Indian Social Institute (ISI) will be organizing its First Paul G Memorial Lecture on 21 December 2012 from 3.30 pm to 5.15 pm. The Lecture will be delivered by Fr Ambrose Pinto on ATTACK ON FREE SPEECH & ITS IMPACTS ON DEMOCRACY. On that day, ISI Documentation Centre at the ground floor will be renamed as Paul G Documentation Centre. Official email invitation will be sent to all our friends and partners followed by printed invitation letter. Kindly spread this good news.

Joe Xavier, ED, ISI-New Delhi

New Delhi, October 12: The Staff and the Jesuit Community at ISI, New Delhi extended a warm welcome to Fr. Patxi, the Secretary for Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat (SJES).

Fr. Patxi, visited ISI-Delhi, and the provinces of Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Dumka-Raiganj and Calcutta. He was accompanied by his colleague Fr. Xavier Jeyaraj.  They also participated in the JESA Province Coordinators Meet from 23-26 October in Goa.

The Human Rights Education, texts books for VI, VII, VIII and IX standard opens the door to an enchanting new world of human dignity, rights and responsibilities for every living being on earth. That is why this book can become a treasure for each one of you.

It is co-authored by Aloysius Irudayam SJ, Cyril Anthony SJ, Mary John, Joe Rosario and Bella and is co-published by TNPCRI, Tamil Nadu-Pondy, Mithra Foundation, Bangalore and IDEAS Centre, Madurai.

“We are happy to have a Jesuit among us” expressed one of the Steering Group members of the powerful ‘Right To Food Campaign’ at their meeting on 28^th August 2012 in Delhi. Irudaya Jothi SJ is a member of this Extended Steering Committee of RTFC and participates in their discussion and decision making with regard to Grass-root conscientisation of RTF demands and taking it up at State and National level in advocacy and Lobbying.

Calcutta, August 17: Pope Benedict XVI in his Encyclical Caritas in Veritate wrote, “Love – Caritas – is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace (No.1)”. In order to ensure justice and peace for human beings, created in the image and likeness of God, we need to work for human promotion based on an authentic spirituality and integrity of creation.

Maharashtra Prabodhan Seva Mandal in collaboration with the Central Board for Workers’ Education

Introduction: The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) has been the flagship of the UPA-II government and was probably responsible for steering it to victory in the last general election. Recognizing its tremendous potential to reach the heart of rural India and the enormous goodwill it can generate, the government pushed for maximum implementation of the program in the run up to the regional elections in 2012.

Theme: Ecology from the Perspective of the Marginalized-Dalits, Adivasis and other backward classes.

Introduction: SAPI National workshop held at Bagaicha, Ranchi, Jharkhand from August 17-19, 2012, had 79 men and women from 8 States. It was participatory in nature, based on the theme: “Ecology from the perspective of the marginalized – Dalits, Adivasis and other backward classes. It called for taking more proactive responsibility to preserve and save Mother Earth (Ecology). The interactions and discussions during the workshop enabled the participants to come up with practical suggestions in response to certain challenges before SAPI; most importantly, making it independent and secular platform for lay leadership.

The recent Bodo-Muslim killings in the Kokrajhar and Chirang districts of western Assam have confirmed many in India that the Northeast is only a region of conflicts. It has also reopened the debate on the immigrants, particularly from Bangladesh. One cannot doubt that ethnic conflicts have been intrinsic to the Northeast.