User:Johndayal
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user.johndayal short biography: JOHN DAYAL
Member, National Integration Council, Govt of India
National President, All India Catholic Union [Founded 1919] Secretary General, All India Christian Council [Founded 1998] National Convenor, United Christian Forum for Human Rights
John Dayal is internationally recognized as the face and voice of the Christian Human Rights movement, not just in India but also in South Asia. Equally important has been his role in the peace movement in the subcontinent. His was the first voice raised, in a joint statement signed with Bishops Karam Masih and Vincent Concessao in May 1998, against the nuclear weapon tests by India and Pakistan In the process, he has faced threats to his life and to his family.
John Dayal’s pioneering role in the formation of the United Christian Forum for Human Rights in India is now part of the history of Christian ecumenical endeavor. His work has grown from the Forum to encompass the All India Christian Council, of which he is a founding member with Joseph D'Souza, Rev G Samuel and others, and the Citizens Forum (of India), a unique Civil Society Movement which has played a brilliant role in enlarging the Civil Liberties, Human Rights and Minority Rights movements. The Citizens Forum has ensured that the challenge to the persecution of the Christian community has come not just from the victims, but also from mainstream India.
John had been monitoring religious fundamentalist and state communalism for close to thirty years. Born 2nd October 1948 (he shares his birth date with that of the father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi) to South Indian parents, John studied Physics at the prestigious St. Stephen’s College, new Delhi, before deciding on a career in Journalism. Lessons he learnt in scientific analysis and mathematical analysis were put to good use in his professional career which saw him conduct one of the first ever studies on drug addiction among Indian youth, the study of the culture of slums and shanty towns and the violation of human rights by Indian police. As a journalist covering the frequent Hindu-Muslim riots, and later the Hindu Sikh violence, John quickly became a well-known expert in inter-community conflict issues. His book `For Reasons of State’ (co-authored in 1977 with Ajoy Bose) is a landmark documentation of the State of Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi in 1975, and the two-year phase of terrible forcible sterilization’s of men and women and demolition’s of shanty towns and minority habitations by a bureaucracy and police gone berserk in an official suppression of human rights. A close look at other conflicts as a war correspondent in West Asia and Sri Lanka made John a confirmed and articulate pacifist.
Monitoring closely the growth of violent Hindutva fundamentalism, it was alarmingly clear to john by the mid-Nineties that the next targets of violence would be Christians. His early distant warnings to the church and the government helped formulate a united Christian response. Using contemporary communication technology, including the Internet, John by 1998 had mobilized an international network of human rights organizations and activists. As National Convener of the United Christian Forum for Human Rights, the National Secretary for Public Affairs of the 90-year-old Laity organization All India Catholic Union, and National Spokesman of the All India Christian Council, John through his documentation, statements and civil agitations focused international attention on the persecution of the Christian community in India and Pakistan.
John is active in his Church, especially in the formation of laity, and in his profession, chairing several committees. Author, documentary filmmaker and newspaper editor, John Dayal resigned as Editor and CEO of , the Delhi Mid Day, to take up Freedom of Faith issues fulltime. He is a former Treasurer of the Editors’ Guild of India and a frequent public speaker and commentator on issues of human rights, civil liberties and peace. He has recently set up the Center for Policy Research and Communication, which he hopes, will function as an Distant Early Warning System against aberrant behavior by State and political and religious groups. John sits on the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India and was on the Board of the New Delhi YMCA.
Detailed Resume 2007 February: Dr. John Dayal Member, National Integration Council, Government of India
Human Rights, Civil Society and Freedom of Faith Activist Editor, Author, Documentary Film Maker, India
Religious Memberships: National President: All India Catholic Union (Founded 1919) Secretary General: All India Christian Council (Founded 1999) President, United Christian Action {Founded 1992)
National Convenor: United Christian Forum for Human Rights (founded 1998) Member: Justice and Peace Commission, Catholic Bishops Conference of India Member: National Coordination Committee for Dalit Christians Member, Governing Body: Chetanalaya, Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, New Delhi
Professional Media): Former Editor in Chief & CEO, The Delhi Mid Day, New Delhi, India Former Editor in Chief: The Indian Currents (Former Editor or Senior National or Foreign Editor of Sunday Mail, Sunday Observer, Amrita Bazaar Patrika, Link, the Patriot etc since 1968)
Former Chairman, the Delhi Press Accreditation Committee Former Treasurer, Editors Guild of India Chairman, Critics Jury, International Children’s Film Festival, Hyderabad Member, Selection Committee, India International Film festival Director, United Vision Pvt Ltd (Documentary Films) Member, World Assoc of Christian Communicators, Geneve Member, UCIP International Catholic Press Association, Geneve Member, ICPA Indian Catholic Press Association Member, Indian Press Association Member, Delhi Union of Journalists
Professional (Academic): Chairman of the Governing Board, and former Treasurer, University of Delhi SSN College Ex Vice President, Board of Directors, and Chairman, Education Centre, New Delhi YMCA Ex Member, Board of Curricula, Dept of Journalism, Guru Jambeswar University, Haryana Curricula formation in Journalism - Delhi University and Autonomous institutions Visiting Faculty: IIMC, several universities Former Member, Technical Committee, National Youth Policy 2020, Government of India Director, Centre for Policy Research & Communication, New Delhi
Author/ Edited Anthologies: Gujarat 2002 – Untold and Retold Stories (Media House) 2002 For Reasons of State (with Ajoy Bose) (Vision Books) 1977 Commissions of Enquiry (With Ajoy Bose) 1979 Indian Cinema Superbazar (Ed: Aruna Vasudev)(France) Ethics of Peace (Ed: UCIP) 1995 Wadhwa Commission (Ed: Dr. M P Raju)(Media House) 2000 Christians in Indian Democracy – Challenges and Opportunities (Hindi) In Press 2006 Default Relgion – a critique of secularism in India {scheduled to be published in 2007}
Awards: First International Staines Memorial Awards for Human Rights in South Asia The New Leader Award for Excellence in Journalism Numerous National Media and Human Rights awards
Keynote addresses: Several National and International Media and Human Rights Conferences since 1972
Personal: Born New Delhi, India 2nd October 1948, Educated at St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi (Physics), Diploma in Journalism, Doctor of Divinity, (HC) Human Rights.
Began Journalism in 1968 as Freelance writer and Film critic, worked for national newspapers at all levels, from Junior Subeditor, Reporter, Chief reporter, Political, Diplomatic and Parliamentary Correspondent in India, Lead Writer, European Chief of Bureau in London of the Observer Group, India, former Editor in Chief and CEO, the Delhi Mid Day, New Delhi’s only English language Afternoon newspaper.
As a young reporter in the early Seventies, brought out the first investigations in drug addiction among university youth in Indian, paedophilia in Delhi and police brutality
Reporting on Hindu-Muslim violence during the ‘Seventies and Eighties, John Dayal quickly developed a reputation for fairplay and accuracy, and for deep investigations into the role of the Police/State apparatus as accessories and co-conspirators on behalf of the majority community/ Industrialists/State apparatus in violence against Muslims and other religious minorities, Trade Unions and others. John Dayal has covered dozens of major riots between Hindus and Muslims, and Hindu and Sikhs in the Eighties.
John Dayal covered the ethnic violence in Sri Lanka, and the war in West Asia in several assignments in the ‘Eighties, and has reported widely from the countries of South Asia. He was among the handful of reporters covering the proceedings of the Uruguay round leading to the GATT, TRIPS and TRIMS agreements.
John Dayal was therefore well placed to be the first to document the anti-Christian violence when it first began in the mid Nineties. After reporting on the State discrimination against Christians converted from India’s former untouchable castes, called Dalits, John Dayal published the first Unofficial Report on Violence Against Christians in 1997, cautioning the community and the government that the hate campaign that had been started by right wing and neo-fascist political groups, collectively called the Sangh Parivar, could escalate into a major crisis. In 1998, his Unofficial White Paper on anti Christian Violence made international headlines. The large-scale destruction of Churches in the district of Dangs in the State of Gujarat during Christmas week in December 1998, and the burning alive of the Australian Missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his sons Timothy and Philip tragically showed the accuracy of his sociological prediction.
Dayal was member of three committees of enquiry set up by the Indian National Commission for the Minorities during 1997-98, and his reports for the commission are rated highly for their substance.
Always associated with of the Indian Human Rights movement, John Dayal after 1997 became the International and national face of the Christian human rights movement together with Delhi Archbishop Alan de Lastic, with whom he co-founded the United Christian Forum for Human Rights which was subsequently adopted by the Catholic, Protestant and Evangelical churches as the ecumenical Christian human rights organisation. He has appeared before many national and International Human Rights organisations and agencies to speak about the Indian and South Asian Human Rights, Religious Freedom and Media affairs.
A Catholic and the National President of the laity organisation All India Catholic Union, founded 1919, which represents India’s 16 million Catholics, John Dayal edited its official magazine Vishal Jagruti for three years till 1999. To involve NGOs, independent chuirchs and para church organisations in human rights and civil liberties, John Dayal with Joseph de Souza (President) and others helped co-found the All India Christian Council. He is also closely associated with major national human rights movements including the Citizens Forum, Delhi, and several Human Rights and civil Liberties organisations.
John Dayal today is today internationally accepted as a major spokesman of the Christian Community and Civil Society in India and is interviewed regularly on the Indian and global print and electronic media. He is also deeply involved in the international anti-nuclear weapon and peace movements.
John Dayal is married to Mercy M John, who enthusiastically supports, and often finances, his human rights work. They have two children, Karuna and Jason.
Christian and Community activity and participation:
1. Founder National Convenor, United Christian Forum for Human Right, representing the Catholic, ecumenical and Evangelical Churches and NGOs. Active in Peace, Justice and Human rights issues since 1970. Was active in struggle against human rights violations during the Indian Emergency (1975-77).
2. As member of several Commissions of Enquiry of the National Commission for Minorities, Government of India was instrumental in investigating and writing the reports in cases of violence against minorities, and especially against Christian communities. Investigated human rights violations, police torture and state and administrative connivance in anti-Christian violence in several Indian states.
3. One of the key pointsmen in the human rights monitoring, action and documentation on minority affairs in Indian Subcontinent.
4. Key role in assisting South Asian Churches evolve a response to the Nuclear tests by India and Pakistan.
5. As member of the National Coordination Committee for Dalit Christians set up by the apex Catholic Bishops' Conference of India and the National Council of Churches in India, have been active in the struggle to secure constitutional rights for the poorest of the poor in the community in India.
6. Active in Ecumenism and inter-faith dialogue, particularly on issues of Peace, Justice and Human Rights and the Pluralistic Culture of India.
7. As the Secretary General of the All India Christian Council and National President of the All India Catholic Union, and their spokesman on political and public affairs, articulated the aspirations of the community with distinction at the national and international level. Constant monitoring of the national political and community scene and timely responses have helped the community persuade the Government of India and of several states to roll back inimical legislation and regulations that violated the Indian Constitution secular guarantees.
8. Have assisted the Al India Chritian Council, the All India Catholic Union and various churches in modernising their communications structures, making use of contemporary electronic and cyber technologies.
