Curated By: Business Desk
Last Updated: February 10, 2024, 10:31 IST
Its intensive property portfolio throughout the nation holds appreciable worth.
The important acquisition of land by the Catholic Church of India might be attributed primarily to the Indian Churches Act of 1927.
In India, land possession holds important significance within the financial system, with the federal government and shocking entities just like the Catholic Church proudly owning substantial swathes of land, as of 2017. Despite expectations of actual property magnates or industrialists, it’s the Catholic Church of India that possesses the biggest share of land after the federal government. This conglomerate of Christian trusts and charitable societies boasts a widespread community, together with bishops, monks, brothers, and sisters dedicated to propagating the Christian message.
The Catholic Church of India is recognised because the second-largest non-agricultural landowner after the federal government. Its intensive property portfolio throughout the nation holds appreciable worth, roughly matching India’s navy funds on the time, which was round Rs 20,000 crore. Furthermore, the Catholic Church of India ranks among the many largest non-authorities employers within the nation.
Evidence of the Catholic Church of India’s intensive property holdings might be present in its possession of quite a few properties throughout totally different areas of the nation, together with areas like Goa within the west and Kohima in Northeast India. According to a 2012 report from The Telegraph-Calcutta, they possess a wide selection of establishments, together with 2457 hospital dispensaries, 240 medical or nursing faculties, 28 common faculties, 5 engineering faculties, 3765 secondary colleges, 7319 major colleges, and 3187 nursery colleges all through India. This makes them the second-largest landowner in India, following the Indian Government.
Moreover, the Catholic Church has ventured into agricultural land possession. For occasion, in 2009, they acquired a plantation valued at 123 crore rupees in Kerala.
The important acquisition of land by the Catholic Church of India might be attributed primarily to the Indian Churches Act of 1927, which was carried out throughout the British dominion. Under this act, the British dominion leased the lands acquired by their conquests in varied wars at discounted charges to help within the propagation of Christianity among the many populace. This enabled the Church to amass land throughout India and set up quite a few establishments, together with non secular ones, as talked about earlier, to disseminate their message to the lots. However, the authorized standing of this land acquisition stays a subject of debate.
