimonies which I had encountered face to face to reflect on our faith deeper.

The first person is Mr.Parameshwaran, a Hindu convert who came to Jesus Christ through witnessing His amazing grace and blessed with three children as well as enormous wealth. On 25 December 2004 all his three loving children swept away by the Tsunami abruptly. To the core of the sadness, he found all the three dead bodies and buried alone around 7pm on the same day along with his wife. Is it possible for him to rejoice in the lord always? But he said “I love God and I am happy nowadays because of His grace”.

The second witness is about a committed doctor from one of the biggest medical colleges in India. He worked with all patients without any discrimination and inequality. When he treated an HIV/AIDS patient he was injured accidently and affected by HIV/AIDS. Now, he knows he is an HIV positive  but he continuously doing his job with same commitment and enthusiasm. Is it possible for him to rejoice in the lord always? He said “I am happy that the Lord with me and of course everyone has to leave from this world someday”  

The third person, a girl belongs to a tribal community in Orissa. Who was reportedly raped by four men for being Christian and for confessed her faith on Christ. In this context how can she rejoice in the Lord? But she said “I am happy for being a Christian and none of these (persecutions) can separate my love for Christ”.

These all are living witnesses who are challenging us to be happy in Christ always. That is our strength to move ahead amidst injustices, crises, chaos and sufferings in our enduring ecumenical journey to envision God’s realm.  

To conclude, it is the need of the day. As an ecumenical community working in solidarity with God, world and churches WE SHOULD ALWAYS REJOICE IN THE LORD. That sustains our optimism and hope to work more for God and His people in order to see a world with peace and love.

*A short reflection shared in WCC Chapel , Geneva on 22 March 2009.

Forests are a treasure of tranquility, a symbol of integrity, a source of diversity and a place of unity. We can find plenty of flora, fauna, trees, animals, birds and species living together with abounding love in the forest. Mixed fragrances, pure air, healthy herbals, roaring streams, descending falls and moving beings make a forest a lively playground of peace. Above all, its serene presence always leads into a celestial experience of all who enter and experience it. This essay is an exploration of the contribution of forests to the welfare of humankind, and human response to forests in order to understand the present scenario and reflect on the future of the human-forest relationship.

Forest as thriller

From my childhood onwards I was indoctrinated about forests through various ways. Most of my childhood bedtime stories started with, “There was a deep forest in which…” In addition, heroic adventures and especially movie thrillers were often shown as taking place in forest settings. Christian missionary organizations often portrayed forest and tribal people as individuals who were in danger from evil beasts, living in a threatened environment. In addition, Indian literature mostly portrayed forests as places for hermits and areas for divine mediation to escape from the chaos of the world.

Being fed with this kind of imagery, I was led into believing that people who lived in forests, particularly tribes, lacked culture. On the whole, I was educated that forests are dangerous places and the people who were living in forests were also dangerous.These kinds of notions and inputs led me into antiforest sentiments until I undertook intensive fieldwork in Similipal forest range in Orissa in August 2007. The 25-day stay at Similipal forest range, living in the forest with the people of the forest, changed my perception about forests and helped me to live and experience the real situation, rather than living in a strange imagination.

Forest as martyr

Forests always stand for human welfare and benefit. Everything found in the forest is used by human beings for sustaining their lives. For example, major deforestation took place in India beginning from 1853 to start railways; numerous trees were cut down to make “sleepers” and simultaneously used for fuel. Flowers, fruits, roots, leaves, stems, and seeds, everything has been given to humans, but the question persists as to why humans are concentrating on cutting trees, and destroying their lives? Trees have lives of their own; they live, bloom, and grow. How unethical is the human attitude towards trees in the forests! We, who call ourselves educated people, need to learn something from the people living at the grassroots.

The Dheevar caste of Bhandara district of Maharashtra never catch fish going upstream on spawning migration, although they are exhausted and easy to catch. There are entire sacred groves and ponds in which no plant or animal is damaged. (1994. M. Gadgil and K.C. Malhotra. The ecological significance of caste. In: Ramachandra Guha (Ed.) Social Ecology. Oxford University Press, Delhi, p.36).  During my fieldwork with tribal people in Similipal forest range and throughout our stay, we could not get milk for consumption, though there were numerous cows around. Once, we asked a lady who owned two cows, “Did you get milk from the cows?” Immediately she replied, “How can I get milk from the cow? Cow’s milk is the life of its calves and it is unethical to suck one’s life to nourish ourselves.” I then understood why they didn’t drink cow’s milk; they were only using cow dung as manure in their fields. It is very important for us as a literate human generation to ethically look into the issue of deforestation. We have been taking each and every product of the trees; we have been cutting the generous friend – the God-given gift that is the tree itself – out of our utter selfishness.

Certainly, we should regard all the trees as martyrs as we get rains through them, we get good air through them, good food through them, and so on. On the whole, when we acknowledge the sacrifice of trees simultaneously, it is our commitment to save and sustain their life in order to create a greener and healthier world.

Forest as healer

Human atrocities over nature have increased, and consequently human beings and the earth have both become ill. Climate change is one of the worst effects in this regard. It is the time to heal our earth as well as the human generation. When the tsunami devastated South Asia in 2004, one of the major reasons for the damage was the eradication of mangrove forests and coral reefs in the shore area by the shrimp industry. Now governments and NGOs are planting mangroves and nurturing coral reefs in the sea shore. From this example it is very clear that trees are not only martyrs, but also healers. If we grow trees we will enhance water resources; perhaps we may be saved from tsunamis and save the world from climate change. Trees and forests are the hope of the world; they heal the human spirit, enrich life’s experience and give people peace. Poet and Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh from Vietnam, who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr., in his book Touching Peace, Practicing the Art of Mindful Living, describes a human-nurturing tree-ritual: “Ten years ago, I planted three beautiful Himalayan cedars outside my hermitage [in France], and now, whenever I walk by one of them, I bow, touch its bark with my cheek, and hug it. As I breathe in and out mindfully, I look at its branches and beautiful leaves. I receive a lot of peace and sustenance from hugging trees. Touching a tree gives both you and the tree great pleasure. Trees are beautiful, refreshing, and old. When you want to hug a tree, it will never refuse. You can rely on trees. I have even taught my students the practice of tree hugging … In the same way we touch trees, we can touch ourselves and others, with compassion. Yes, trees are our friends. They listen to us, care for us, speak to us through their soft leaves, kiss us with beautiful flowers and feed us with kindness through their fruits. How sweet it is!”.

Conclusion

The main challenge is to connect humans and forests. The social understanding and the so-called development theories have clearly divided people from the forest. It is very important for people to understand that forests are part of our world and that they should be taken care of by us. For example, my stay at Similipal forest range in August 2007 was quite strange and scintillating – in the deep forest with no mobile phone tower or television, low voltage power – just a transistor  radio which received programs from All India Radio, and only a few people. Every night when I went to sleep, I checked my bed and nearby places fearing the presence of snakes. So much did I feel uncomfortable, and filled with hatred towards the forest. However, after 25 days, I realized that it was the most peaceful place in the world; a pure world of nature, and people with nature, and this learning experience led me to care for trees, because of which I am now concerned about nature. This is the real scenario of 75-90 percent of the population of India towards the forest.

It is my sincere suggestion that the Government and institutions should concentrate on the youngsters and teach them the reality of the forest and its life and work for humanity. If they witness this truth, no one would harm trees and they would promote forestation and also begin to nurture nature.

Practically speaking, school and college children should be taken into the forest and given a chance to explore its beauty and appreciate its nobility from their childhood, through excursions, study trips and picnics. Misinterpretations and wrong indoctrinations about forests need to be stopped.

The tourism department of India is advertising Indian forests to foreign tourists only to generate wealth, but local people are poorly aware or misinformed of forest tourism. This has to be rectified. Media, such as newspapers, radio, television, and so on, promote the importance of forests throughout their programs. Tribal people and their good social values and practices need to be imparted to the mainstream. Philosophical and religious understanding of forests should be reconstructed with optimism and hope.

Above all, as committed human beings we should spend much time in promoting forestation and eradicating deforestation collectively. I believe that these things would create a greener environment and help us to enhance the existing forests and to create more.

To conclude, I would like to say that when we enjoy forests and their resources we should always remember our responsibility to care for forests and pass them to the coming generations, inviting them to express their solidarity with us in this noble mission. The idea of forest as a thriller should be enjoyed, forest as martyr should be remembered, and forest as healer should be practiced.

The first and main research challenge is to find out how the global health research community understands their research activities for the health of vulnerable populations. The United Nations (UN) predicts that climate change will sweep people’s lives through unpredicted weather conditions. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicts that food security is threatened and famine will increase, with the food crisis potentially leading to civil unrest. The World Health Organization (WHO) prophesies that populations in developing countries will be easily subject to vector-borne diseases, such as malaria, because of increasing heat and immune deficiency. It is very clear that global institutions should look into the issues, research, analyse and predict future impacts to some extent. Unfortunately the need of the day, however, is not just prediction but an effective prevention strategy that will save people. Contemporary health research is very much concentrated on finding the problem, scaling up the problem, analysing the problem and making policy recommendations. Is it appropriate? I strongly believe that health research is the hope of the world and good research starts with people and ends with people. Research that starts with people, but ends in paper is dead. Living research is initiated directly from people’s problems, processed in the academic arena and ends with finding a solution to clear or decrease the effects of the problem. Now the global health research community should test out their conscience. Are we researching to merely predict what is going to happen to people or really striving to save people’s lives through our preventive research? Since climate change is an unavoidable and invisible enemy it is not easy to root out, but it is possible to prevent future chaos through our collective research and participatory action.

The second main research challenge is how the global health research community proceeds in their research for the health of vulnerable communities. Most of the research that is focused on climate change, as well as its effects on humankind, concentrates on numbers rather than answers; it is confined very much to statistics and not really moving towards solutions. I personally feel that it is not important to know how many might be affected, but rather how we are going to save them using our action-based research. Our research is technically fit, academically sound and globally valid, but what is the use of research that does not even propose an answer to the problem? Research claims that it has a “thesis” of how our findings are really worked out with people. For me, however, solutions are not superlative ideas but transformative actions that empower people. For example, Professor Mohammed Younis, who started his microfinance venture with one rupee in a small village in Bangladesh, transformed the whole world through his action-based thesis. When we start to count heads it becomes a kind of academic exercise, but true solution seekers are committed to their cause and passionate about people. On the whole, it is very important to focus our research on solutions rather than statistics that merely understand the number, difference of percentage, proportion of the problem and the timeline of the process. Billions of people are on the fray of climate change and every one speaks about it, writes about it and thinks about it. We, the health researchers of the world, however, are expected to deliver solutions to save vulnerable populations from climate change.

The third main research challenge for the health of vulnerable populations is how global health research is going to reach those vulnerable populations. Closing the gap between researchers and people is important. Climate change affects everyone but only a very few people have the rationale to understand that they have been affected by climate change. In this context, how are we going to make vulnerable populations realize that they are the real victims and ultimate losers of nature’s politics. It is not important how much we know through our research, but how much our people know through our research. Contemporary research is too often dwelling in the academic forts of scholars and policy-makers; it is living far away from ordinary people. So it is our commitment to carry our research to the people to make them understand the reality because people’s problem can be solved only by people. Policies, working papers, status papers and research reports are good, but the findings and solutions should be communicated to the other end. For example, at the time of the south Asian tsunami, a warning message was communicated to the Indian Government, but they did not take it seriously and the result was terrible. If they had communicated effectively to their people they could have saved thousands of lives in India. I feel it is a kind of crime to restrict knowledge and confine it at policy level. Breaking papers and sharing it with people is the ultimate need of the day. We have knowledge, brilliance of research and enormous capacity to execute solutions through our findings, but unfortunately everything is stored in one place and becomes static and unusable. Contemporary research on this basis is creating more complicated policies on the issues and never allows people to come forward and live with it. Our research should be people-centred and policy-focused and not policy-centred and people-focused, because ultimately we need people-centred policies that ensure life and dignity to all.

Climate change and the health of vulnerable populations are intertwined. The hope is that the international health research community is doing many things to save the health of vulnerable populations. In this context, I propose some ideas to enrich contemporary health research to maintain the welfare of vulnerable communities from the evil effects of climate change. Dissemination of knowledge is important; research findings and solutions should be communicated to every one by using modern information and communication technologies (ICTs). Students, and especially youth, should be informed well about these emerging challenges. Creating health clubs in schools and colleges will be helpful. Since the fight against climate change is global, language monopoly should be removed and all information should be translated into all major languages at least in brief. Population is power, so if we reach more people then we get more action. We need more action from all parts of the world to fight against climate change. In addition, grass-roots level research should be given importance. It should not only be the think- tanks and policy-makers who are involved in research, but indigenous people, social activists and passionate students who make a difference.

Global institutions should concentrate on grass-roots level research and should promote it through their academic leadership, research expertise and seed funding. As I mentioned earlier, climate change is a strange phenomenon. To be realistic it cannot be cured but can be prevented, so we need to find prevention strategies to save people from this chronic disease. On the whole, global research institutions should reinterpret their understanding of health research and contextualize it according to local people and their health needs. Simultaneously, it has to move beyond existing procedures of research to focus on exciting statistics and innovating ideas with the aim of finding solutions for problems with great optimism. Then, what is the definition of solution in this context? To put it simply, solutions are activated ideas. We have plenty of ideas on paper, but it is time to activate all those ideas into action. To conclude, health research should reach people. It should not be conducted for the sake of funding, policy-making, politics or profit. It should be conducted for people by committed people who have great passion for human dignity and health justice. Ultimately, health research should drive people to save themselves from climate change through practical solutions and people-centred policies. When health research and people’s action merge together then it will become the vaccination of climate change, sustaining life for all, and for vulnerable populations in particular.

The issues surrounding water is more poltical than social. For example, in my district, we have a dam with a solid irrigation facilities, but the whole agriculture field surrounding the dam is belong to a particular politician and it is very interesting, many of my village people are saying that this politician built this dam to harvest his own field. When Coca-cola tries to set up its bottling unit on the bank of Tamiraparani river in my district we protested and stopped that project in order to save ground water, that time I was serving as a ministerial candidate in Church.

After this incident, many of my congregation members questioned my inegrity and some openly asked us why did you oppossed Coca- cola? (One of the big contributors of the Christian church!!!) Then I shared this fact with them in detail. UN estimates, the total amount of water on earth is about 1400 million cubic kilometre However the fresh water constitutes a very small proportion of this enormous quantity. About 2.7 per cent of the total water available on the earth is fresh water of which about 75.2 per cent lies frozen in Polar Regions and another 22.6 per cent is present as ground water. The rest is available in lakes, rivers, atmosphere, moisture, soil and vegetation. What is effectively available for consumption and other uses is a small proportion of the quantity available in rivers, lakes and ground water. Among these 22.6 percent nearly 1% may be avilable in India for a billion people. If this is also taken away by MNCs for business, and contaminated by industries where will people go for life. So it’s our commitment to protect the natural resources.

Protect: As a community it is our commitment to protect ground water in order to live healthy from commercialisation as well as conatmination.
Share: As a community it is our commitment to share it justly, in order to all people live in abundance.
Celebrate: As a community it is our commitment to celebrate fullness of life to all by potecting and sharing water, the precious gift of God.

Protect! Share! Celebrate!

 Firstly, they have to accept and understand economy and its importance. Majority of the population in India, least bother about economy and development. In my state, Tamilnadu, if anyone studies economy in school or college he/she must be the poorest student. The philosophical indoctrination inculcated by various religions in India, made majority of the people as the existentialist and epicureans. A man who does not have anything is saint here; this kind of religious beliefs subsided economic interests of people. So, most of the people believe that just it is enough to be fed three times a day. There is no vision and passion for growth and achievement.

Secondly, the economic reasoning must important. The liberalization opens its gate to the development of software business in India. MNCs and TNCs are flourishing. Now an ordinary student’s ambition in India is doing an engineering degree, get a placement in a software company, earn good salary, get marry an employed girl (majority, most probably a software engineer from the same company, if possible), then they both work together and earn money as much as they can. Finally, after some years only they realize that they have lost their life and its fullness. Economy should enrich human development; here, one extreme people least bother about economy and other extreme people are meditating upon economy, and they are ready to lose anything to earn money. This is the first and foremost part should be repaired in India. If we educate both people, in a right manner; there is a possibility of   balance growth which covers the whole society and enriches the whole community. This is the first step towards a balance economic development, if we cannot repair the fundamental mistake here, we cannot solve the problem. This is the development model from below, if all our people understand development correctly and applies it systematically from grassroots level, it is possible to reach a just development which empower community and integrate our people in the global race for a developed nation.