India’s federal commission tasked with safeguarding religi-ous minorities has called for the establishment of government-funded universities primarily for Christians. But not all Christians support the proposal.

The National Commission for Minorities in its Jan. 13 annual report said such an initiative would be in keeping with the already existing state-funded Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia University.

The commission sought a seven-year financial assistance program to establish new univer-sities for Christian communities, who already run their own edu-cational and health care facilities.

The commission said the government should collaborate with the Catholic Church in India, which runs some 400 colleges and 15,000 of 36,000 Christian-managed schools.

The University of Bombay has conferred the “Best College Award’ on St Andrews College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Bandra, a suburb in the western Indian metropolis. The award was presented on January 26, India’s 69th Republic Day, at the University Campus, Kalina. The award was received by Father Magi Murzello and Dr Marie Fernandes along with the students council.

An all-woman band is shattering stereotypes of gender and caste in a village in the eastern Indian State of Bihar, among the poorest and least developed in the country. The Sargam Mahila (woman) Band in Dhibra village near State capital Patna, was set up about two years ago by Sudha Varghese, who runs a charity for women. After about six months of practise, they were ready.

Initially, the 10-member band was ridiculed by their families and other villagers, but they refused to be deterred, said Sabita Devi, a member.

“People used to laugh at us, but why should women sit at home?” she asked. “These days, women are flying in planes – why can’t we be in a band?”

It wasn’t long before the drumming group caught the ears of the community, said Varghese who heads the charity Nari Gunjan. “These women are Mahadalits, the most margina-lized among the Dalits. For them to receive bookings for weddings and company functions, and to perform in front of people is a very big deal,” she told the Tho-mson Reuters Foundation.

The women used to work in the fields for daily wages, but making a living by playing music has provided them with “inde-pendence and dignity,” said Var-ghese, a Catholic nun who has worked with lower-caste Dalit women for several decades.

A dance drama on Blessed Rani Maria was the highlight of the feast of St Francis de Sales, the patron saint of the Arch-diocese of Nagpur. More than 2,000 people from the various parishes of the archdiocese attended the celebrations on January 24 along with Arch-bishop Abraham Viruthakulangara of Nagpur. The drama “Qurbani” (sacrifice) was prepared by Fathers M.L.James and Nitin Francis of Nav Chetna, Bhopal, capital of neighbouring State of Madhya Pradesh. About 200 children from five schools performed the dances while brothers from Pilar Niketan and Sisters from Alphonsa Sadan, Nagpur performed the drama.

The drama depicted the life of the Franciscan Clarist nun who was killed 28 years ago by a hired assassin near Indore, the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh. The nun worked among poor landless agricultural labourers, which upset local landlords.

Hundreds of police deployment was done at the St. Mary’s Post Graduate College in Vidisha, Sagar Diocese in Madhya Pradesh, central India as Hindu right-wing groups threaten to perform Hindu rituals in the premises.

“Calm has returned to the place now as only policemen on watch have remained in the area. We thank once again the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singhji and the Madhya Pradesh police force. And a big thank you for your prayers. The Fathers and Sisters and other personnel are in a state of shock. Do continue to pray for them,” said Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, secretary general of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), who is following the issue, told Fides news.

On January 4, more than 900 Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (Abvp), one of the Hindu right wing student groups threatened to gather and forcibly perform “Aarti of Bharat Mata” (incense to national personification of India as “Mother Goddess”, represented by the goddess Durga dressed in an orange sari and accompanied by a lion) and other Hindu goddesses in the college.

“The Madhya Pradesh police assured church authorities full police protection. The priests who manage the College, however feel that the situation is potentially very dangerous as over 900 activists were expected to gather in violation of police orders. There was already an aggression earlier on 30 December despite the presence of 20 policemen. We need to pray more. We are in touch with the Federal Home Ministry,” said Mascarenhas.

Hundreds of right-wing Hindu students clashed with police in central India Jan. 4 after they tried to storm a Catholic-run college to conduct a Hindu religious rite, church sources said.

Police were forced to charge about 800 students from the group Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parisahd (ABVP) when they tried to gain access to St. Mary’s College in Vidisha, in Madhya Pradesh state to conduct the Aarati, a Hindu ritual prayer hailing Bharat Mata (Mother India).

“They did seek prior permission, but it was refused,” college director Father Shaju Devassy said. Police foiled their attempt.

The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church on Sunday marked a historic moment with the inauguration of the Shamshabad Diocese here with pan-India jurisdiction, excluding the existing 30 dioceses, which the Latin Church had taken over in 1886.

The diocese has jurisdiction over all the Syro-Malabar Christians in 23 states and two Union territories, excluding those in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and in the jurisdictions of the Kalyan and Faridabad dioceses, making it the largest in the country, the officials of the new diocese said.

Major Archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry, the head of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, formally dedicated the diocese to the Vatican with the installation of Raphael Thattil as its first bishop.

The Diocese of Shamshabad in Hyderabad is the 31st for the Kerala-based church and also the largest in the country with administrative control across 24 states, including the entire Eastern and Northeastern regions, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, four Union Territories and all those areas which are not governed by the 14 dioceses outside Kerala.

The new bishop Thattil will serve 1,30,000 faithful spread across 100 cities in the country and has 11 functional churches and seven under construction with around 90 priests and a few hundred nuns.

With about 650 fishermen still missing a month after the Ockhi cyclone hit the southern Indian coast, hundreds of families spent Christmas and New Year in lingering hope of their return, but optimism is fading fast.

The federal government has put the number of missing fishermen at 661. Federal Minister of Defence Nirmala Sitharaman told parliament on Dec. 27 that 261 from Kerala and 400 from Tamil Nadu are missing. No one has been rescued since the announcement.

Official government records show 76 people died in the Nov. 29-Dec. 5 tragedy in the southern tip of India covered by the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

“It indeed was a very sad Christmas and New Year for us. With children waiting for their fathers, and wives for their hus-bands, how will families cele-brate?” asked Robert Panippillai, leader of a volunteer group that works in the coastal areas near Thiruvananthapuram (formerly Trivandrum), Kerala’s capital.

Harassed by vigilante groups, Goa’s only beef traders associa-tion on January 4 said they will go on an indefinite strike from Saturday, until the government cracks down on vigilante groups who hamper bringing in beef from neighbouring states.

The association said the strike would go on till the government eases procedures to bring beef into the coastal state.

Speaking to IANS, Manna Bepari, President of the Qureshi Meat Traders Association of Goa said no beef would be available for sale in Goa, until the government steps in and resolves the issue.

“We are tired of these raids. They are not allowing our business to function. Every other day these groups target the beef consignments which we order from the open market in Karnataka and government officials also keep harassing us,” Bepari said.

“No beef shop will be open until the government helps us and stops these vigilant groups from taking law in their hands,” Bepari said.

He also said that more than five raids were conducted in the last few weeks, especially during the Christmas and New Year period, when sale of beef is at its peak in Goa.

Eight activists including one nun has been injured after a protest march taken out by the Kerala Latin Catholic Women’s Association to the official residence of Forest Minister K. Raju turned unruly.

The demonstration was organised in protest against the destruction of a wooden cross that had been found to be damag-ed a month ago at Kurisumala in Bonacaud. The forum, a feeder organisation of the Kerala Regional Latin Catholic Church, took out the march in protest against the alleged delay in apprehending those responsible for the incident. Nuns and children were among those who took part in the procession.

Police blocked them when they tried to break the police barricade to move towards the residence. Police said they blocked the march when agitators tried to break the barricade and move further towards the minister’s residence.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged that police used force on the women protesters, a charge denied by police. Chennithala wanted a probe and action against the police personnel responsible for it.

The police however ruled out any kind of lathi charge. “When they tried to forcibly enter the minister’s residence the police blocked them. We didn’t resort to lathi charge,” said a senior police official.