The South Asian Dalit Christian Conference is to be held at NBCLC, Bangaluru, South India, on Feb. 13–14. The topic chosen is “Dalits Witnessing Faith at the Cross Roads in South Asia and Christian Response.”

Participants include Dalit Religious, priests, bishops, leaders and activists across South Asian countries. Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, Vatican, will be the chief guest of the conference, said Fr Devasagayaraj M Zakarias, national secretary of the Office for Scheduled Caste/Backward Class under the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), the event organizer.

Other speakers who will address the gathering on the Dalit scenario and offer theological reflection are Jesuits Dr Selva and Dr Maria Arul Raja. Both of them are leading scholars on Dalits.

This will be followed by the sharing of the faith experience of Dalits in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore and Bangladesh, including Kandhamal anti-Christian persecutions 2008 survivors of Odisha, Eastern India.