Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Beltangady (SB)
Beltangady, Feb 2: Renowned NRI entrepreneur and philanthropist Ronald Colaco was on Sunday February 2 conferred the prestigious 'Vishwa Bhushan' title by the Catholic community of Mangaluru, Puttur and Beltangady dioceses.
Witnessed by over 30,000 people from the three dioceses, Dr Peter Paul Saldanha bishop of Mangaluru, Dr Geevarghese Mar Divannasios bishop of Puttur, Syro Malankara diocese, Dr Lawrence Mukkuzhi bishop of Beltangady Syro Malabar diocese, bestowed the title on Ronald Colaso during the Catholic Maha Samavesha-2020 held at Sacred Heart Church ground, Madanthyar here.
Acknowledging the honour, Colaco said, "I am happy to accept this title that has been conferred on me by the people of the three dioceses. I thank the Catholic Sabha and all the organisers for this recognition and felicitation. I never rendered social service for any award or reward or any personal benefits. As a human, it is my bounden duty towards the society that I have come from and to understand the necessities of fellow human beings. Humanity always triumphs over every community, caste and religion. I am sharing what I have received by the grace of God.
"I salute the organizers for holding the Samavesha of this magnitutude having more than 30,000 participants. It shows unity and strength of Catholics of the three dioceses. At the same time, it also shows how hungry our community is for this unity. Same unity should continue. We are lucky to be born in India which is one of the most respectable and beautiful countries in the world. India is shining in the world as the largest democracy. India is a country of diversity with multiple regions/space, religions and castes, cultures and traditions, food habits and languages, but still we have unity in diversity and are all living here in harmony and in peace. The history of ancient India shows that one way or the other, many are migrants, including the Aryans, and some of the Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Buddhists and Christians. But now by birth we are all Indians. Therefore one cannot tell the other that 'I am Indian and you are not', and no one should speak about their true nationality in terms of religion, caste or creed. Some forces and individuals are trying to give the wrong message in order to divide us. We, the Indian Catholic community, are known for social service and humanity. However, hidden forces are trying to stop us from doing social service. But they will not succeed in stopping us. I request our youths to become active in the nation-building process. Instead of going abroad they should find opportunities within the country. The government sector is one of the finest areas to work in. The community should take an interest in helping the youths become active in bureaucracy," he added.
"In our country, Hindus constitute 80 percent of the population, Muslims 14 percent and Christians only 2.5 percent at the national level. We are minorities. But in terms of contribution to society in various fields like education, healthcare and social service, our community has achieved a lot more than other communities. In the days when Gurukula sytem was prevalent in our country, education had become the sole property of Brahmins, Rajputs and Kshatriyas. All other communities were deprived from learning. This is well demonstrated in Mahabharata from the actions of Dronacharya towards Ekalavya. That is the time the Christian missionaries opened schools and colleges in many villages, small and big towns, and thus accommodated all other deprived communities and enabled them to have their education. Srinivas Prasad, the former central minister and state revenue minister in one of his speeches in Kollegal has quoted the statement of our national poet Dr Kuvempu where he said, 'at a time when Gurukul system of education was prevalent in our country, where only Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Rajputs could get their education, and all other communities were deprived from learning, had these Christian missionaries not opened schools and colleges for rest of us, I would not have been educated to become the national poet that I am today. Probably I would have been carrying cowdung on my head and grazing the cattle'. Thus our contribution in the field of education right from those early days has enabled people of all sections of society to get educated, which resulted in the overall economic development of the country that we are witnessing today in science and technology, IT-BT sector, aeronautics, electronics, launching satellites, atomic energy etc," he said.
"When there were people suffering from leprosy, no one wanted to touch them. There were only two hospitals - Father Muller in Mangaluru and CSI, Vellore - which took them under their care and looked after them in order to cure them from leprosy. But some people with a twisted mentality viewed such selfless work in education and healthcare with suspicion and began levelling allegations of forced conversion. How can anyone be converted forcibly? Forced conversion is only possible if you were to literally cut open someone's chest and replace the person's heart wiith the heart of Jesus and sew it back. Most people who have converted are Dalits, who were educationally, socially and economically backward. They were able to bear with being educationally and economically backward, but not socially. They were not even allowed to be anywhere near the temple, or even look at a Brahmin. In such a scenario, when our institutions opened their doors to them without any discrimination and gave them free education and shelter, it was natural that they showed affinity towards Christianity.
"Today, one third of the students of our country are studying in Christian institutions, some of them with a history of 150 years. If, as alleged, even one percent was converted to Christianity every year, then our population today would have been 70 percent today. But we are still at 2.5 percent, the same as before. Where did all the converts go then? Why do you accuse us of conversion then? You do not have to praise us for our service, but at least do not criticise," he added.
Narrating an anecdote involving RSS leader Dr Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, he said, "I once met my good friend Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, and also visited his Sri Rama school. I even donated a certain amount to his school and spoke to the students. There are students from northeast India in the school. I jokingly asked him if he planned to convert all those northeast students. If they did want to convert, it is not a problem, it is their choice. We never question anyone who wants to convert.
"Kalladka Bhat asks, 'Why do you address priests as 'fathers'? Do they give birth to you?' I want to tell him, 'Should only those who study medicine be called doctors? Doctorates are also awarded to those who write a thesis on earthworm or a leaf. Why should they be called doctors if they are not qualified to prescribe medicines? We give lot of respect to women in our country. How do we address them? We say 'hegiddiriamma?' (how are you) or 'chennagiddiramma?' (all well?) Does addressing the woman as 'amma' mean she become my mother? It is a manner of paying respect to their status and position.' Understand my dear friend Dr Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, please do not divide the people, please do not hurt their sentiments of those who have rendered selfless service to society. We call them father because they educate us and guide us like a parent, it does not mean they give us birth," Colaco said.
He questioned the violent actions undertaken by youth during recent times and mentioned the four pillars of democracy - legislature, executive, judiciary and media, necessary for a better tomorrow. Colaco stated that the pillars were growing weak and it is the responsibility of the countrymen to strengthen them.
He claimed that the people of other communities are determined to excel in the field of administration, finance and the private sector. However, the Catholic community is lagging in becoming frontrunners where the parents advise their children to work in the Gulf countries for better pay. "Parents are telling their kids to go to the gulf countries for better pay. But, it is a hotchpotch and not that simple," Colaco said.
"Gulf is not what it was once before. Now the Middle East is an expensive place to be. You spend as much as you earn which leaves zero savings," he added.
Colaco requested youth to not fall prey to offers from the Middle East and try to focus on building a brighter future in their motherland. He encouraged the youth to work hard, with dedication and determination and make efficient utilisation of the government schemes for their entrepreneurial ventures.
He urged people to stop vesting blind faith on a particular political party and instead follow the party who can help make a difference. He mentioned how he was determined to work towards the recognition of the contribution of the Catholic community to the society. Colaco recalled that the CM of Karnataka Yediyurappa supported his idea of installing a Christian Development Board to collaborate the community efforts for a progressive society. "CM Yediyurappa rendered support because of societal service I am constantly involved in even though I voted for him or not," Colaco said.
Colaco stressed that youths needs to abstain from excessive use of mobile phones and games in it. "Life does not give several chances and once the time is lost, it can never be brought back. Youngsters need to have good role models who they can idolize and who inspire them to do great things," he said.
On a concluding note, he spoke about how some media houses portray certain religious communities under a bad name,while others put out unbiased news which conveys the true purpose of media. Therefore, people must be aware of what is to be absorbed and what is to be ignored.
Fr Maxim Noronha vicar general, Mangaluru diocese, Fr Mathew Vas, spiritual director, Catholic Sabha, Fr Ronald D Souza, director ICYM, Fr Francis D'Souza director DCWC, Fr Eldo Puthankadathil, vicar general, Belthangadi diocese, Fr Jose Puttur diocese, Leon Saldanha president ICYM, Central Council, Fr Basil Vas, parish priest Madanthyar, Fr Stany Pinto assistant parish priest, Madanthyar Church, Ronald Fernandes, member KPSC, MP Noronha secretary, Diocesan Parish Council, Mangaluru, were present on the dais.
About Ronald Colaco
Ronald Colaco is an NRI businessman based in Dubai, whose ancestors originally hailed from Moodbidri near Mangaluru taluk. He started his professional career in Oman during 1975 and worked across eight Gulf and European countries starting as an accountant and moving on to become head of accounts to administration and financial controller. He was elevated as commercial CEO for a consortium of three multinational corporates like CCICL based in Athens, Greece, Mannesmann of Germany and Saipem of Milano, Italy. He was involved in turn-key projects such as the construction of world-class petro-refineries, gas processing and re-injection plants, townships and airports.
He put his rich experience in diverse capacities to good use and became an entrepreneur, and since then it has been a saga of success all the way. Through his business acumen, hard work, dedication and disciplined approach, Ronald Colaco has become a successful entrepreneur of great repute.
Contribution to society through social, charitable and philanthropic activities
Apart from being a successful entrepreneur in his own right, Ronald Colaco has been very active in promoting socio-cultural, charitable and philanthropic activities in his endeavour to give back to the society that he has come from, in a big way. His has benefitted the poor and the needy people and various institutions and organisations irrespective of caste, creed, race, religion and language. He has been a pioneer in providing infrastructure facilities for the benefit of the larger public and has set a precedent for others to follow. Many MNC’s and Corporates followed in his footsteps to carry out their corporate social responsibility, resulting in creating essential international standard infrastructure in the state. "Acts of caring and sharing have taught me to find so much of satisfaction, happiness and compassion within me and to stay attached to the values that are connected to the common good," Colaco asserts.
He has strictly adhered to the pledge he took at the time of his marriage in 1983 to share a certain percentage of his income and since then has extended a helping hand to individuals, institutions, organisations, the government and to the society in general. His wife Jean Colaco has been fully supportive of his philanthropic and charitable endeavours.
Colaco has been the recipient of several national and international awards in recognition of his charitable and philanthropic activities including the prestigious award from the office of The Prime Minister of Australia through CSIA which conferred the '2015 International Recognition Award for Leadership in Service Excellence' at the Australian Service Excellence award ceremony held in Melbourne in 2015. Colaco was the only person chosen for this prestigious award internationally from among 80 countries.
His charitable and philanthropic activities cover a wide array of fields which spread across Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and overseas countries under different categories and fields such as:
• State police department
• State PWD department – Construction of two roads
• State revenue department - Building and donating modern taluk office and completely furnishing Mini Vidhana Soudha at Devanahalli
• State judiciary - Advocate Bhavan, fully furnished
• State education department for government schools - Building and donating fully furnished higher primary and high schools in rural areas
• Privately run charitable educational institutions which has benefitted over 52 schools and colleges
• State horticulture department – Modern Hopcom shop at Frazer Town, Bengaluru, setting a precedent for others to follow
• Religious field - Temples, churches, mosques
• Medical field - Cancer block at Father Muller, Vision Centre at Mulky, Red Cross Hospital in Chikkamagaluru
• LINK counselling, de-addiction and rehabilitation centre for addicts of chemical substance abusers, besides prevention, apart from donating a fully furnished hospital with 60 beds
• Art and cultural field - Konkani Kalangann, Konkani World Centre, World Konkani Museum and many more.
• Public utility/community halls
• Relief funds for natural calamities
• Contributions to provide homes to the poor and the needy
• Government-run primary and high schools in rural areas by providing additional 22 teachers from his side for many years to impart quality education to the rural people at the grassroots foundation level.
• Promotion of self-employment opportunities - Through MCC Bank
• Promotion of art and artistes
• Cause of departed souls – Donated hearse, a cold storage unit for keeping dead bodies at Chikkmaggaluru, a cemetery in Yelahanka and Mukkammar.