A national rally in New Delhi on March 12 urged political parties to include in their election manifestos the reservation for Dalit Christians and Muslims.

“We have to see that our rights are rightly accepted. We should not lose our fight,” said Archbishop George Antony-samy of Madras Mylapore while address-ing the rally.

The National Council of Dalit Christians (NCDC) organized the rally with support from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India and the National Council of Churches in India.

The rally started at 10 am from Janpath ended at Jantar Mantar, both close to the Indian parliament building.

Besides Archbishop Antonysamy, three bishops from Tamil Nadu joined the rally. Monsignor Susai Sebastian, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Delhi, and Danam, a retired civil service officer and NCDC president led the rally. Dhanam said the main purpose of the rally was to demand from the government Scheduled Caste status for Christians and Muslims of Dalit origin. These groups are as socially, economically, and politically weak as their counterparts in Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim religions. Yet they are discriminated on the basis of religion, Dhanam regretted..

The rally demanded deletion of paragraph 3 of the Constitution Scheduled Caste Order 1950 that made reservation on the basis of religion.

Dalit Christians and Muslims have appealed to national and regional political parties to include in their election manifesto a promise to grant the Scheduled Caste Status to them.

Bishop John Nellikunnel of Idukki has written to his priests explicitly telling them not to take any position favouring any political party or ideology. The Bishop’s March 9 circular to priests assumes importance as Kerala’s more than 18% Christian population has significant sway in certain key pockets of central Kerala.

The state is scheduled to go to poll on April 23. The Idukki bishop has cautioned his priests from engaging in election meetings and taking sides in political debates lest their actions harm the community. “We are called to be shepherds with the smell of the sheep. As spiritual leaders of our people, we should not take any position favouring any sides. Our people do not want us to be actively involved in electoral politics in the present context. Our people are intelligent enough to decide in elections,” Bishop Nellikunnel wrote.

He also reminded the priest their duty before God to become symbols of charity and unity.

“Therefore I appeal to all of you to abstain from election-related propagandas, statements and meetings. By our words and activities, we should not give any scandals to the faithful and to the public.”

The Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council has sought change in the poll date for the southern Indian state. The state’s 39 parliamentary and 18 assembly seats will go to poll on April 18, which coincides with Maundy Thursday, an important observance for Christians across denominations.

On March 11, Abp. Antony Pappusamy of Madurai and president of the council, requested the Election Commission of India (ECI) to change the polling date. The letter stated that polling date on Maundy Thursday would not be conducive for the Christians as it was in the middle of the Holy Week observance (April 14 to 21).

The archbishop said that Christians working as government school teachers and officials engaged in election duty will not be able to attend Mass on Maunday Thursday when Christians observe the commemoration of the final meal – Last Supper – that He had with His disciples a day before His crucifixion and death on the cross. The council cited another concern that many schools run by dioceses are located inside the campus of churches and many across the state are polling stations.

When Sunil Kiro enjoyed some moonshine to unwind after a hard day’s work at a tea estate in India’s northeastern Assam State, he had no idea he would never be able to see again.

He was among an estimated 500 victims of a tragedy that swept the region on Feb. 20 when 160 people died and others were left per-manently blind, or with other serious health issues such as damaged kidneys or livers, as a result of locally brewed alcohol that proved toxic to their systems.

“Now I am surrounded by darkness. I have to identify people from their voice,” said the 38-year-old, who lives in Jorhat district under Dibrugarh Diocese. The deaths in Assam occurred few days back after 100 people died from drinking illegal liquor made with house-hold disinfectants and anti-freeze in two other Indian states.

There are about six million people working the tea gardens of Assam, making up 17% of the state’s 31 million population, according to Catholic leaders in the region.

Two French missionaries were remembered at the 60th Tibetan National Uprising Day commemoration in Miao town in Arunachal Pradesh.

“Tibet and Christianity in Arunachal Pradesh have an age-old connection,” said Likro Mossang, women president of Miao Diocese in east Arunachal Pradesh.

“French missionaries Nicolas Krick and Augustine Bourry were killed on their way to Tibet in 1854. They sowed the first seeds of Christianity in Arunachal Pradesh 165 years ago before they were killed on August 2 the same year at the Tibet-Arunachal border region by a Mishmi Tribe chieftain.”

Tibetans all over the world gather together every year on March 10 to pay homage to the thousands of heroes who laid their lives, resisting brutal suppression of the Chinese Communist occupation forces in 1959.

“Although Fathers Krick and Bourry could not enter Tibet, my presence with you as a guest on the 60th Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day is like fulfilling their dream,” Mossang said addressing some 500 Tibetan women from the Miao Tibetan Settlement. With 500 families of more than 3,000 people Miao has the largest Tibetan settlement in north-eastern India.