Christian Leaders in India have deplored a newly appointed federal minister’s description of religious conversion as “the exchange of sex for favours.”

Minister of State for Animal Husbandry Pratap Chandra Sarangi made the comment in an interview with English news portal The Print on June 3.

“Suppose somebody helped a girl in a medical or engineering college and wanted to enjoy the girl physically. That would be treated as a crime, an inhuman act,” said the first-time Odisha MP, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Similarly, if somebody wants to convert or exploit someone’s belief by giving some service or money, then that should also be treated as a crime — a crime against nature, against humanity.”

Sarangi was the Odisha chief of Bajrang Dal, a hard-line Hindu group, when Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons were burned alive by extremists in 1999. He was accused of being linked to the gruesome murders but denied the allegations.

Odisha, formerly Orissa, is an eastern state where Christians have faced sustained persecution, particularly during riots in 2008.

Father Kulakanta Dandasena from Kandhamal condemned Sarangi’s statement and said it sent a bad message to the country and the international community, “which sees India as a secular country that respects all classes, creeds and religions.”

“We totally disagree with whatever the minister has said because it is vulgar and not true,” he said. “Christians are not involved in any kind of religious conversion and have always respected other faiths and beliefs. We have no differences.”

Pope Francis arrived in Romania on May 31 for a three-day, cross-country pilgrimage. The visit took place 20 years after St John Paul II made the first-ever papal visit to a majority Orthodox country, which is on the Catholic and European periphery.

On this occasion, Arch-bishop Felix Machado of Vasai recalls his visit to Romania when he worked in the Vatican during 1994-1998. I had participated in a meeting in Bucharest, Romania, invited by Catholic Action, a recognized lay association well known in Italy.

It was a memorable meeting and I saw and met so many Orthodox Christians and got to know the place.

One thing is sure, that Pope Francis, like Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, is very interested in Catholic-Orthodox dialogue. Pope Francis is much loved by the Orthodox leaders as we can see that Patriarch Kiril of Moscow, hard liner, has met only Pope Francis. Pope Francis is close to Bartholomew, Patriarch of Istanbul.

In what could be termed as yet another threat to the Catholic Church in Manipur, a hand grenade was found placed at the gate of retired Priests’ Home in Imphal, Manipur, on June 6 morning.

According to sources, when the driver went to open the gate on June 6 morning at around 6:20, a hand grenade was found at the gate in a polythene bag. Police came and defused the bomb, the source said.

Fr Solomon, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Imphal said that there were no threats or any monetary demands prior to the discovery of the bomb at the gate.

“We are shocked and surprised at the same time. When we heard of the threat, we rushed from the Archbishop’s House to the Priests’ Home,” the Chancellor said. The police came to the spot and defused the bomb and took it away, Fr Solomon added.

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.

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.

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.

The head of the Catholic Church in India has congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his emphatic victory in the just concluded general elections.

“On behalf of the Catholic Church in India, and on my own behalf, I extend my heartiest congratulations to you and to the Bharatiya Janata Party,” Cardinal Oswald Gracias, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, said in a letter addressed to Modi.

The cardinal, who is also the archbishop of Bombay, the largest diocese in India, noted in the May 25 letter that the people of India have given “a clear mandate for a stable and effective government.”

The results of the general election, held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19, were announced on May 23. The National Democratic Alliance led by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party won 353 of total 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament.

The cardinal also congratulated Amit Shah, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who played the key role in the election victory.

“I want to assure you of our prayers and best wishes for you and your team as you lead our country in building a strong and inclusive India,” Cardinal Gracias.

He also said that a public function on May 25 had prayed for health, wisdom and strength for the prime minister to carry out the great responsibilities entrusted to him.

The Church leader also offered to collaborate with the government’s vision to create a new India.

“We are all eager to work together for …a New India which gives hope and energy to our youth, empowers our women especially in rural areas, opens new and sustainable opportunities for our farmers and strengthens our economy while leaving no one behind: a New India which enjoys peace and prosperity and continues to make progress.”

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit appointed Vaidehi Vijayakumar as Vice-Chancellor of the Mother Teresa Women’s University at Kodaikanal.

Purohit, who is also the Chancellor of the University, said Vijayakumar would hold office for a period of three years.

Vijayakumar had served Anna University and several overseas universities including Ryerson University, Canada as professor and has presented 266 papers at international level research and academic events, a Raj Bhavan release said.

She was also the Head of Department for six years in Anna University and was also the Dean in VIT University.

She was a Member of Board of Studies of various universities and at the Academic Council of Anna University and Vellore Institute of Technology, it said.

The Supreme Court of India has given temporary relief to priests and nuns who were asked to pay income tax for the salary they earn working in government-funded educational institutions.

The top court on May 9 asked authorities to maintain the status quo of not collecting such taxes and agreed to hear an appeal against an order of the Madras High Court in Tamil Nadu state.

The Supreme Court was hearing a challenge filed by the Institute of Franciscan Missionaries of Mary to a March 20 order of the state court that said missionaries, Catholic priests and nuns should not be exempt from paying tax on government-assisted salaries.

The top court posted the case for a final hearing on Aug 7.

“We are happy that we got temporary relief,” said Father L. Sahayaraj, deputy secretary of the Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council.

He said the Church in the state was determined to fight the case.

He told ucanews.com that Catholic priests and religious serving in government-aided educational institutions did not have any income because their salary is contributed to their convents or houses “so they cannot be asked pay income tax.”

The state court ordered an end to this exemption on the basis that they received their salaries in their individual capacity and that surrendering salaries could only be treated as “application” of their income.

Their choice of application did not merit tax exemption, the court order stated.

The Delhi High Court on May 28 was moved for implementation of the national commission to review the working of the Constitution (NCRWC) proposal on population control and ‘two-child norm’ as a criteria for government jobs, aid and subsidies.

A public interest litigation (PIL), filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, sought direction to the Centre to ascertain the feasibility of implementing the 24th recommendation of the NCRWC (Justice Venkatchaliah Commission) on population control.

In his plea, Upadhyay said the right to clean air, drinking water, health, peaceful sleep, shelter, livelihood and education could not secured for citizens without effective population control.

Stating that the government has not implemented the NCRWC proposals, the petitioner sought withdrawal of statutory rights like the right to vote, contest, property, free shelter and free legal aid.

Upadhyay requested the court to direct the government to spread awareness on population explosion and provide contraceptive pill, condoms and vaccines to economically weaker section and below poverty line families.

He also sought direction to the law commission to prepare a comprehensive report on population explosion within three months and ways to control it.