Anna Chiara Filice

Ahead of the general elections, the Council of lay people of the Indian Bishops' Conference is organizing meetings throughout the territory. It wants to make local communities more involved in issues of freedom of worship in India. In March it will present a report to the bishops. John Dayal: "A poisonous context of regional nationalism undermines the secular roots of our republic".

The bomber a local fundamentalist of the Pakistani Islamic group Jaish-e-Mohammad. An official note from the Pakistani government rejects all " insinuations" of Islamabad connection with the incident. In Bandra a mass in memory of the dead soldiers.

A Pakistan-based Islamic extremist group has claimed responsibility. A car full of explosives rammed a bus carrying soldiers. For Mgr Theodore Mascarenhas, "Violence can never solve any issue.”

The ideal profile of the executioner candidates is: male, between 18 and 45 years, with high morality and mental strength. The executions for drug traffickers will resume within two months. In the island's prisons there are 1,300 sentenced to death, but only 48 sentences are linked to trafficking.

NGOs complain about the crackdown on their work. NGOs are needed in India for children's education, support for the sick and help for the poor. For John Dayal, the Hindu nationalist party is against Western governments when they “raise questions about the treatment of Christians, Muslims and Dalits."

The blaze broke out on the attic of the Hotel Arpit Palace. Rescue slowed by the presence of wood panels in the corridors. Safety standards are under investigation: it seems that a kitchen was created on the top floor.

The new centre is a "Monument of Mercy", established as a response to Pope Francis’s appeal during the extraordinary Jubilee of 2016. It is located in Taloja, where PIME has run a dispensary for lepers since 1984. It will be a place of culture and interfaith dialogue, exchange of ideas and openness to the marginalised. The goal is to bring patients and healthy people into contact to overcome the leprosy taboo and the shunning of Dalits.

In Calcutta the celebrations for the 27th Day are underway, entitled "You received without payment; give without payment". The prefect of the Dicastery for Integral human development spoke about the role of health workers in the care of the suffering. The sick "are not only recipients of the work of evangelization, but also active subjects of this same apostolic action".

The president of Sri Lanka announces the resumption of hangings within two months. A moratorium on capital punishment had been in place since 1976. Almost 1,300 people are on death row, 48 for drug-related offences.

The resolution passed unanimously in the State Assembly. The law is supported primarily by the Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. The norm that excludes converts to Christianity from reserved seats dates back to 1950. National Secretary of the Office for the Dalits of the Episcopal Conference: "It is a great support to our cause".

The advisory body wants to prevent the transfer of the nuns who might testify at the trial of Mgr Franco Mulakkal, who stands accused of raping a former superior of the Missionaries of Jesus. The nuns say they have been subjected to pressures and threats.

The Rev. Dharmendra Singh spent three days in prison, where he was able to meet and console 1,300 inmates. He was reported for forced conversions by a loyalist, who admitted he had received pressure from radical Hindu groups to present false accusations.