India: with new scholarships, Church continues to contribute to society

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India on Thursday announced the creation of 6 new scholarships in partnership with the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). IGNOU has instituted the awards from the CBCI (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India) Chair at the university, which will recognize outstanding students and research scholars who are pursuing various courses under the CBCI Chair, established at the University in the year 2000 to promote studies in the areas of Family Education, Social Work, HIV/AIDS treatment, and other fields directly bearing on social life.

The awards are named after eminent personalities who have been instrumental in bringing Social Work to the mainstream academic discipline as well as practical realm. They include the 10,000 rupee Bharat Ratna Mother Teresa Memorial Award and five other awards of 5,000 Rupees. The spokesman for the CBCI, Fr Babu Joseph told us this is an example of the contribution the Church in India to the larger society. “We have been making a contribution that is far beyond our numbers in society,” he said. Listen