Nirmala Carvalho

Entrance doors ripped off, windows and furniture destroyed, cross also ripped off the top of the building. The President of the Global Council of Indian Christians: "The wave of incidents against Christians is increasing in Karnataka and other states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). There is a climate of "growing religious intolerance”.

A demonstration is held in New Delhi against rule that grants status and rights only to Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh outcastes. For New Delhi’s archbishop, Mgr Concessao, India cannot afford to carry on this discrimination.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Indian foundation The Art of Living are behind the interfaith commemoration. Believers must “repudiate the culture of death’ and promote instead “the sanctity of life, tolerance and freedom.” Parents and teachers must fight “divisive tendencies”.

Three days of prayer and reflection in Varanasi. Christian, Hindus, Buddhist, Sikh and Muslim leaders participate.

The spiritual leader’s public meeting is set to be a religious event only. Journalists are allowed only in Tawang. Beijing claims the visit is anti-Chinese. The Dalai Lama is drawing huge crowds of tens of thousands of people.

The phenomenon reported by ex-parliamentary deputy HT Sangliana. It is a ploy to create a "psychosis" among Christians and "poison" public opinion. More than 70 allegations of forced conversions that have never been proved. The Global Council of Indian Christians denounces discrimination in the allocation of aid to flood victims.

For BJP, conversions “corrupt India,” words the Catholic Church views as damaging to the country

Samdhong Rinpoche tells AsiaNews that Beijing’s criticism of the Dalai Lama’s visit to the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh “should not even be taken seriously”. For Beijing, the Dalai Lama is a liar. For Indian Prime Minister Singh, he is “a religious, not a political leader, and an honoured guest of India”.

Pascoal Carvalho, a physician and member of the Pontifical Academy for Life: selective abortion is "a malaise in Indian society." For about 70% of couples who resort to in vitro fertilization it is only to make sure they have a son. In last 20 years, India has recorded at least 10 million selective abortions of female fetuses.

Son of a family of devout Sikhs, he is now a member of the U.S Maryknoll missionary institute. He tells AsiaNews about his childhood, his encounter with Christ, the Mighty God in the weakness of the cross, his "days of torment” for misunderstandings with his father following his conversion. Until the day of his ordination in which he saw with his own eyes what it "God is faithful" means.

Officially, the reason is to ensure adequate training for teaching staff and avoid layoffs. Catholic Bishops’ spokesman Fr Babu says that it could undermine school autonomy.

Reconversion occurs in a large-scale and highly publicised ceremony. According to the Global Council of Indian Christians, this kind of propaganda relies on the authorities’ complicity and is designed to “disrupt communal harmony”. Anti-Christian violence continues unabated.