London, 27 June 2020
OneJAIN holds Annual Conference for 30 UK Jain Organisations
COVID19 results in first online meeting
The Institute Of Jainology (IOJ), the UK Charity that represents the 30 UK Jain faith organisations in Government and inter-faith matters under the banner OneJAIN held its annual conference on Saturday, 27th June 2020. The meeting was held using ZOOM video conference because of the current pandemic.
There were 27 organisations represented, in addition to IOJ trustees and keynote speakers.
The Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Jainism (Jain APPG), Hon. Mr Gareth Thomas, MP for Harrow West and Shadow Minister for International Trade, welcomed members to the event and praised the Jain community organisations for their work in supporting the community throughout the pandemic crisis. He was pleased to see the Jain community coming together online and sharing their experiences and learnings throughout this period. His thoughts were with all those who had lost loved ones.
Hon Bob Blackman MP, the Vice Chair of the Jain APPG, and Executive Secretary of the 1922 Committee, was congratulated by the Jain community on achieving the Padma Shri Award from the President of India earlier this year. He praised the Jain community for their voluntary work and said it has been extremely helpful in assisting the weak and vulnerable. He provided an update on plans to relieve the lockdown but said that he feared that important events such as Navratri and Diwali may need to be celebrated online for the first time.
He was followed by Navin Shah AM, newly elected Chair of the London Assembly, who praised the Jain community for its efforts throughout the crisis and spoke of the impact of the virus on the BAME community.
Hon Baron Stephen Greehalgh of Fulham, Minister of Faith at the Ministry of Communities and Local Government also spoke of the disproportionate effect of the virus on the BAME community and the work that is needed to stop the virus from spreading. He spoke about the different measures of lockdown that were easing to help support communities including the Jain community and emphasised the need for faith communities to remain resolute. He expressed his desire to come and visit Jain temples and centres as soon as practical.
With the 2021 Census approaching, Neil Townsend, Head of Partnerships at the Office of National Statistics, spoke of the need to engage the Jain community to ensure that all those who wanted to identify themselves as Jain knew how to do so. The figures from the census are regularly used by Central and Local Government in formulating policy and funding decisions.
Last year the Jain community presented a 5,000-signature petition to 10 Downing Street asking for there to be a specific Jain ‘tick box’, however this had not materialised, in part due to Brexit and COVID. Many of the Jain organisations present agreed to implement campaigns to raise awareness amongst their members.
For the first time, the Jain community had constituted the OneJAIN COVID19 Excellence in Community Service award to recognise the incredible work that the organisations have been doing to support the community during the crisis. Examples included providing community activities over Zoom, including meditation, yoga, prayers, musical events and business briefings. Other examples were around supporting the elderly and vulnerable through the provision of food and shopping, and aiding the NHS and frontline staff with PPE and hot meals.
Mr Nemu Chandaria OBE, Chair of the IOJ, commented that “it was only three months ago that all these organisations held all their events in community buildings and temples. They have put endless energy since the COVID outbreak to support their local and Jain communities in many ways. We are incredibly proud of their work”.
The new OneJAIN award had 13 nominations that were highly commended by the independent judges, and the overall winning prize was awarded to the Oshwal Association of the UK.
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