The Andhra Pradesh Federation of Churches has welcomed a clean government promised by the southern Indian state’s new chief minister.
“We are well pleased of your promise that your government would be revolutionary and would stand as an example and model to the country within a year,” the federation said in a letter addressed to Yeduguri Sandinti Jaganmohan Reddy, who on May 30 took over as Andhra Pradesh’s chief minister The federation, the apex body of the bishops and heads of mainline Churches and major Christian denominations in the state congratulated Reddy for his “landslide victory” in the recent assembly elections.
Modi’s reelection: A turning point in India’s political history
India’s 2019 general elections could have redirected the country’s politics from the trajectory it had been hurtling on for the past five years. There had been some wishful thinking that if the electorate replaced the ruling pro-Hindu party, the country’s strength — its plurality — would have been protected.
But the election’s outcome was different. In a historic man-date, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was given a second term to run the world’s largest democracy. Modi is the first Prime Minister since 1971 to return to power with an absolute majority. He is the third one to do so after the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi.
In the recent elections, Modi’s pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) garnered 303 seats while with his allies it has 353 seats in the 545-member Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament.
The question now for many Indians is: What comes next?
“A new battle for the idea of India begins today,” wrote Shiv Visvanathan in The Hindu on May 24 when the election results were declared.
To some the ‘battle’ is one picked by a BJP leadership that seeks to subvert the secular principles of the Indian constitution, a foundation that allows religious and ethnic plurality to breathe in the country.
The main apprehension among religious minority leaders and a section of left-liberals has been that the BJP could change the constitution to discard the parliamentary system.
Religion blamed for India’s poor gender equality grade
A global study of gender equality has placed India nearly at the bottom, with some research and rights groups accusing religion of playing a major role in Indians discriminating against women.
The Sustainable Development Goals Gender Index ranked India 95th out of 129 countries. The index measures how well nations are progressing toward achieving gender equality by 2030, which is part of the 17 sustainable development goals set by the United Nations.
The index, developed by U.K. based Equal Measures 2030 and released on June 4, is a joint effort of regional and global organizations. It placed Denmark at the top and Chad at the bottom.
However, India fared better than its neighbours, with Pakistan at 113, Nepal at 102 and Bangladesh at 110. China was in 74th position.
Gender equality progress is measured by a set of indicators including the proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments. India ranked 16th in the region as women made up only 1.8 percent of parliament in 2018. Another indicator is the extent to which a national budget is broken down by factors such as gender, age, income or region. India scored zero, the worst in the region.
The percentage of seats held by women in India’s Supreme Court was the fourth worst in the region.
Allen Frances, a women’s rights activist in New Delhi, said the gender gap in India is “deep and dreadful” as women comprise 48 percent of the nation’s population of 1.25 billion.
Discrimination against women results in social evils such as child marriage, Frances said. India has 24 million child brides, 40 percent of the world’s 60 million child brides.
Delhi High Court refuses to stay interview process for admission of Christian Students in St Stephen’s
The Delhi High Court on June 13 refused to stay the interview process for admission of Christian students in Delhi University’s St Stephen’s college.
The court said it did not consider it appropriate to stay the interview process.
“I am not inclined to grant the stay…. I do not consider it appropriate to stay the interview process. They are seeking to maintain their institution as they want it to be,” Justice Anu Malhotra said.
The interview process is scheduled to commence later.
The court was hearing a petition filed by three teachers of the college against the inclusion of a member of the institution’s Supreme Council in the interview panel for the selection of Christian students.
The teacher-members of the college’s governing body — N P Ashley, Abhishek Singh and Nandita Narain — have challenged a decision taken by the Supreme Council at its meeting on March 12.
The teachers, represented in the court by advocate Sunil Mathew, said it was decided at the meeting to have an additional Christian member nominated by the Supreme Council or the governing body to be part of the interview panel in respect of admission of Christian students in all subjects.
The Supreme Council is higher in authority than the governing body of the college comprising members from the Church of North India and also those nominated by it. The teachers contended that the “interference” of the church in the admission process was against the norms of the college.
However, the college, in its response, claimed that the petition was not maintainable as neither any fundamental right nor any statutory or legal right of the petitioners was violated.
Rights group condemns repeated raids on Jesuit activist
A human rights group in Jharkhand, eastern India, has condemned what it called repeated raids on Jesuit social activist Father Stan Swamy.
“The raids and arrests are part of the government’s growing attempts to stifle dissent and intimidate those who are fighting for justice,” the Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (Grand council of people’s rights in Jharkhand) said on June 12 soon after the police raid.
An eight-member team of the Maharashtra police raided the Bagaicha campus, the 83-year-old priest’s residence at Namkum near Ranchi, the Jharkhand State Capital. The raid that started at 7:15 am continued for 3.5 hours.
The Maharashtra police had earlier raided the priest’s residence on August 28, 2018.
In the latest raid, the police searched the priest’s belongings and took his computer hard disk and internet modem and forced him to give his email and Facebook passwords. Thereafter, they changed the passwords and seized these accounts.
“The Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha condemns repeated raids on Stan Swamy and arrests of other human rights activists,” the statement said.
Archbishop Machado mourns Karnad’s death
Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore on June 11 expressed deep sorrow over the passing away of Girish Karnad, a legendary playwright, actor and social activist.
“We have lost a legend in field of literature and arts. Truly our cultural world is poorer today,” Archbishop said in his condolence message.
The archdiocese later stated that the Catholic bishops of Karnataka with the entire Christian community, priests, religious and lay faithful joined the archbishop in conveying heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family.
Karnad was a man of multi-dimensional talented in nature. Theatre was his vocation. He was a prolific writer, thinker, actor, social activist, non-corrupt and fearless speaker. He also left an indelible impression on cinema, Archbishop Machado noted.
Pope Francis was right to approve the new translation of the Lord’s Prayer
Does God lead people into temptation? Not anymore, at least if you’re a Catholic in France, Spain, or – as of – Italy, where the Bishops’ Conference has approved (with Pope Francis’ blessing) a translation of the Our Father that wrestles the blame for sin away from God, and into the world. The subtle change – from “lead us not” into “do not let us fall” – is an exegetical sleight of hand that has caused theological uproar, bringing on bewilderment in the broadsheets and forging an unlikely alliance between Traditionalist Catholics and Protestant literalists.
Bishop’s body exhumed on court order
The body of Bishop Thomas Thennatt of Gwalior was on June 10 exhumed following a complaint from a Catholic woman who suspected foul play in his accidental death seven months ago.
“The police team took the body for medical examination and brought it back to the graveyard where it will be buried again,” Father Maria Stephen, the public relation officer of the Catholic Church in Madhya Pradesh, told Matters India.
“The body will be buried only after getting permission from the government authori-ties,” he added.
At the time of filing the report, the Church officials were waiting for permission from the government authorities for burial.
On May 11, Judicial Magistrate First Class Nidhi Neelesh Shrivastava, Pohari, district Shivpuri directed the police to investigate the circumstances that led to the prelate’ death and submit its report within a month.
The court order came following Dolly Theresa, a laywoman, approached the court saying she suspected foul play in the bishop’s death.
The woman alleged the diocesan authorities have restrained her from receiving Holy Communion from all churches in the diocese after she filed the petition.
“I had complained to the nuncio and the archbishop of Bhopal about the restriction imposed on me from the diocese, but to no avail,” she told Matters India.
Myanmar Bishops demand shut down of Myitsone dam
In a rare move the Catholic bishops of India’s neighbour Myanmar have jointly demanded the complete shutdown of the China-backed Myitsone Dam on Irrawaddy river.
Charles Cardinal Maung Bo of Yangon and 18 bishops from 16 dioceses of Myanmar signed the statement after a biannual meeting held in Yangon.
In a statement released on 8 June 2019, they affirmed their constant effort to “engage in constructive dialogue with the government and all the stakeholders, firmly holding the belief that peace is possible and peace is the only way to effective nation building.”
The bishops pleaded for all dam stakeholders “to review the Myitsone Dam project in Kachin State and stop it permanently” for the sake of the country’s people.
“The River Irrawaddy runs through the heart of our nation nourishing millions of our people, flora and fauna with water for livelihood and life,” the statement said.
They also stressed people’s sentiments stating, “To the people of Myanmar, the history of River Irrawaddy is intertwined with our joys and our sorrows.”
The bishops feared the resumption of the mega dam would further displace thousands of people.
The bishops further claim that “Scientists have identified serious fault lines below the rivers’ course and building a dam might expose the lines to greater pressure and consequent mega disasters.”
They fear, “The promised economic benefits that are thought to come from the dam are no match for the social and ecological disturbances that will certainly come.”
The US$ 3.8 billion dam project on the Irrawaddy, Myanmar’s premier waterway, was being built to provide hydro-electricity that would be used almost exclusively in neighbouring China.
Indian nun receives honorary doctorate for her work with UN
Spalding University, USA, has conferred an honorary doctorate on Indian nun, Sister Teresa Kotturan of Nazareth, at the United Nations for the Sisters of Charity Federation, on June 3.
Sister Teresa, a member of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, Kentucky, serves as the main representative for the Sisters of Charity Federation NGO at the UN.
In this role, Sister Teresa’s primary objective is to take to the global stage of the UN, the concerns of the 3,400 members of the Charity Federation and all those with whom and to whom they minister in 28 countries.