A small state in India’s troubled northeast has managed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic much better than some larger states with more resources.

Mizoram is tucked away between Myanmar and Bangladesh, about 1,500 miles from New Delhi. It registered its first case on March 24—the day on which the country went into nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

Since then, the number of cases in Mizoram rose to 918 as of Aug. 24, but there have been no deaths.

The number of Covid-19 cases in India was reported at 3.1 million on August 24, with 57,542 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, United States. India is third after the United States and Brazil.

The government of the state, led by Chief Minister Pu Zoramthanga, decided to take immediate action as the pandemic started. A former militant leader, he enlisted the help of community organizations such as the Central Young Mizo Association and church leaders. About 85 percent of the state’s population is Christian and such organizations play an important role.

Every village and locality in urban areas has a local task force to deal with Covid-19. They coordinate with district-level teams, who in turn report to a state-level team.

On August 9, when a paramilitary officer from the Chaltlang Lily Veng area of Aizawl tested positive for Covid-19, the local task force took charge. They declared a lockdown in the locality. Volunteers managed to trace 136 people who had met the officer. Thirteen of them tested positive.

“The state utilized the time of the lockdown in coordinating effectively among various departments, such as health, home, and disaster management, and the community organizations,” said Priscilla C. Ngaihte, an adviser with Public Health Foundation of India. “They also prioritized strengthening their health infrastructure over other things.”

The National Youth Commission of the Conference of Catholic Bishops’ of India has decided to address the mental wellbeing of young people amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

In these times of uncertainty, the commission is committed to paying attention to the psychological and mental wellbeing of young people, said its executive secretary Father Chetan Machado.

The Delhi diocesan priest issued a press note on August 23 after holding the annual consultative meeting (virtual) of national youth leaders of various Catholic Youth Movements in India.

The participants included two young representatives from youth movements such as the Indian Catholic Youth Movement, Young Catholic Students/Young Student Movement, Youth United for Christ, Salesian Youth Movement, Jesus Youth, St. Vincent De Paul Society and Focolare along with the advisory board of the commission and special invitees.

The annual meeting deliberated on the present a scenario of youth ministry, exchange of ideas and needs of young people. The youth commission plans to collaborate with other youth movements in India after discussion.

NYC is the umbrella body for all Catholic youth activities in the country.

“It may be mere coincidence that this article is written at a time when Asia in general and India in particular are facing the greatest threat to human freedom from ideologies and ideologues that present themselves as the unquestionable advocates of progress. But what triggered this writer to venture into this area is a surreptitiously engineered amnesia to black out Christianity from the map of India’s freedom struggle.
The Christian contribution to India’s freedom is quite evident from the fact that a Marthoma Christian from Kerala – Thevarthundiyil Titus – became almost the other self of Mahatma Gandhi in Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad. In the 1887 Madras meeting of the Indian National Congress, out of 607 delegates 35 were Christians.” Writes Joe Palathunkal.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias has cautioned the priests of his Bombay archdiocese to not let their guard down as they have resumed pastoral activities as the administration has relaxed lock-down norms.
The cardinal’s caution came in the wake of some priests succumbing to Covid-19. “It is with extremely deep sadness that we received the news of the passing into eternity of our two dear brother priests: Fathers Dominic Alves and Johnny Nicholas. Earlier we were shocked to learn of the passing away of Father Simplicius Khess, a Dominican helping out at Our Lady of Mercy Church, Pokhran. We were not prepared for these departures. We pray for them,” Cardinal Gracias said August 15 while addressing the priests of Bombay archdiocese.
“This is a good occasion for us to remind ourselves not to let our guard down. Please observe strictly the norms for wearing masks, social distancing and Covid-19 washing of hands,” says the 75-year-old prelate, who heads the Catholic Church India as the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India.

He has warned especially priests with hypertension and diabetes. “Those with comorbidities have to be particularly careful; especially if you have diabetes, hypertension or some lung infection,” he added.

Tension escalated in parts of India’s Kerala State as police used force to take over some churches of a Christian faction following a court order, aiming to give them to a rival camp.
In pre-dawn operations, police took over three churches of the Jacobite faction on be-half of the Malankara Orthodox faction. Police used force to remove hundreds of protesters including Jacobite priests and bishops.
“Women, children and bishops were subjected to cruel police brutality,” said a statement by Jacobite bishops after they met in an emergency Synod on Aug. 20.
They also registered their protest against the “inhuman and unjust” attitude of the Supreme Court that resulted in “the rushed move to take over the churches of the Jacobite Church.”
The Synod decided to organize protests at their churches while following Covid-19 protocols. The Synod also declared the severance of “all sacra-mental and spiritual relation-ship” with the Orthodox fact-ion, said Joseph Mar Gregorios, the metropolitan trustee and senior bishop of the Jacobite Church. More than 1,100 churches in the Jacobite Church’s possession are under the threat of forceful acquisition after the court order, said Biby Kadavumbhagam, who edits an official publication of the Jacobite faction.

Indian bishops and the country’s oldest lay Catholic organization have urged church members to stand in solidarity with the poor, who have been marginalized even more during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As the nation is still following federal government guidelines to restrict social gatherings, the All India Catholic Union (AICU) held its annual general meeting through a webinar.

The meeting was inaugurated by Archbishop Felix Machado of Vasai, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), in Mumbai on Aug. 16.

He said that Pope St John Paul II and Pope Francis had stressed that foreign debt, with manipulated taxes and interests of the creditors, should be cancelled.

“All Indian citizens are equal to us in dignity before God; and as Catholics, all people in the world are equal to us in dignity,” Archbishop Machado said.

A court in southern India has stopped a multinational firm from restarting its copper-processing plant, which was shut down two years ago following a protest that claimed 13 lives including those of four Catholics.

Madras High Court in Tamil Nadu State on Aug. 18 dismissed a petition by London-based Vedanta Limited seeking permission to reopen its multi-million-dollar plant in Tuticorin district.
“The court has done the right thing. It reflects the will of the people. The plant was instrumental in causing immense environmental pollution,” Bishop Stephan Antony Pillai of Tuticorin told UCA News on Aug. 19.

The plant was shut down in May 2018 following a three-month public protest.

At least 13 people were killed and more than 100 injured when police opened fire on unarmed protesters on May 22 and 23. A Catholic priest was also among the injured.

“Our groundwater, soil and the ecology got polluted from the waste emitted from the plant as the company officials were callous in protecting the environment,” Bishop Pillai said.

The effect of the pollution “was so much that we did not get proper rain and a large number of our people suffered cancer, breathlessness, skin diseases, tuberculosis, among other illnesses,” he said.

“We experience better air and water quality, and we are beginning to get rain now.”

Catholic bishops in Kerala have warned about the increasing influence of international terrorist outfits such as Islamic State in the southern Indian state. The bishops’ call follows a United Nations report which said there are Islamic State-related terrorists in the southern states of Kerala and Karnataka.
Groups like al-Qaida on the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Islamic State have a “significant” number of members in the two states, said the report of the UN’s analytical support and sanctions monitoring team released on July 25.
The bishops want to create “greater awareness” among people about the terror outfits and their motives to keep their countrymen, “especially the youth, away from the destructive elements.”
Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council made the call at the end of its five-day mon-soon gathering on Aug. 8. The online meeting was attended by 47 bishops from all 29 dioceses in the state. The Covid-19 pandemic restrained physical meeting.
The UN report should become “an eye-opener to officials in Kerala State,” it said. It wanted them “to take appropriate steps to check the growth of such elements from getting rooted.”
According to the UN report, a member state said the Indian unit of Islamic State has 180-200 members and “significant numbers” are from Kerala and Karnataka states.

India’s Protestant Church has laicized one of its bishops after he revolted and declared his diocese an autonomous church. The Church of North India (CNI) on Aug. 11 remo-ved Bishop Basil B. Baskey of Chotanagpur Diocese in Jhar-khand State in eastern India from his office. It also with-drew his ordination as a priest and a bishop.
The executive committee of its Synod, the top decision-making body, “unanimously resolved” to terminate the services of the bishop from all offices in the church, said an official statement.
The decision came after an internal probe found the bishop guilty of acts of revolt and indiscipline, the communique said.
“The instrument of election and appointment as bishop in the CNI issued to him by the moderator stands withdrawn and his ordination as priest and consecration as bishop are withdrawn. Hence, from today (Aug. 11), he will be known as Mr Basil B. Baskey,” it said. The official letter signed by CNI moderator Bishop P.C. Singh also appointed pastor Jolja Kujur, the diocesan secretary, as his representative to manage the affairs of the diocese, including its proper-ties and funds.

An NGO led by the Society of the Divine Word has joined civil society groups to help those affected by the lockdown in a district of the north-eastern Indian State of Tripura.
As coronavirus spread in Tripura, Oisho Bani Society (OBS) joining organizations such as Yuva Vikash Kendra to reach out to various parts of Dhalai district, its director Divine Word Father Jeevan Kennady told Matters India.
As the opening of relief work phase-II on August 13, Father Kennady handed over 30 dry ration kits worth of 800 rupees each in Laxmilonga and Lembucherra area and also in the working office of OBS near Assam Rifles Circuit House.
YVK, the partner organization of OBS and Prasanta Chowdhury, a volunteer of OBS, distributed dry ration kits to 150 families in Bardaman Thakurpara ADC village and 30 families in Teliamura respectively.
The dry ration includes rice, dal, oil, wheat, salt, turmeric, soybean, onion, potatoes, sanitizer and masks.
OBS has a plan to cover over 600 families from different places in Tripura in two weeks, said Father Kennady.