REPORT ON THE WORKSHOP FOR IARF MEMBER GROUPS (INDIA) HELD ON FEBRUARY 8 AND 9, 2003 AT VISAKHAPATNAM.

(Organised by the South Asia Co-ordinating Council (SACC) of International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF)).

Names of participants and their Member Groups

1. Forum for Harmony and Peace, Mysore
Mr. Shabeer Ahmed, President
Ms. Hemalatha, Secretary

2. Ramakrishna Mission, Narendrapur, Kolkatta
Mr. Asit Kumar Basu
(Also Treasurer of IARF India Chapter)

3. All India All Religious Federation, Tirunelveli
Sr. A. Maggie
Sr. M. Patricia

4. Sankardeva Institute of Culture International, Guwahati, Assam
Mr. Chandra Kumar Das, Secretary
Mr. Dasho Kalita

5. Interfaith Fellowship for Peace and Progress, Kerala
Mr. Thomas Mathew

6. Khwaja Gharib un Nawaz Welfare Centre, Bangalore
Ms. Mohseen Kousar, Secretary
Ms. Rukumani Bai

7. Bala Vikas Foundation, Visakhapatnam
Mr. Prakasa Rao, Chairman
Mr. Shamshuddin, Secretary

From IARF SACC
1. Prof. Dr. Mumtaz Ali Khan, Chairman, IARF SACC
2. Mr. Zulfikhar Akram, Co-ordinator, IARF SACC

Others

Ms. Ameeta Mulla Wattal, Chairperson
Uruswati - The Morning Star of Peace, Delhi

Miss. Aruna Kumari (R. V. Lakshmi)
Young Adult from Visakhapatnam

Mr. Hiten Bhagtani
Young Adult from Rajkot, Gujarat

Mr. Aloke Adhikari, Secretary
IARF India Chapter

Ms. Juhanvi Janamanchi and Ms. Vijayalakshmi
From Rajahmundry Branch of IARF

Mr. Niamatulla and Mr. Venkata Ratnam
Members, Bala Vikas Foundation, Visakhapatnam

Participants introduced themselves and briefly spoke about the activities carried out by their respective Member Groups. They were asked to speak only about activities related to interfaith and religious freedom when it was found that some of the socio-economic development activities conducted by their organisations were overlapping as they spoke. The participants also shared information about some of the instances of religious intolerance and communal violence in their respective areas.

1. All India All Religious Federation

Problems:
a. Communal conflicts between Hindus and Muslims in Melapalayam and Kadiyankulam.
b. Passing of Anti-conversion Bill in Tamil Nadu, its effect on the minorities and the opposition to it.
c. The effect of promotion of political ideology "Hindutva" - Cultural Nationalism - by some political parties and fundamentalist groups.

Activities:
a. Visiting affected places and areas prone to communal conflicts in collaboration with government officials.
b. Formation of peace commissions. Initiating peace talks through dialogue with all the affected parties.
c. Taking relief measures - offering financial and material help.
d. Conducting seminars to create awareness of religious harmony
e. Formation of interfaith cells in colleges and schools.
f. Networking with political, religious and community leaders and conducting awareness camps, seminars, etc. for the public.
g. Conducting interfaith prayers on all important occasions. An interfaith prayer for rains was organised (parts of Tamil Nadu are facing drought). Programmes like reading from different scriptures and singing bhajans and devotional songs were organised.
h. Organising dialogues with political parties regarding Anti-conversion Bill.

2. Sankardeva Institute of Culture International

a. It is a cultural organisation. Through it the philosophy of Sankara is propagated for the welfare of people irrespective of their caste or religious background.
b. Assam has no instances of religious intolerance. The major problems in the State is of insurgency from the neighbouring Bangladesh and a violent separatist movement.
c. The Institute publishes books and organises cultural programmes to promote religious understanding. It also organises youth camps and seminars.

3. Ramakrishna Mission

a. Celebrated an Interfaith Day recently. Youths from different faiths participated in a rally with their tableaux and other items of display. There were about 20,000 of them, both male and female, when they converged at one place for an Interfaith Convention. Around 35,000 people, including the youths, ate together at one place. The organising and co-ordination was done with the active involvement of youth leaders. The programme had a tremendous impact on the community at large and on the youths in particular towards establishing peace, harmony and amity.
b. Ramakrishna Mission has 1200 youth clubs across the country. The youths are involved in interfaith activities through these clubs. They are oriented to work with different communities. Festivals of different religions are celebrated by them in a true spirit of interfaith.

4. Interfaith Fellowship for Peace and Progress

a. Conducted a conference on UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief.
b. Organised a seminar and prayer meeting on World Peace.
c. Exhibitions and other programmes were organised to observe the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Days.
d. Programmes on UN Declaration of Human Rights and Religious Freedom were conducted. Two hundred teachers and 2500 school children took part.
e. An inter-school essay competition on the theme " Students Towards International Understanding" was organised. More than one thousand children from 327 schools took part.

5. Bala Vikas Foundation

a. Organised programme on UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief.
b. Children distributed pamphlets with an appeal for peace and harmony.
c. Observed Nagasaki Day, UNO Day, Human Rights Day. In all these prgrammes children, women, youths and others from different faiths took part. Importance of interfaith understanding, peace and religious freedom was shared.

6. Forum for Harmony and Peace

a. Organised programme on UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief.
b. People from different faiths joined together and celebrated festivals like Deepavali and Ramzan.

7. Khwaja Gharib un Nawaz Welfare Centre

a. Organised dialogues with religious leaders.
b. Organised visits to different places of worship for female youths.
c. Interfaith celebration of festivals of different religions
d. Organised lectures and talks on different religions and on religious freedom issues. Articles and letters on the issues were written to the press.
e. "Mother Theresa Rural Hospital" run by the Organisation was gifted to a Christian Organisation managing hospitals in Bangalore.
f. The Organisation is running a school where Hindu teachers teach Muslim children.

Uruswati - The Morning Star of Peace, an interfaith organisation which is seeking IARF Membership also shared its activities. (Now an IARF member organisation)