Nirmala Carvalho

India's prime minister has announced a u-turn on the disputed laws. Small farmers had been protesting for a year that subsidies and state warehouses would suffer under a new system they feared would favor monopolists. The president of the Indian bishops' labour commission: "The cry of the poor has been heard".

Eating habits are targeted in Hindu nationalist strongholds. Local authorities claim that non-vegetarian food vendors cause traffic snarls and “offend religious sentiments”. Yet, about 71 per cent of India’s population consumes non-vegetarian food. A member of the Indian Social Institute says that the goal is to “impose one culture, one religion, one ideology”.

The Churches of Asia yesterday marked the observance established by Pope Francis. Auxiliary Bishop D'Silva of Mumbai listened to their stories. Philippine Bishop Pabillo told election candidates not to spend money on the poor, not on ads or bribes. In South Korea, a local cardinal and a new archbishop served food.

Tomorrow is the fifth World Day of the Poor, and the seventh World Day of the Redemptorist Missionary Vocation. The latter are involved in a couple of projects; one to improve ground and water resources management, and the other to educate poor and lower caste children, marginalised by society.

Child protection agency president inspected the Bishop Clemens Memorial Boarding hostel searching evidence of "conversions" by the nuns. Fr Joseph would like to see the same agency “take note of the safety and security of thousands of children living in the streets of Indian cities.”

The Vatican has set the date for the canonisation of the high caste court official, born in today’s Tamil Nadu. He will be the first Indian lay person to become a saint. For Archbishop Machado, he became “poor for the sake of the poor”. Fr Bosco notes that, “Castes divide”, while the new saint will unite.

Accused of carrying out conversions, the Christians were locked in a room until police arrived. In a village in Chhattisgarh, a group of women meeting for a Sunday celebration were beaten.

In a village in Bijapur district, extremists Christians forced to perform a religious ritual in order not to lose homes and property. Local law does not consider a “return” to the “ancestral” religion as conversion, even when involving members of tribal who were never Hindus.

In the Diocese of Sindhudurg, projects have been undertaken to develop unused farmland and start new activities at a time when COVID-19 made things hard. For Fr Pais, women “are often less paid” and “Recognising their contribution is important”.

A group of Hindu nationalists gave the principal of the Christ Jyoti Secondary School “15 days to install the statue” of the goddess Saraswati. For Archbishop Machado, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, the “constitutional guarantees” of minorities “should not be called into question”.

Card Oscar Gracias attended the event organised by the Lokmat Media Group. “India is home of many religions,” said the cardinal, “and is the flag-bearer of the Vasudhaiva kutumbakam,” the idea that the world is one family.

In a video filmed in the state of Chhattisgarh, the swami Parmatmanand, in the presence of local BJP leaders, says: "In our villages we keep hatchets at home". Divine Word Missionary Fr Jospeh: "Every limit has been exceeded".