Voters in 13 Indian states will go to polling stations on Maundy Thursday in parliamentary elections after the High Court in Tamil Nadu state dismissed a petition from church officials to reschedule the date.

The federal Election Commission has scheduled polling in 97 constituencies of 13 states on April 18 when Christians observe Maundy Thursday this year, starting their Easter triduum leading to Good Friday and Easter. Church officials in Tamil Nadu, a southern state with 4.4 million Christians and more than any of the other 12 states, petitioned the state High Court to move polling to another day.

The High Court dismissed the petition but asked the state Election Commission to ensure that polling does not hinder Christians’ prayers.

“Since the polling is fixed on Maundy Thursday, it is expected that the Election Commission will take adequate steps to ensure that people are allowed to pray in churches situated adjacent to polling booths without any hindrance,” the court said in its March 22 verdict. The 13 states holding polls on Maundy Thursday are Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Puducherry.

Archbishop Antony Pappusamy of Madurai, president of the Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council, had petitioned for rescheduling, arguing that hundreds of Catholic government servants with polling duties will miss prayers.

The Madras High Court has held that salaries and grants-in-aid to nuns and priests are liable to attract tax deducted at source.
“In our opinion, the provisions of Income-Tax law are dry, plain and simple, a political and a religious in character,” the court said in a recent order.

The bench, comprising Justices Vineet Kothari and C V Karthikeyan, gave the order on a writ appeal filed by the Union of India and the Income-Tax Department against the Society of Mary Immaculate and the State’s Directors of Treasuries and Accounts, School Education and Elementary Education.

The court also set aside, a previous 2016 ruling by a Single Judge of the Madras High Court on a writ petition by the Institute of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary against the Union of India and others, which had allowed the writ petitions, and had said TDS was not applicable on salaries and other benefits given to nuns and priests working in teaching institutions.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) has expressed “profound sorrow” at the death of Manohar Parrikar, the Chief Minister of Goa and former federal Minister for Defence. Parrikar, 63 died from pancreatic cancer on March 17.

“We can truly say that Goa and India have lost a great leader and the Christian community has lost a sincere and honest friend,” said a condolence statement from the CBCI. The bishops saluted the “courage and determination” of the leader who till his last breath battled against his disease. Parrikar’s recent public appearances “manifested his daunting fortitude,” it said.

In late January despite his advanced disease, he opened the Mandovi bridge and a few days later participated in the Goa Assembly Session.
“We were happy that the Goa Chief Minister looked in high spirits not scared of his physical sufferings and undeterred by the tubes inserted inside his nasal cavity,” the statement said.

Indian Church’s top communicators were urged to boldly present Church’s perspective on issues without running away from uncomfortable realities.

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) secretary general Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas and other experts suggested strategies for Church communicators to “become effective” at a March 11-15 national meeting.

Some 45 people, mostly regional directors of communication, from dioceses across India attended meeting organized by the CBCI office for Social Communications (CBCI-OSC) at Nav Sadhana Pastoral Centre in Varanasi.

Through examples, Bishop Mascarenhas illustrated how certain issues disappeared when communication on them have been “prompt and effective.”

He urged the Church communicators to speak up boldly and incisively on the issues, presenting the church’s perspective and being faithful to its teaching and values. He said Church’s silence only helps others to change the narrative. But the Church communicators must know “when to speak, and how much and what to say when they do,” the bishop said.

Rising unemployment and nationalism on religious lines are the two key issues bothering citizens ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, revealed a survey conducted by Lokniti-CSDS and the Azim Premji University.

“20% of those surveyed said unemployment was the biggest issue facing India, and 15% said the top government priority should be a remedy to joblessness,” said the survey titled “Politics and Society between Elections 2019.” The second and third issues cited were ‘development’ (15%) and ‘law, governance and corruption’ (13%).

60% of those interviewed for the survey said no minorities and migrants but influential people blocked progress. This sentiment was stronger among the youth. 61% of those below 35 years of age felt about elites blocking development.

51% of those above 35 years held the same view, said the report.

People also said it was easier to get admission in government schools than a water connection.

The report said though caste identities were prominent, these were over-shadowed by religious identities when it came to religious nationalism.

The survey found the Indian Army was the most trusted institution in the country with an effective trust of 88%, followed by courts (60%). Political parties were the least trusted as 55% people expressed their mistrust in them.

People in UP, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Assam sought punishment for those who don’t say ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ at public functions. But residents of Nagaland, J&K, Kerala, Mizoram, Tripura, Punjab and West Bengal disagreed.

For the second time in a week, Kerala’s ruling CPI-M said that the government has no plans to implement the Church Act, with now Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan making the assurance to a group of bishops from various Christian denominations who met him.

The proposed Act aims to put in place a Devasom-like structure of administration over churches in the state and make heads of different churches accountable to the state government.

The draft act was put online by Law Reforms Commission chairman, Justice (retd) K.T. Thomas, a former Supreme Court judge, to solicit public opinion but sparked off protests from various Christian denominations. Vijayan’s office issued a statement to the media which said that his government has no plans at all to implement the Act.

“This Commission before doing this never ever consulted with the Kerala government. We categorically wish to inform all concerned, this government has no plans to implement the Church Act at all,” it read.

During the previous LDF tenure (2006-11), the then Law Reforms Commission had come up with a similar Act but the government never acted upon it, it added.

On March 1, CPI-M state Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told the media that the Left government was not going forward with the Act, a day after the Inter-Church Council got together near Kottayam to protest the proposed move.

Jesuit Superior General Father Arturo Sosa, who is on a visit to India, stressed the urgency of reconciliation with God, humanity and nature during his Ash Wednesday Mass in Pune.

“We need urgently to reconcile ourselves with God, fellow human beings and with nature,” Father Sosa said on March 6 while celebrating the Eucharist on the first day of the season of Lent at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth (JDV) seminary.

Father Sosa maintained that the season of Lent is a gift of joy.

Two words here are striking: gift and joy. Lent is God’s gift to us, and it brings us great joy. The joy of returning to God — the God who fills us with joy, restores us and reconciles us with Himself, with all His children, and with all His creatures, he said. He added that Jesus pro-poses very precise and practical steps to realize this reconciliation. The three steps are: prayer, fasting and alms-giving.”

The global head of Jesuits, also the JDV Chancellor, wanted the 1,100 staff and students of the seminary to engage with the three steps and “strive for the triple reconciliation — with God, with others, and with nature.”

Twenty one years after four nuns were raped by 26 persons in the Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh, a 45-year-old absconding accused in the case has been nabbed, police said on March 5.

Kalu Limji was arrested from Aamba village in the district the previous day, a police official said.

In September 1998, the accused, mostly tribals, raped the nuns at the Priti Sharan Mission at Naupara village in the predominantly tribal district. Nauapara is 25 km from the district head-quarters.

Of the 26 accused, 24 were arrested immediately after the incident, police said. Nine were awarded life imprisonment by a local court, while 13 others were acquitted.

Limji was one of the two accused absconding. He “was arrested at Aamba village under Kalidevi police station after a tip-off,” Jhabua district Superintendent of Police Vineet Jain told reporters.

Limji earlier worked as a labourer in neighbouring Gujarat, the police official said.

Women in a remote village in Arunachal Pradesh marked the International Women’s Day by praying for the release of jailed Missionaries of Charity nun in Jharkhand State. “We know that Sister Concelia (Baxla) is inno-cent. She is in jail for false case by people with vested interests to show the Church in poor light,” said Likro Mossang, president of the Catholic Women of East Arunachal Pradesh. “We join with her and scores of other women who languish in jail because of false cases. This is our best way to celebrate our women’s day this year,” she told the gathering at Neotan village in Changlang district of the northeastern Indian state.