Santosh Digal

Hindu radicals continue to intimidate, commit acts of violence and economically and socially boycott Christians. The government is incapable of protecting Christians, who move elsewhere. Only in March 2011, a woman was able to file a complaint about her husband and daughter who died in the 2008 wave of violence. Initially, police refused to file her First Information Report.

“Kudumbashree” is the name of a programme launched in 1999. It involves 80,000 groups of women in rural and urban areas living below the poverty line, who become agents of change. “Poor women can play a pivotal role in this anti-poverty initiative,” Sr Mercy Varghese, who teaches at the St Xavier College in Aluva, told AsiaNews.

Together with the Jesuit Refugee Service, Fr Stan Fernandes, a member of the Society of Jesus from India, is promoting a number of short- and long-term projects in the field of education to benefit young marginalised Afghans. In Afghanistan, 68 per cent of the population is between 12 and 25, the largest school age populaion in the world.

According to an Australian institute, India is one of the “least peaceful” nations of the world, ranked 135th out of 153 countries. For Fr Felix Raj, the Church must play an active role in establishing peaceful and harmonious coexistence among people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds.

Dozens of tribals arrested on false charges of trying to convert Hindu villagers. Members of the upper castes and the Hindu radicals are trying to block the battle against the caste system.

A.J. Philip joins the Assessment and Monitoring Authority, which looks at government programmes for backward classes and minorities. Through him, the needs of the poor will be heard, priest says.

In the village of Bodimunda, Kandhamal, the fundamentalists social and economic boycott of Christians. They want police reports relating to the pogroms of 2008to withdrawn. A Hindu friend of Christians and his family held under siege overnight in their home, later looted and destroyed.

Angad Digal, a Catholic man from Mondasoro, was killed on 10 March. He had gone to a neighbouring village with two Hindu acquaintances. Police arrest one of the two suspects, but have not yet found Digal’s body. A priest slams the atmosphere of impunity created by law enforcement inertia.

Manoj Pradhan appeared spontaneously before the special judge. Christian representatives satisfied. He has announced that it will appeal to obtain bail.

A group of displaced people from Betticala village has been resettled in Nandagiri, where the Mass was performed. The land on which they built their chapel belongs to the government. A local Church committee has called for a title deed to be issued concerning the ownership of the land where the chapel now stands.

Kandhamal authorities set to spend US$ 370,000 to rebuild homes destroyed in 2008 anti-Christian violence. Mediation by the local Church was crucial in organising a meeting between victims and district authorities.

Police orders Nimata Pradhan to stop asking questions about her husband’s death and instead withdraw charges against Hindu extremists who killed him. Police claims the Protestant clergyman drowned. Manoj Pradhan, a BJP leader convicted for his role in 2008 anti-Christian pogroms, is also involved in this crime.