Christian leaders have rejected an offer from India’s tourism ministry of a US $10 million grant for the facelift and main-tenance of churches in the Christian-majority State of Meghalaya.

Catholic leaders in the state told that they will not apply for or accept the funding of 613 million rupees for illuminations, landscaping, construction of parking lots and toilets among other infrastructure work at 37 churches.

Federal tourism minister K.J. Alphons announced the grant on Jan. 8, just 10 days ahead of India’s Election Commission declaring Feb. 27 as the date of provincial elections in the northeastern state.

The minister, a member of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has also announced another 86 million rupees for similar projects involving temples, mosques and important sites for 11 other religious groups including indigenous Khasi, Jaintia and Garo believers.

Catholic support is seen as crucial for an election victory in the state, where Christians account for about 80 percent of the three million people. The BJP holds only two seats in the 60-state house.

Alphons, a churchgoing Catholic from southern Kerala state, was made tourism minister on Sept. 3 last year, and four days later he was named the party’s election chief in Meghalaya state.

However, Alphons’ allotment ahead of the election has not enthused Christian leaders.

“First of all, we were never consulted on our needs, nor informed about the project. All these days after the announce-ment, no one from the government had contacted us on this, so there is no question of taking money from the government,” Bishop Victor Lyngdoh of Jowai Diocese told.

Bishop Lyngdoh said the church leadership “cannot take financial help now because it will give the wrong message to our people during this election time. It can create confusion,” he said.

A church decorated with the style and motifs used by Rabindranath Tagore in his works was inaugurated on January 18.

The Infant Jesus Church at Makrampur here was formally inaugurated by Bishop Cyprian Monis of Asansol.

“We have incorporated local traditions of Santiniketan while trying to integrate the church decor with the artistic style of Tagore and popular traditions like open air classrooms which the poet had started,” an official of the Kolkata-based organisation that designed the Infant Jesus Church said.

The centre-piece in the church’s sanctuary is an imposing banyan tree under which Jesus is seated in lotus position imparting his teaching and blessings to all.

Above the banyan tree is the depiction of the Spirit of Wisdom and Enlightenment.

On the right side of banyan tree is the tabernacle enshrined in the traditional winnowing fan decorated with bamboo background and surrounded by conch shells. On the left side of the tree is Infant Jesus – the patron of the church.

The inside back wall of the church has a 40 feet mural depicting Jesus sitting under a huge banyan tree and holding a child.

A Baptist Church in India’s north-eastern Mizoram State has announced incenti-ves to encourage couples to have more babies in an effort to check their dwindling numbers, disregarding a natio-nal policy to control the population.

The church in remote Lunglei town said it will pay families a one-time cash assistance of 4,000 rupees (US$ 63) for a fourth child and an additional 1,000 rupees for each new child.

Influential youth organization Young Mizo Association endorsed the move. “What the church has done is worth emulating. We Mizos are facing a serious challenge of dwindling numbers. We need to arrest the trend and if possible to reverse it,” president Vanlalruata (only one name) told.

The Christian-majority Mizoram has about 1.1 million people, 88 percent of them Christians. Mizoram is among the least populous states in the country of 1.3 billion people. India, currently the world’s second most populous nation after China, implements a national policy to check population growth.

Josy Joseph, a leading investigative journalist, was among the winners of this year’s Crossword Book Awards, an Indian version of international literary wards. The Crossword Book Awards are considered as the Indian version of the Man Booker Prize and Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. It is currently in its 15th edition. This year the winners of both jury and popular choice awards for 10 categories were announced on January 18 at the Royal Opera House in Mumbai.