Nirmala Carvalho

The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) denounces anti-Christian attacks in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, perpetrated by the Hindu ultra-nationalists. In both cases, the common element is the complicity of police and authorities with the aggressors.

Fr Savio de Sales is the new director of the Pontifical Mission Societies for the Archdiocese of Bombay. The Feast of St Thomas the Apostle, patron saint of India, is a reminder of the Church's priorities in the Year of Faith, namely adult and child catechesis as well as interfaith dialogue.

On the memorial of the founder of Opus Dei, the Archbishop of Mumbai reaffirms the importance of the universal call to holiness, preached by the Spanish priest. The Church and Christians in India must witness this holiness in their life and work.

Interviewed by AsiaNews, Fr. Cedric Prakash, director of the Jesuit center "Prashant" for human rights, justice and peace comments on the nomination of the tribal Catholic politician and the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The declarations of Sangma that "absolve" the BJP for the pogrom in Kandhamal show all his opportunism.

PA Sangma, tribal Catholic of Congress Party, states there is"no evidence" to say that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Hindu radical party) is responsible for the anti-Christian pogrom in Kandhamal. According to Lenin Raghuvanshi, human rights activist, the BJP is exploiting the politician to get the tribal votes.

The incidents are driven by ultra-nationalist Hindus (Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP). In both cases, the police arrested the Christians. Sajan George, the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC): "Disturbing pattern, made of social pressures and violence."

The auxiliary bishop of Mumbai speaks about a case in Beed District (Maharashtra), where police discovered aborted female foetuses, including one in the eighth month of pregnancy. Similar cases have been reported across the state. Now police is investigating hundreds of women and targeting shady clinics.

Some families leave their baby daughters to die of hunger and thirst to get around the law. In Jaisalmer District (one of the worst), five suspicious cases are recorded this month. Its state has one of the worst female-to-male ratios (883-1,000). For doctor with the Pontifical Academy for Life, "Religious leaders, NGOs and government institutions must work together" against this social malaise.

The pastor of a Pentecostal Church and 12 families of his community were seriously wounded, in the district of Balasore. The police seized explosives and dynamite in another district (Puri) of Orissa. According to the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), Hindu nationalists are preparing a "diabolical plan" to repeat the 2008 violence of Kandhamal.

State High Court orders government to protect Shobha Choudhary and her family after village authorities threaten them. The young woman is finishing a university degree, whilst her husband is semi-illiterate. "I cannot accept such a marriage," she says. Child marriage in india is illegal but widespread.

Two men and a woman from the Rabha tribe are seriously wounded. Some 40 Hindu nationalists carried out the attack. The Global Council of Indian Christians slams the systematic attacks. Two Christian families flee for fear of violence.

The incident took place on 6 June in Bacheli, Bastar District. Nine members of a Protestant Church were injured. Police did not intervene. Global Council of Indian Christian President Sajan George expresses his outrage.