India (International Christian Concern) — After the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power at the national level in 2014, many large Christian organizations that had been receiving funds from abroad came under government scrutiny and were charged with embezzlement and other corrupt financial practices. Recently, the government stated that many of these organizations were involved in alleged illegal religious conversion activities, too. For the first time, India’s Ministry of Home Affairs has listed illegal religious conversion activities as a reason for blocking foreign funding of certain non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in India. Indian organizations that receive funds from abroad must have a clearance license under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). The organizations now must submit their audited accounts annually to the central government, showing the expenditure of all foreign funds. The new restriction became known after several organizations sought clarity on why their FCRA clearances were denied. According to media reports, several Christian and civil society NGOs had their FCRA licenses revoked for allegedly violating provisions of the foreign funding law. Earlier this year, the ministry canceled the FCRA license of the think-tank Centre for Policy Research (CPR). In March, it also canceled licenses of five NGOs, including the Church

Six bodies of women and children were recovered as ethnic violence escalated between indigenous Christians and Meitei Hindus in India’s strife-torn Manipur state. Several churches and homes, including those of legislators, were set on fire in the past three days, Church leaders say. “We are living in a terrible situation. There is no guarantee for our lives and properties,” said a Church leader based in the troubled state in the northeastern region. The leader, who did not want to be named due to safety concerns, told UCA News on Nov. 18 that the entire state was “under an undeclared emergency, and people were frightened to get out of their homes.” Chief Minister N Biren Singh convened an emergency meeting on Nov. 18 as violence and arson continued in different parts of the state, and seven legislators of the National People’s Party (NPP), his government's alliance partner, withdrew their support to the government. However, Singh, a leader of the Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, faces no immediate threat as his government still has a workable majority in the 60-member state assembly. Angry mobs set fire to the residences of a couple of legislators. They tried to storm into the ancestral home

New Delhi: Highlighting India’s worsening human rights records, a new Congressional Research Service report notes differing views among US policymakers and analysts on addressing this concern, while courting New Delhi as a strategic counterweight to China. The report ‘India: Religious Freedom Issues’ released earlier this week charts the basis of India’s secular constitution and explains the religious and political fault-lines that have fuelled the growth in social disharmony and what it has meant for India-US ties. “After a decade of BJP rule at the federal level and expanded BJP power in state governments since 2014, Hindu chauvinism and bigotry are more visible in India, with rates of communal violence on the rise in recent years,” said the report. It also spotlighted the recent accusations made against the Indian government by Canada, as well as US prosecutors, of alleged transnational acts. “These developments severely disrupted India-Canada ties and could yet affect the tenor and trajectory of the U.S.-India partnership. They also have attracted congressional attention.” Earlier this year, the Senate foreign relations committee chair had “explicitly linked his approval of a pending U.S. arms sale to India to Biden Administration assurances that India’s government was committed to a thorough investigation leading to ‘credible accountability’ in

The Chief Justice of India Dr. Dhananjay Yashwant Chandrachud retired at the weekend, teaching civil society and religious minorities a valuable lesson — don’t pin your hopes too high on the pedigree of a judge, on his record in the high courts, and certainly not on what he says in seminars and articles. When push comes to shove, judges will never hurt a majoritarian ruling dispensation and an authoritarian government. This is a valuable lesson for the next chief justice, Harish Khanna, who comes with an even better pedigree. His uncle, Supreme Court Judge H R Khanna, defied the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, and dissented with the majority which upheld her government’s right to imprison political opponents at will and without court hearings. He was in line to be the chief justice but was superseded. Ironically, Chandrachud’s father, Yashwant Chandrachud, had ruled in favor of Gandhi and became the chief justice in time. It is another matter that all these eminent jurists are pointed out as prime examples of the subterranean nepotism fostered in the “collegium” system where judges of state high courts and of the Supreme Court are chosen by the five senior judges of the apex court. The Supreme Court is

A Church leader in India’s Manipur has expressed concern that the latest killings in a fierce gunfight between tribal Kuki militants and security forces may lead to “further escalation of violence” in the troubled northeastern state. At least 11 militants, who were described as “village volunteers” by their tribal body, were killed when security forces claimed to have "repulsed an attack on a police station” by them on Nov. 11. The fresh bout of violence will “increase animosities between rival groups” and "may jeopardize the federal government’s initiative to restore peace" in the state, the Church leader who did not want to be named due to security concerns told UCA News on Nov. 12. Government sources said two personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were injured as the militants in camouflage uniforms and armed with sophisticated weapons fired indiscriminately at the Borobekra police station in Jiribam district. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) condemned the killings of tribal men and denied the government’s claim that they were militants. The tribal body in a statement on Nov. 12 expressed deep sorrow over the “tragic loss of our 11 brave volunteers.” The gunfight comes close after the burned corpse of a Kuki woman was found in

MUMBAI: For the minority Christian community in Maharashtra, the election offers difficult choices, especially after home minister Amit Shah’s statement that a BJP govt in the state will implement the anti-conversion law and never allow quota for minorities. Despite the fact that no Christian candidate has been fielded by major political parties in Mumbai, community leaders are advising members to vote in large numbers on Nov 20. Cyril Dara, core member of a federation of NGOs named Samast Christi Samaj, said, “Christians are targeted by anti-conversion laws, which create an environment where conversion to a minority religion is very dangerous, and sharing the gospel can lead to persecution.” Bishop Allwyn D’Silva, in-charge of the social apostolate of the Archdiocese, echoed the need to “vote in parties that respect the Constitution”. “We must invoke the conscience of people regarding issues like communal tension, worsening economic inequality, lack of jobs, and multiple injustices like the anti-conversion bill.” Herbert Barretto, president, Maharashtrian East Indian Christian Federation, said, “The community is unhappy with Congress, NCP and both Shiv Senas for ignoring our members during distribution of tickets.” Melwyn Fernandes of AOCC also expressed hurt over the “exclusion of Christian candidates from Congress party’s list” despite its claims of

Guwahati: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) through several of its offshoots have sped up reconversions of Christians into Hindu indigenous faith in Meghalaya, a new book has claimed. It stated that while conversions of Christians into Hindu indigenous faith had been 60 families annually in the Khasi Hills, the number spiked to 500 in the last five years. "About sixty families used to convert to the indigenous Hindu faiths from Christianity in the past annually in the Khasi Hills. But that number has significantly increased. Over 500 families have undergone 'Ghar Wapsi (reconversions)' in the last five years in the hills," Abhijit Majumdar has quoted the RSS functionaries in Meghalaya in 'India's New Right: Powering the Current Wave of Nationalism and Civilisational Revival'. Majumder has quoted the RSS functionaries in the book saying that Meghalaya is currently in the grip of nationalism with foremost issue being the illegal influx of the Bangladeshi Muslims. "One of the main concerns shared by Hindus and Christians alike in Meghalaya is the illegal Muslim settlers from Bangladesh. Even the churches are openly discussing the issue," Plielad Khongtiang, a BJP worker, told Majumder. The author quoted Nikelson Khongmawloh from the Pynter village in the Khasi Hills that "forty Christian

Christians have condemned a claim by the leader of a Hindu organization that Christian churches are at the center of the drug trade in north-eastern India which shares borders with the world’s largest opium producer – Myanmar. The United Christian Forum of Dima Hasao said on Monday that the Christian community is shocked and dismayed over the allegation. Earlier, Surendra Kumar Jain, international joint general secretary of the World Hindu Council claimed, “drug business is done on a large scale by the churches,” at an event in Assam, the biggest state in north-eastern India. The comments drew an angry response from Christians, who alleged that Jain was attempting to create divisions among religious communities in the region. Both the World Hindu Council and India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party owe their allegiance to the ultranationalist outfit Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which is against the missionary activities of Christians in the South Asian nation. Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya in the northeast are Christian-majority states. Along with Nagaland and Mizoram, sectarian strife-torn Manipur shares a border with civil war-hit Myanmar. The Bharatiya Janata Party rules Manipur and has blamed the narcotics trade for the simmering communal tensions in the state. Koet Saray, an activist and former monk in