The Niyogi Committee Report On Christian Missionary Activities is a report published by the Government of Madhya Pradesh in 1956. It is divided into two volumes and three parts. It is a controversial report on missionary activities in India. The Committee which was chaired by M. Bhawani Shankar Niyogi, a retired Chief Justice of the Nagpur High Court included five other members viz. M.B.Pathak, Ghanshyam Singh Gupta, S.K.George, Ratanlal Malaviya and Bhanu Pratap Singh. The report, set up by a Congress Party government, took a view close to that of the Hindu nationalist movement. It recommended the legal prohibition of religious conversion not completely voluntary, which was not implemented as it would have been difficult to formulate and indeed to apply without violating the precepts of religious liberty enshrined in the Indian Constitution.[1] Contents 1 The Niyogi Committee Report 2 Controversy 3 The recommendations of the report 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links The Niyogi Committee Report The Committee contacted 11,360 persons, interviewed people from 700 different villages and received 375 written statements and 385 replies from a questionnaire.[2] They visited hospitals, schools, churches and other institutions in 14 districts.[2] It toured several areas and talked to witnesses who were mostly prejudiced.[3] The questionnaire had 99 questions, and was described by the High Court thus: a long and searching document.. in many places it amounts to an accusation. Some of the questions border on an inquisition, and may well be equated to a fishing expedition on the supposition that something discreditable can be discovered.[3] The Committee recorded that there was a general complaint from the non-Christian side that the schools and hospitals were being used as means of securing converts. It said that Reference was also made to the practice of the Roman Catholic priests or preachers visiting newborn babies to give ‘ashish’ (blessings) in the name of Jesus, taking sides in litigation or domestic quarrels, kidnapping of minor children and abduction of women and recruitment of labour for plantations in Assam or Andaman as a means of propagating the Christian faith among the ignorant and illiterate people. (Goel 1998, p.13)[2] The report writes that especially Roman Catholic missions used money-lending as a device for proselytisation. They gave loans which were later written off if the debtor became a Christian. (Goel 1998, p.115)[2]
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 12:56:31 +0000