India

After six bodies were found over the weekend, protesters stormed the homes of local BJP lawmakers. The Union government is sending thousands of special forces, while the Union Home Affairs minister tries to resolve the situation peacefully. For the archbishop emeritus of Imphal, the government is “only watching".

The Himalayan country, which has abandoned fossil fuels thanks to surplus renewable energy in the monsoon season, has started exporting to Dhaka via the Indian power grid. The tripartite agreement provides for supplies from June to November, for five years. This is a turning point for connectivity between South Asian countries.

In India's current local election round, votes are also being cast in the state of which Ranchi is the capital. Prime Minister Modi's Hindu nationalists aim to win back the government by promising ‘equal rights’. But local ethnic groups fear that their identity and traditions will be erased.

With the tycoon’s return, hundreds of thousands of Asians risk deportation from the United States, along with Latin Americans. The Philippine government is getting ready to assist 370,000 Philippine migrants. Indians are one of the largest groups of asylum seekers, along with the Chinese. Due to a legislative void, many South Koreans adopted as infants until the 1980s are at risk.

India’s Home Affair Minister Amit Shah announced the policy presenting his party’s election manifesto for the 20 November state election. Currently, 10 out of 36 Indian states and territories have such a draconian law on the books, which is used to intimidate Christians. “No government can come into my soul,” says the archbishop of Bombay. “Freedom of religion and conversion is a human right,” he adds.

Meeting in the Vatican with this confession from Kerala of Syriac origin but very close to the Reformed world, the pontiff expressed his desire for a common appointment among Christians of every denomination on the theme of mission: ‘Working together to bear witness to the Risen Christ is the best way to bring us closer together’.

On the eve of COP29 in Baku, the Indian Climate Report 2024 was released. In the first nine months of the year, as many as 3,238 people lost their lives in the country due to floods, landslides, and heat waves, up 18 per cent. Madhya Pradesh had the highest number of days of extreme weather, while Kerala had the most deaths.

The wound in the northeastern Indian state is still open. Some houses were set on fire last night. The mainly Christian Kuki community reports continued incursions by Meitei extremists. Fears are growing that hitherto neutral ethnic Nagas might be caught up in the violence. Talks proposed by the Union Home Affairs Ministry have gone nowhere.

Surendra Jain, local Vhp leader, speaks of ‘involvement’ of church institutions in the ‘business’ of drug trafficking. In addition to ‘destroying our culture, insulting traditions, beliefs’. Three Christian organisations file a complaint with the authorities against the defamatory campaign. Words ‘contemptuous and hateful’.

The long-postponed rite takes place amid protest. The apostolic administration of the "rebel" Diocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly limited the rite to new priests who sign an affidavit in which they commit themselves to celebrate the liturgy according to the "uniform" rite adopted by the synod. In a circular he banned priests and lay people from participating in associations that “criticise the official stance of the Church”.

The Indian company close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi already has reduced supply and is now asking for payment of US$ 850 million. Bangladesh is struggling with foreign payments due to a shortage of foreign currency, while the caretaker government wants to revise the terms of the deal with India because its prices are too high.

The complaint of judges who would like the establishment of a body on the model of the Muslim Waqf to curb clashes within the councils that manage schools, hospitals and church funds that increasingly land in the courts with wasted resources. Jesuit Fr. Santhanam to AsiaNews: "Realities not equal, but the problem exists. An examination of conscience is needed to protect the future of these assets."