Goethals Indian Library and Research Society, Kolkata.
Vol. X I No. 3 Bulletin July-Sep 2008
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
GOAL 1: ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY & HUNGER
Reduce by half the
proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day
Achieve full and productive
employment and decent work for all, including women and young people
Reduce by half the
proportion of people who suffer from hunger
GOAL 2: ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION
Ensure that all boys and
girls complete a full course of primary schooling
GOAL 3: PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN
Eliminate gender disparity
in primary and secondary education
GOAL 4: REDUCE CHILD MORTALITY
Reduce by two thirds the
under-five mortality rate
GOAL 5: IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH
Reduce by three quarters
the maternal mortality ratio
GOAL 6: COMBAT HIV/AIDS, MALARIA AND OTHER DISEASES
Halt and begin to reverse
the spread of HIV/AIDS
Achieve, by 2010, universal
access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it
Have halted and begun to
reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases
GOAL 7: ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Integrate the principles of
sustainable development into country policies and programmes
and reverse the loss of environmental resources
Reduce biodiversity loss,
achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss
Halve the proportion of the
population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic
sanitation
Improve the lives of at
least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020
GOAL 8: DEVELOP A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT
Address the special needs
of least developed countries, landlocked countries and small island developing
states
Develop further an open,
rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system
Deal comprehensively with
developing countries’ debt
In cooperation with
developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and
productive work for youth
In cooperation with
pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in
developing countries
In cooperation with the
private sector, make available benefits of new technologies, especially
information and communications
The
Millennium Development Goals
The
eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which
range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and
providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015, form a
blueprint agreed to by all the countries of the world and all the leading
development institutions.
The MDGs represent a global
partnership that has grown from the commitments and targets established at the
world summits of the 1990s. Responding to the world's main development
challenges and to the calls of civil society, the MDGs
promote poverty reduction, education, maternal health, gender equality, and aim
at combating child mortality, AIDS and other diseases.
Set for the year 2015, the MDGs are an agreed set of goals that can be achieved if all actors work together and do their part. Poor countries have pledged to govern better, and invest in their people through health care and education. Rich countries have pledged to support them, through aid, debt relief, and fairer trade.
World
leaders will come together in
"The MDGs are still
achievable if we act now. This will require inclusive sound governance,
increased public investment, economic growth, enhanced productive capacity, and
the creation of decent work." UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon.
End poverty by 2015
This
is the historic promise 189 world leaders made at the United Nations Millennium
The MDGs will not be achieved unless each of us plays our part
to make sure that the promises made are delivered. It is up to us to remind our
governments, in both rich and poor countries that we expect them to deliver. No
more excuses. Join the growing global movement of people who are demanding that
their government honor their commitments to achieve the MDGs
by 2015. Rich or poor, young or old, man or woman, your voice counts.
Nearly
1 billion people live on less than $1 per day—yet the world has never been so prosperous.The world has enough money, resources and
technology to end poverty forever. 2007 marks the halfway point to achieving
the MDGs and at this rate many Goals will not be met.
It is more urgent than ever that we intensify our efforts to demand that
promises made to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals and end poverty are kept.
The Millennium Development Goals are a unique
opportunity to finally end poverty. For the first time, commitments have been
made at the highest political level to see these Goals achieved and end extreme
poverty. The Goals are achievable; they have timelines and deadlines; they are
locally defined and measurable. For the first time, there is an agreed global
compact in which rich and poor countries recognize that they share the
responsibility to end poverty and its root causes. But only
if governments take urgent and concrete action now.
ASIA-PACIFIC REGION
Poverty
continues to prevail in the world. According to Asian Development Bank, 1.5
billion people in the Asia-Pacific region still live on less than two U.S.
dollars a day.
In
recent years, the Asia-Pacific region has experienced sustained high growth
rates, with average economic growth of about 6 percent per year. However,
around 600 million people in the region are surviving on less than one dollar a
day.
Non-income
poverty is proving to be persistent, as evidenced by the millions of children
who still live in hunger, as well as unacceptably high maternal and child
mortality, poor quality education in many countries, and lack of access to
adequate water and sanitation.
Will
the Asia-Pacific nations meet the MDGs by 2015?
Malaria
Control Goals Are Likely To Be Unachievable
The Sixth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to halt and
begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases globally is
unlikely to be met, according to Wellcome Trust
Principal Research Fellow Professor Bob Snow based at the Kenya Medical
Research Institute (KENRI) in Nairobi.
Malaria
is one of the world's biggest killers, killing over a million people every
year, mainly children and pregnant women in Africa and
According
to research conducted by Prof. Snow as part of the Malaria Atlas Project, over
40% of the world's population is at risk from infection from the P. falciparum parasite.
"There
is clearly a lot of good will from the international community to tackle
malaria, but more money needs to be invested and this needs to be distributed
more equitably," says Professor Snow.
In
2007, annual funding for malaria control, which includes insecticide-spraying,
use of insecticide-treated bed nets and access to rapid diagnosis and medicine,
amounted to US$1 billion -- less than US$1 per person at risk. Previous studies
have estimated the optimum amount required to tackle malaria to be between US$
4-5.
"Sixteen
countries – that is half of all the people at most risk -- receive less than
fifty cents for each person at risk". "This includes seven of the
poorest countries in Africa and two of the most densely populated at-risk
countries in the world,
UN a million miles from meeting development goals
Gordon Brown has used his first speech to the UN as prime minister to warn
the world that it is a "million miles" from meeting its promises to
relieve poverty, HIV and illiteracy in poor countries.
Mr Brown told that, at the current rate,
some of the UN's touchstone Millennium Development Goals - due to be fulfilled
by 2015 - were a century away from being honoured. Describing
this as a "global emergency", he focused relentlessly on the role
businesses and faith groups - as well as governments - had to play in
reinvigorating progress.
He said: "Some people call it the mobilisation of soft power. I call it people power, people
power in support of the leadership of developing countries." In strongly
moral language he called it a "coalition of conscience" and a
"coalition for justice", which in the end could make "globalisation a force for justice on a global scale".
Mr Brown told his audience: "We cannot
allow our promises that became pledges to descend into just aspirations, and
then wishful thinking, and then only words that symbolise
broken promises. "So it is time to call it what
it is: a development emergency which needs emergency action. "If 30,000
children died needlessly and avoidably every day in
On current rates, Mr
Brown pointed out that it would take until 2100, not 2015, to provide worldwide
primary education. A UN progress report
on meeting the goals found that while the proportion of people living on one
dollar a day or less had declined from 45.9% to 41.1% since 1999, reaching the
MDG target of halving the extent of extreme poverty by 2015 required that the
current pace be almost doubled.
There has been progress towards universal primary
education, with enrolment increasing from 57% in 1999 to 70% in 2005 - but a
gap of 30% remained, and the number of school-age children was increasing
daily. "Today we should evoke the same spirit to forge a coalition for
justice." And when conscience is joined to conscience, moral force to
moral force, think how much of our power to do good
can achieve.
Changing role of the UN
The role of the UN has been under
scrutiny since the end of the Cold War – but more particularly since the
Security Council’s refusal to condone intervention in
The duplication and fragmentation of mandates raises the fundamental question on what should the UN be doing?
There are three main categories of UN activities:
(a) Core activities that it does well and where there is a high level of global support: these include humanitarian responses through OCHA: UNAIDS; the specialized agencies and in particular those with a strong brand name such as UNICEF or the World Food Programme.
(b) Core activities where it does reasonably well but where demand is outstripping supply and there is a significant degree of overstretch – principally peacekeeping and peace operations.
(c) New areas where the UN needs to go to respond to new problems and to remain relevant; these are operational, conceptual and organizational and to prove themselves.
- Samrat Roy
A New Dawn at Salpukur
On 3rd August 2008, students of St. Xavier’s College took two more steps ahead. Fr. Felix Raj laid the foundation for Snegam work in Salpukur, a village situated in South 24 Parghanas of West Bengal near Nepalgunj. The village children numbering more than 200, along with the village elders attended the function. A very special guest was Mr. Ghani Gazi, about 111 years old, standing tall and confident amidst the crowd with a broad smile. At the end of the programme, Fr. Felix Raj felicitated Mr. Gazi.
Chapel cum Study Centre Inaugurated in Debipur
August 3rd was a
red-letter day for the people of Debipur. After the programme in Salpukur, all of us
along with Fr. Felix Raj marched to Debipur under Raghabpur Parish
where the efforts of SXC students under Snegam had
already begun a year ago. Fr. Felix Raj inaugurated
the newly renovated
Aryaman Kejriwal, SXC
AICUF
(Excerpts
from the Keynote address of Fr. Felix Raj to the
AICUF National Council on August 13 at Chennai.)
“Allow me friends, right at the
start, to touch upon the personality of a Person who has guided AICUF all these
years and walked with us in all we have done. The Person is Jesus Christ. It is
in Him and in His life we take inspiration as AICUFers.
He is the ideal example of service, activism, harmony and revolution. He was
the apostle who promoted communities of fellowship and a society based on love,
peace and justice. We owe everything to this
I am reminded of what Swami
Vivekananda once said: “If I were to be among the apostles of Jesus, I
would have washed his feet with the blood of my heart”. We are His disciples,
called to wash one another’s feet and the feet of the world with our blood. As
What Jesus said 2000 years ago is very true to us: “You are the light of the world”. We are the light of the world. When I meet students like you, I see sparks in them and I see light in them. They are the ‘Taare Zamin Par’. The world has had many sparks and many lamps in its history – individual persons, groups, NGOs etc. That is why the world continues to exist. I can give you many examples. One of them is what happened 84 years ago. A small SICUF-spark became AICUF-flame. It is a flame that has lit many flames and brought brightness in the lives of many students.
The strength and brightness of the AICUF-flame are found in its preamble with its diverse perspectives. I want to emphasize them. AICUFers stand for service and liberation of human persons as Jesus did. This charism of AICUF has transformed hundreds of students over the years under the able and committed leadership of many national and state advisers: Frs Carty, Ceyrac, Beckers, Claude, Tagore, Gabriel, Manu, Amal and Henry and so on. It has challenged them to claim their identity as dynamic activists and vanguards of emerging civil society. Service to humanity is our way to realize the vision of a new and just society.
It is often said, “Think globally and act locally”. This global – local dimension is brought out in the remaining three perspectives in the preamble, which are identities as Indian, Catholic and University student. These are important identities to realize our universal mission. But we should not be bogged down by these restricted identities and forget the global one. Global and local identities are mutually inter-related. We must understand their richness and take advantage of them to enrich our action.
A student movement must be grassroots-based, democratic and progressive with a clear ideology and organizational structure. There must be a united effort to translate concerns into action by sharing resources, building networks and challenging issues. Otherwise students become vulnerable and they can be used and co-opted by vested and political interests as it is happening in many countries. Many political and religious groups exploit the susceptility of student organization.
Student organizations patronized by
political parties disturb the administrative and academic climate of university
and college campuses.
Age group 18-25 is a vital section of a
country. This group is vulnerable, yet dynamic. About 14% of
Friends, this council begins the preparation for the consultation next year. The 5th National Convention will be held in 2010. It is time that we begin to reclaim the student activism without of course, neglecting the importance of reflection. The praxis we follow will make us torchbearers of peace and harmony. Students are leaders today. They must seriously resolve to be the agents of a just civil society.
We need to further renew the AICUFness in each one and the commitment to the movement.
AICUF must spread its wings far and wide and embrace more students and teachers
to become agents of change. We need to work with other movements with similar
vision and charism. The advisers’ network must be
strengthened to facilitate serious reflection among students. National, state
and regional ties need to be strengthened. Let us begin with the study of the
Constitution to understand the AICUF ideology better. AICUF identity must be
deepened in each AICUFer and adviser. AICUFers must be rooted in the movement’s ideology, if we
want to change the country and the world. Each AICUFer
is a spark. And the spark must be kept alive. Let us not forget we are
living in the land of million sparks.”
Father Felix Raj Awarded by Rotary Club
Fr. Felix Raj SJ was awarded the MAHADEOLAL
SARAOGI AWARD for the year 2008
by the Rotary Club of Calcutta Welfare
Trust on 3rd June 2008. This was a clear recognition of his
service to the poor and the downtrodden.
The function was attended by some of the eminent personalities and many
Rotarians of Calcutta. Honorable Chief Justice (Retd.) U. C. Banerjee who
worked as High Court Judge in the Hyderabad High Court chaired the
function.
The
Award Ceremony was held at Rotary Sadan, Kolkata at 7 in the evening. The Rotary Club of Calcutta
recognizes one individual every year for his or her outstanding contribution
for the service of poor.
Since Fr. Felix Raj could
not attend the Award Function due his other engagement, I received it on his
behalf from the Honorable Chief Justice (Retd.) U. C.
Banerjee. The Award carried a Certificate of
Appreciation.
Fr.
Felix Raj is involved in many programmes
for the poor through education, women’s empowerment and community development.
He has inspired many of his students to become agents of constructive
socio-economic development. I am proud to confess that I am one of them.
Paritosh Majumdar
Secretary-Director, Parivartan Social Welfare Society
Automium and Mini-Europe
While in Bruxells,
Fr. Hincq (86) took me around the city particularly
to the Automium and the Mini-Europe. The Atomium, designed by engineer Andre Waterkeyn
to represent
Mini-Europe gives an exciting
voyage through
Schuman
is acclaimed a faithful Catholic and there are efforts to beatify him. I stayed
at St. Michells Jesuit community which looks after
the
This year,
Between February
and July 1858, Our Lady appeared to Bernadette 17 times. At the 9th
apparition on February 25 Bernadette was asked to drink from the spring and
wash herself. From that day on, the spring has grown into a fountain with
healing properties and never ceased to flow. It was in the 13th
apparition that our Lady asked Bernadette to go and tell the priest to build a
Church.
To see thousands of pilgrims from every
nation and every culture - the healthy and the sick, the aged and the young,
visiting our Lady of Lourdes is a miracle.
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC CONGRESS
This year, the International
Economic Congress was held at
VISIT
TO THE S(E)OUL OF
Fr.
Felix Raj paid a three-day visit to the
He
had cordial meetings with the president, vice-president and deans of the
University. They showed keen interest in academic collaboration with Xavier’s.
He has worked out some concrete exchange programs between the two.
His
visit coincided with the recent protest of Korean people against the import of
beef from
New Arrivals:
1.
1857 Revolt against the Raj
by Mukherjee, R. and Kapoor,
Pramod, Lustre Press, Roli Books,
2.
A Matter of Equity Freedom of Faith in Secular
3.
Buddhist Philosophy by Sharma T. R., Eastern
Book Linkers,
4.
Divine Knowledge and Yoga by Gupta, M. L., Madan Seva Trust,
5. Indian Economy by Raj, J. Felix
(Ed), Deep and Deep Publications Pvt. Ltd.,
6. Journeying Together in Faith
by Edwin, V and Daly, Edwin SJ.
7. Kailas-Manasarovar by Pranavananda,
Swami FRGS, Admirers of Swami Pranavananda,
8. Origin of the Kolkata Police by Nair, P. T., Punthi Pustak, Kolkata, 2007.
9.
Other Religions of the World by Seangpolsit, P. Gyan Publishing
House,
10. Philosophies
of Samkhya and Locke by
11. Pierre, Ceyrac SJ.
- Pelerin des frontieres
by Joyeux, Maurice SJ, Les Editions Du Cerf Paris, 2000.
12. Political
History of
13. Pope
John Paul II - A Tribute by Sullivan, Robert,
14. Sri
Krsna -The Lord of Love by Bharati,
S. B. P., Bharatiya Kala Prakashan,
15. The
Assassination of Benazir Bhutto by Hussain, Yasir, Epitome Books,
16. The Role of Swami Chinmayananda in Revitalization of Hinduism and Reinterpretation of Christianity by Masih, Jagdhari, Punthi Pustak ,Calcutta 2000.
17. Vedic Religion and Culture by Bhargava, P. L., D. K. Printworld (P) Ltd., New Delhi, 2008.
Researchers at the Goethals
Fr. C. M. Paul, SDB,
Ms. Mrinalika
Dubey,
Ms. Payel
Biswas, Kolkata, on Indo-German School
Ms. Sudipa
Topdar,
Titas
Chakraborty,
Mails
& emails
I would like to congratulate Fr. Felix Raj, SJ, for making it three-in-a row. 1st
- the release of book “Indian Economy” 2nd – the CAB Award and 3rd – the Rotary
Award. I have seen most of the
Churches as mentioned in your magazine, but this is the first time I know more
about them. You have done a commendable job by giving the details. Thanks for
creating awareness.
Naresh Gupta,
National
Secretary, JAAI
Many thanks
for your Goethals News on the Heritage Churches which was extremely
interesting.
S.M. Cyril, Loreto Sealdha, Kolkata
I was indeed very happy to read your wonderful article on “Spirituality for life and Leadership” in Goethals News - Jan-March 2008. What you have explicitly expressed in the article is very practical and appropriate. I really enjoyed reading the third page. And also it gives me more information to provoke my thought.
Rev. Fr. A. Amalraj, Sivagangai.
Thank you for sending article about my
great grand father S.V. Setty, the FIRST INDIAN
AVIATOR of our country. He designed, built and tested the aircraft by all
himself in UK (AVRO). The Modern Review is the first paper to publish the
article and also interview of S.V. Setty in
G N. Jayaprakash,