Tributes and condolences are pouring in from all parts of the country as the Indian Christian community and national political and civic leaders mourn the death of 80 year old Oscar Fernandes, a prominent Catholic politician from Karnataka State and former Union minister, on September 13. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his grief over the […]
The National Solidarity Forum on Saturday (August 21) announced the recipients of its first ever ‘Kandhamal Award for Human Rights’. The Awards will be presented on August 25 at a virtual event. The individual award has gone posthumously to Odisha based social activist Paul Pradhan, who died this year, aged 72, and the award for […]
India voted in favour of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on the condition that after independence all Indians are indigenous. Therefore, it does not consider the concept of “indigenous peoples”, and therefore the UNDRIP, applicable to India. In India, there are 705 ethnic groups officially recognized as “Scheduled Tribes,” although there are […]
Call it bad timing, political naivete, or simply a blinkered attitude to reality, but one thing is certain, a Kerala church is stirring up a hornet’s nest that is making a lot of Christians in North India jittery. A Syro-Malabar Catholic diocese in Kerala has announced a family welfare scheme for its faithful that flies […]
Shooting the messenger may be an unhealthy practice, and the health of journalists in India have become a cause for concern. Some 228 journalists have found themselves in pretty uncomfortable positions, and 13 among them were killed in the country that prides itself on being the home of the Mahatma of non-violence and the world’s […]
“My country is on fire, there is none to put it out,” he said. Even as he lamented, he was perhaps unaware of another kind of fire that has begun smouldering within the Catholic Church in India. Stanislaus Lourdaswamy’s death has brought the Church to a crossroads. The fire to call out injustice and spread […]
The Congregation of the Sisters of the Little Flower of Bethany, popularly called, ‘Bethany Sisters, ’is celebrating their centenary year by building 100 houses for the poor. Father Raymond Francis Camillus Mascarenhas of Mangalore diocese founded the congregation on July 16, 1921, at Bendur, Mangalore (now Mangaluru,) to cater to people on the margins, according […]
The Prison Ministry of India (PMI) should go beyond visits to the prisons, intercessions, and organizing events on feast days and festivals. This was the thrust of views at a condolence event for Jesuit Human Rights Defender Stan Swamy organized by India’s foremost Catholic prison outreach programme with a presence in 27 States and union […]
Yak owners of the country from Sikkim to Ladakh and beyond have a reason to celebrate. For the first time in Indian insurance history , the iconic Himalayan herbivores have been accorded recognition with an insurance policy. Thanks to the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) . Long suffering yak owners can now get get financial […]
Social activists and human rights defenders have called for a nationwide ” Dark Resistance” campaign on Thursday, July 8, when lights will be switched off at 8 PM for a 5 minute period. The campaign will draw attention to the fate of thousands of undertrials, who like Father Stan languish in jails without bail or […]
The Bombay high court has ordered the extension of Fr Stan Swami’s stay in Holy Family Hospital, Bandra, and has shifted the hearing of his appeal against the rejection of his interim emergency bail till July 3rd. The Bombay High Court has extended the private hospital stay of 84 year old Jesuit priest and activist […]
A man with 39 wives and over 90 children in Mizoram. It’s fact stranger than fiction. But, there’s more. Even after doctors declared him dead, his family says that his pulse still exists. This was the situation till 11 pm on Monday, 14th June. The funeral of Zionnghaka aka Zion-a, who was declared dead by […]
