06-15-2007, 08:58 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Church to identify Dalits: Bishop </b>
Durgesh Nandan Jha | New Delhi
Diocese of Delhi of the Church of North India has assigned to itself the role of caste certifying authority for Christians.
According to Bishop Karam Masih, his office would issue certificates to Dalit Christians for the purpose of seeking admission to St Stephen's College, or for that matter, any other educational institution under the diocese. The matter of defining Dalit Christians and their entitlement to reservation is, however, still pending in the Supreme Court.
According to the bishop, who is also the chairman of the supreme council and the governing body of St Stephen's College, the certificates would be provided to the Christians depending on their origin and not on their financial status.<b> "Dalits who have converted to Christianity will be called Dalit Christians. Poverty cannot be a criteria for this,"</b> <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->Â he said, adding that a Hindu-Brahmin, converting to Christianity will not be called Dalit Christian.
<b>Masih said that in States like Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand, there are villages for the Dalit Christians and all the churches can easily identify Dalits among the Christians. "All the churches know who is a Dalit Christian and who is not. We can easily identify them," </b>asserted Masih.
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Durgesh Nandan Jha | New Delhi
Diocese of Delhi of the Church of North India has assigned to itself the role of caste certifying authority for Christians.
According to Bishop Karam Masih, his office would issue certificates to Dalit Christians for the purpose of seeking admission to St Stephen's College, or for that matter, any other educational institution under the diocese. The matter of defining Dalit Christians and their entitlement to reservation is, however, still pending in the Supreme Court.
According to the bishop, who is also the chairman of the supreme council and the governing body of St Stephen's College, the certificates would be provided to the Christians depending on their origin and not on their financial status.<b> "Dalits who have converted to Christianity will be called Dalit Christians. Poverty cannot be a criteria for this,"</b> <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->Â he said, adding that a Hindu-Brahmin, converting to Christianity will not be called Dalit Christian.
<b>Masih said that in States like Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand, there are villages for the Dalit Christians and all the churches can easily identify Dalits among the Christians. "All the churches know who is a Dalit Christian and who is not. We can easily identify them," </b>asserted Masih.
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