The collegium of India’s Supreme Court has met to reconsider its recomm-endation to elevate a Christian judge to the top court amid allegations that the pro-Hindu federal government had rejected him for ideological reasons.

The collegium of judges met on May 11 to consider its January recommendation to elevate Chief Justice K.M. Joseph of Uttarakhand High Court to the Supreme Court, local reports said.

The federal government, run by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), rejected the recommendation on April 26 and asked the collegium to consider other names.

The collegium concluded that Joseph was “more deserving and suitable in all respects” than other eligible judges, according to local media.

“The government turned down the collegium recommendation as he is a Christian and may not toe the pro-Hindu ideological line,” said Govind Yadav, a Supreme Court lawyer.

The government said Joseph was a junior judge who stood 42nd in India’s rankings. It also suggested the collegium consider candidates from socially poor Dalit and indigenous groups as they have no representation in the top judiciary.

The government also said Joseph’s appointment would cause regional imbalance as he hails from the same southern State of Kerala as another judge, Justice Kurian Joseph, who was already serving the top court. However, Kurian Joseph is due to retire this year.

“None of these arguments hold water,” said Yadav. “There is no such law that a junior judge cannot be elevated.”

The government “is taking revenge” on Joseph because he led bench judges to strike down the BJP-led federal government’s decision to impose president’s rule in Uttarakhand when the rival Congress party was in power.

The bold order humiliated the federal government and therefore it does not want him to be elevated to the top court, Yadav said. “Then again, he is a Christian who may not follow pro-Hindu ideology. That further contributed to rejection of his name,” he said.

In the campaign for the southern Indian State of Karnataka’s May 12 election, religion was once more at the centre of the battle between the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which controls the federal government, and its long-term rival, the Indian National Congress. The two, along with local secular party Janata Dal (Secular) were fighting for the votes of a substantial Muslim minority of about 13% in a poll that underscores the religious versus secular battle lines that have now been drawn in the world’s largest democracy. The poll was more than just a test to determine which side had a superior on-the-ground organization. Rather, it was a test of how well the Hindu nationalist card, melded with promises of economic improvements, would fare in the heartland of India’s information technology sector.

Such episodes have claimed at least 25 lives since 2010, with 21 of the victims being Muslims, according to a recent report by the IndiaSpend website.

The Patriarch has invited the church for peace talks during his visit to India Even as they have received an explicit invite from Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius Aphrem II for initiating peace talks during his visit to India, the Malankara Orthodox Church appears to be taking a cautious approach to the issue.

Speaking to The Hindu, church spokesperson P.C. Elias said the church had already made its stance clear on the peace talks with the Pontiff when he had made the overture before. “We are ready for talks on the basis of two key points; one, it should be on the basis of the 1934 Constitution of the Church and second, it should be based on the Supreme Court verdict in the case,” he said. The definition of peace shall be identified on the basis of these two key factors, he said. He, however, said the Church had not made any formal reply to the recent invite from the Patriarch. The communications are being handled by the Ecumenical Relationship Committee of the church.

Apart from the rising number of female foeticide cases in India, more than 200,000 girls under the age of five die each year in the country, finds a Lancet study led by an Indian-origin resear-cher. The study, published in the journal Lancet Global Health, has found that there is on an average 239,000 excess deaths each year of girls under the age of five owing to neglect due to gender discrimination.

The numbers which are particularly higher in the northern States of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, are mostly due to unwanted child bearing and subsequent neglect.

For too long, the focus has been only on prenatal sex selection, said co-researcher Christophe Guilmoto from the Universite Paris Descartes in France.

“Gender-based discrimi-nation towards girls doesn’t simply prevent them from being born, it may also preci-pitate the death of those who are born,” he said.

The figures which are around 2.4 million in a decade can only be checked with stress on female literacy and employment in modern industries, the researchers noted.

“Regional estimates of excess deaths of girls shows any intervention in the food and health care allocation should particularly target Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where poverty, low social development, and patriarchal institutions persist and investments on girls are limited,” said Nandita Saikia post-doctoral research scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria.

The Archdiocese of Delhi will launch a prayer and fast campaign for India and its leaders as the country gets closer to general elections.

“We are witnessing a turbulent political atmosphere which poses a threat to the democratic principles enshrined in our Constitution and the secular fabric of our nation,” says a letter from Archbishop Anil Couto of Delhi addressed to all parish priests and religious institutions in the archdiocese.

The letter dated May 8 is to be read during Masses throughout the archdiocese on Sunday, May 13.

Archbishop Couto says praying for the country and it political leaders all the time has been a “hallowed pra-ctice” of the archdiocese. It is all the more necessary “when we approach the General Elections,” the prelate adds.

The current coalition government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party will complete its five-year term in May 2019. “As we look forward towards 2019 when we will have a new government let us begin a prayer campaign for our country from May 13, the anniversary of the Apparition of the Blessed Mother,” the archbishop appeals to his people. He wants them to consecrate themselves and the country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The campaign comprises observing a day fast and conducting an hour of adoration on every Friday for a year. The letter urges the faithful to forgo one meal on Fridays and offer penance and sacrifices for “our spiritual renewal and that of our nation.” The archbishop has also prepared a prayer for the nation to be recited during the adoration.

Members of Indian Theological Association (ITA) say the ‘one religion, one culture, one language’ mantra of the religious nationalism challenges India’s diversity and secular ethos.

Some 70 theologians dis-cussed the theme “challenges of religious nationalism in India today” at their annual meeting and analyzed the complexity of the present Indian reality from various angles in the context of the current political scenario.

Through various papers presented during the April 26-29 gathering in Bangalore, they discussed the threat religious nationalism has posed to the secular and democratic foundations of the country.

Besides challenging the diversity of cultures, religions, languages and ethnic groups, the religious nationalism also threatens the existence of millions, who are systematically marginalized and deprived of their basic dignity.

The present political and social scenario of hatred, mistrust and violence compels every Indian “to reinvent and rejuvenate” the resources and claims of invincible Indian identity which has fostered, through the centuries, the unity and integrity of India, the papers said.

While searching together adequate theological response to the threat of religious nationalism, the theologians urged Christians to actively join the social mainstream to engage with others fighting the destructive trend.

They stressed the need to safeguard the fundamental rights ensured by the Constitution of the India, which is the ‘referral’ for the people of India to defend their secular and democratic rights.

Vandals have defaced the door of the chapel inside Delhi University’s St Stephen’s College with a pro-Hindutva slogan that read, “Mandir yahin banega” (The temple will be constructed here).
Moreover, the cross outside the chapel was also defaced.

Sources said the graffiti on the door was first noticed by students on May 4 evening and the work began to get rid of the slogans the following day.

A St Stephen’s student who did not wish to be named, said, “Some students had already noticed the graffiti, but I noticed it when I was out for an early morning jog. After a while, I saw that the staff had started to re-move the slogans. All signs of the slogans were gone.”

The writing may have gone unnoticed for hours since regular classes have been suspended owing to the impending Delhi University examinations.

The Pentecostal Christian pastor beheaded near Ranchi, in Jharkhand, was a tribal, informs Msgr. Paschal Topno, Archbishop emeritus of Bhopal, in Madhya Pradesh. According to the prelate, the real reason for the reverend’s murder is to be found in his aboriginal origins. “Being a tribal Christian in India – he says – means being peripheral. Tribal Christians face the greatest challenges.” Meanwhile, police investigations continue to identify the perpetrators of the murder of the Rev. Abraham Tigga Topno, kidnapped on the night of May 1, beaten and beheaded.