New Delhi: Increasing number of local donors is helping Caritas India reach out to disaster-hit people in the country, says head of the Catholic Church’s premier humanitarian agency.
Fr. Frederick D’Souza, executive director of the agency, says the organization received more than 105 million rupees after it appealed for help when floods ravaged the northern Indian states of Uttarakhand and Kashmir. A major portion of that donation came from within India, he noted.
In September 2014, the Kashmir region suffered disastrous floods caused by torrential rainfall. The floods killed nearly 277 people in India and 280 people in Pakistan.
The Uttarakhand floods in June 2013 caused the country’s worst natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami.
Residents of these states were among more than 1.5 billion people across the globe hit by disasters between 2005 and 2015, according to the UN estimates. Caritas India reached out to a significant 1 million in the same period.
Fr D’Souza, a Delhi archdiocesan priest, expressed happiness that more and more Indians have become sensitive toward the needs of the country and feel empowered to pay back for what they had received from Caritas in the past.
Local donors for Caritas India are schools and institutions, private companies and individuals, besides its own member organizations such as dioceses.
Among the total local donations, 38 percent came from its southern region where most of Catholics in the country live. The Northern and western regions followed contributing 27 percent each of the total donations. The eastern region contributed 7 percent and northeast 1 percent, according to a chart Caritas India circulated to the press.
“Caritas India has been investing much of its fund in southern India and its ability to contribute today is truly a success story for Caritas – an outcome of many years of service by our staff and volunteers,” Father D’Souza said.
The priest, however, believes the big players in the southern region, the millionaires, are still untapped. “In the coming years, Caritas India member organizations and its local resource mobilization team must not shy away from approaching these potential donors.” he added.
He also appreciated contributions coming from the other regions saying that every penny given to Caritas is spent with much discernment.
Caritas India’s Decennial Report (2004-2015) released on the occasion of World Humanitarian Day (WHD) in August shows that the organization has invested 5 billion rupees across 14 major emergencies starting tsunami of 2004. The last major intervention was during the Jammu And Kashmir floods.
The agency has made the report available on its website as well as its Facebook page.
The Caritas chief credited the agency’s “dedicated team of brave and selfless aid workers” for generating local funds. He said while addressing Indian Army, humanitarian agencies, donors, academic institutions and young volunteer groups who had gathered to observe WHD at the Press Club of India on August 19.
Caritas India began looking for local resources after funds from overseas dwindled in view of India’s economic progress.
Humanitarian agencies in India say the country’s economic growth has benefitted only the rich and left the poor, their main focus, lag far behind.