India’s Supreme Court has allowed the government to control the appointment of teachers in educational institutions run by religious minorities, a ruling Church leaders say violates their right to manage such institutions.

The country’s top court on Jan. 6 upheld a West Bengal State law that allowed a government commission to screen candidates to be appointed as teachers in government-funded madrasas, Muslim religious schools.

“The order definitely will have a bearing in the administration of Church-run education institutions too,” says Salesian Father Joseph Manipadam, secretary to the Indian Catholic bishops office for education and culture.

The verdict came while deciding on an appeal challenging a provision in the West Bengal Madrasa Service Commission Act 2008, which said the government panel could screen teachers to be appointed to state-aided Madrasas.

Madrasas were declared minority education institutions in West Bengal State, just as thousands of Christian schools in the country. The Indian Constitution allows religious and linguistic minorities to establish and manage educational institutions of their choice to help with the social advancement of their people.

The Catholic Church runs some 54,000 educational institutions in the country and at least half of them get financial aid from the state. With this order, “our right to administer our institution is curtailed. Freedom to appoint teachers is also part of the administration,” Father Manipadam told UCA News on Jan. 9, three days after the top court pronounced.

The provisions were challenged in 2013 before the West Bengal State’s Calcutta High Court on the grounds that they violated the rights of minority institutions. The single-judge bench of the High Court allowed the challenge and found the provisions to be unconstitutional.

Veteran poet N.D. Mahanor on January 9 opened All India Marathi Literature Festival amid tight security in view of threats from right-wing Hindu organizations.

The groups had warned Mahanor, a Padma Shri and Sahitya Academy awardee—not to inaugurate the festival as a Christian priest, Father Francis D’Britto, presided over the festival. The priest is a Marathi writer.

The literature festival was held on January 10-12 in Osmanabad in Maharashtra, some 410 km southeast of Mumbai, the state capital. “I have been getting calls since January 1 asking me not to attend the festival as a Christian man is the president. Akhil Bharatiya Brahman Mahasabha had sent a letter asking me not to inaugurate the event, as they would be protesting at the venue. But there was no question for me not to inaugurate the festival.” Mahanor told News Click.

Anand Dave, secretary of All India Brahman Mahasabha (grand council of Brahman), said his organization did not threaten the 78-year-old litterateur. “We requested him not to inaugurate the festival that is presided by a Christian priest. We did not want him to witness our protests at the venue,” he said.

However, Mahanor’s close aides have said that repeated calls and “requests” in harsh words constitute a threat to a septuagenarian. Mahasabha and other right-wing organizations have been opposing selection of Father D’Britto as the president, even as he has been selected following a democratic process. Members of the Marathi Sahitya Parishad, which holds the festival every year, vote for contestant writers to select the president. Father D’Britto, a recipient of Sahitya Academy Award in 2014, was born and brought up in Vasai near Mumbai.

India’s leading cardinal has called the country’s controversial Citizen Amendment Act “a cause of great anxiety for all citizens.”

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the Archbishop of Bombay and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), made his comments on Jan. 8 at a ceremony in Benaulim, Goa, inaugurating a new extension of the secretariat of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI). The CBCI is for all bishops in India – Latin and Eastern Rite – while the CCBI is for the country’s Latin Rite bishops. The Citizenship Amendment Act was passed on Dec. 12 by India’s parliament, and establishes a mechanism for undocumented migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to gain Indian citizenship. How-ever, the law only applies to Hindu, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, meaning Muslims are excluded.

Demonstrators clashed with police for a third day in Delhi on Dec. 17 as protests against a divisive citizenship law spread to universities across the country, raising fears of widespread unrest.

Rights activists and Christian leaders say the protests began to spread after the federal government led by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attempted to crush peaceful opposition to the discriminatory law.

“The protests by students in many universities indicate the great worries among the people. Students are the antenna and the conscience of the people, and future decision-makers,” said the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), a Protestant Church Group, in a Dec. 16 statement.

China will enforce new restrictions on religious groups, organizations, meetings, and other related events starting on February 1.

The country’s state-controlled media announced the new policy on Dec. 30, after Chinese authorities moved to further suppress Catholics in the Archdiocese of Fuzhou who are refusing to join the state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.

According to UCA News, the new “Administrative Measures for Religious Groups,” which consists of six sections and 41 articles, will control every aspect of religious activity within China, and will mandate that all religions and believers in China comply with regulations issued by the Chinese Communist Party, which must be acknowledged as the higher authority.

“Religious organizations must adhere to the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, observe the constitution, laws, regulations, ordinances and policies, adhere to the principle of independence and self-government, adhere to the directives on religions in China, implementing the values of socialism,” says Article 5 of the new policies.

A new feature film pays tribute to Father Marino Rigon, an Italian missionary lauded for his outstanding contributions to education, socioeconomic development, culture and literature as well as Bangladesh’s independence struggle during his more than six decades of service.

The Father: An Untold Story is a joint venture between Bangladesh and Italy. More than 200 actors from Italy, New Zealand, Brazil and Britain have participated in auditions for the film in various cities in Italy. Shooting is expected to start soon in Venice and Vicenza, Italy, and Khulna, Mongla and Jessore, Bangladesh, according to the Dhaka Tribune.

Bangladeshi writer Shahaduzzaman scripted the screenplay of the film, which will be helmed by Hemanta Sadeeq, a local film producer and director.

Sadeeq and Rocco Cosentino, the Italian producer of the film, have been in touch with Father Rigon’s family and received their support, executive producer Lisa Asma Akter told the Dhaka Tribune.

The film is an effort to honour the “selfless sacrifices” of Father Rigon for the people of Bangladesh, said director Sadeeq. “Father Rigon was an extraordinary man who made unconditional sacrifices for the people of Bangladesh. This film will be a tiny homage to this great soul,” Sadeeq wrote on his Face-book page.

The Church has hailed the new initiative to honour the missionary, said Bishop James Romen Boiragi of Khulna, where Father Rigon was chiefly based.

“Father Rigon made tremendous contributions in uplifting the status of poor and marginalized communities, in education, culture and literature. His life and work have brightened the image of the Church in the country and abroad. We are glad and grateful that a new film is being made to pay tribute to Father Rigon,” Bishop Boiragi, chairman of the Catholic bishops’ Social Communication Commission, told ucanews.