The JESA Province Coordinators of Social Action (CSAs), Directors of ISIs and Bagaicha and JESA Secretary along with Fr. Bertram Rozario, Provincial of Pune, representative of JCSA, had their annual meeting at the Jesuit Retreat House in Bandra, Mumbai from 21-23 August 2010. Twenty one of them gathered at this 3 day meeting deliberated on the Major frontiers in Social Apostolate in each of the provinces and discerned on the common challenges for South Asian Assistancy. They also shared on the hopes experienced, available opportunities and their concerns for the future. Another major area of reflection and sharing was on the emerging need for ‘Global Ignatian Advocacy Network’ (GIAN).

“The incidents of Kandhamal are a national shame and a complete defacement of humanity”, said Justice A.P. Shah, the head of the Jury for the National People’s Tribunal on Kandhamal. Along with Justice Shah, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, there were 11 other prominent citizens of the country in the Jury. The tribunal held on 22-24 August 2010 was organized by the National Solidarity Forum (NST) - a countrywide solidarity platform of concerned citizens and civil society organizations to assist the victims and survivors of the Kandhamal violence 2008 to seek justice, accountability and peace and to restore the victim-survivors’ right to a dignified life.

Madhya Pradesh JESA feeling the need to reorganize and strengthen civil societies, peoples’ organizations and other likeminded movements for people centric advocacy initiatives in the area of livelihood rights of the adivasis organized a two-day training program on “Indigenous People and their entitlement to Constitutional Provisions” from August 28 – 29, 2010 at Pastoral Centre in Jashpur District of Chattisgarh. More than 100 participants from different civil societies and peoples’ organizations attended the training.

Thirty Jesuits and their collaborators from 13 Social centres of Madurai Province along with their Provincial Fr. Devadoss came together for their Annual General Body meeting of JESA on 28-29th August at IDEAS Centre, Madurai. The 2-day discussion focussed on three major issues: a) Challenges before the assembly election in Tamilnadu next year; b) Situation in Sri Lanka and c) Strategies for Madurai Province JESA in the future.

“I am speaking on behalf of all the participants of this Para Legal Training. We are feeling very happy and fortunate to have had a chance to participate in such a training. We feel we could face the world now confidently and help our world to become better!” were the words of Hannaben as she was happily sharing her experience of the training with the audience.

At the initiative of the Madurai Province Task Force for the Humanitarian Aid and Advocacy for Sri Lankan Tamils, Loyola College, Chennai has launched a new website for promoting the Just cause of the Sri Lankan Tamil sisters and brothers. It is yet another attempt of the concerned citizens to keep alive the cause of the battered and wounded Sri Lankan Tamils for a dignified living in their own country.

In view of the forthcoming Fourth World Social Forum on Migration (WSFM) to be held in Quito, Ecuador from 8-10 October 2010, the Society of Jesus – through the Secretariat for Social Justice and Ecology in Rome, the Conference of Provincials in Latin America (CPAL), the Province of Ecuador, the Jesuit Refugee Service of Latin America and the Caribbean (SJR-LAC), and the Jesuit Migration Service of Latin America and the Caribbean (SJM-ALyC) - is organizing a Pre-Forum on migration for works and apostolates of the universal society from October 4-6 in order to:

In June this year, JESA-Gujarat embarked on a massive campaign in order to ensure that the Right to Food becomes a reality for the poor and marginalized in Gujarat. The programme in the initial phase will be taken to nine hundred villages and fifty slum settlements of the state. The eleven centres involved in this unique collaborative venture are: AKY (Bhiloda), Ashadeep, Behavioural Science Centre (BSC), Borpada, Navsarjan, Nyaya Darshan, Prashant, Rajpipla SSS, Sangath, Shakti-LAHRC and St. Xavier’s Social Service Society (SXSSS).