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India

Self-defense efforts
Christians rally against Hindu zealots

Alarmed by two dozen recent attacks on Christian targets in the eastern Orissa state, churches of different Christian denominations have joined hands to set up a Christian forum “to peacefully confront attacks on the Christian community.”

The launching of the Christian youth organization Rashtriya Surakshya Vahini (RSV) was announced at a press conference in Bubhaneswar, the Orissa capital. The announcement was made jointly by Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar and Ranjit Pradhan, president of the All-Orissa United Christian Forum (AOUCF). The new group initially will have five units, comprising 100 Christian youth each, belonging to different denominations, charged with the responsibility “to alert police and government” about possible attacks on Christians in the troubled state, Father Prabhat Pradhan of the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar archdiocese said.

Stressing that RSV is not a Christian militia group, Father Pradhan said that RSV members “will not take up arms or harm anybody.” At a time when attacks on Christians are becoming a routine affair in the state, Father Pradhan said, “we need to be alert to possible attacks and inform our people and police in advance. To be effective, churches have to do it together instead of working in isolation.”

The Bubhaneswar archdiocese was forced to close down a hostel for students under pressure from Hindu extremist groups recently, after a Catholic priest and his cook were critically injured in an attack early in October. Four churches, including two belonging to Baptists, were also damaged in northern Orissa during the same period.

Communists celebrate the Eucharist
Declaring a public holiday

The Communist-led government of the southern Kerala state declared a public holiday on November 10, on the occasion of the opening of a three-day Eucharistic Congress.

In addition to ordering the closing of all educational institutions, the Communist government also announced the postponement of all public examinations, as thousands of Catholics gathered in Kerala’s capital city of Kochi for the Eucharistic Congress, which marked the conclusion of the Jubilee 2000 celebrations organized by the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC).

With the largest concentration of Christians in India, Kerala traces its Catholic heritage to St. Thomas the Apostle, who landed on the Arabian Sea coast in 52 AD. The autonomous 3.3 million-strong Syro-Malabar rite, based in Kerala, is one of the most vigorous rites in the Catholic Church, with a nun or a priest for every 50 Catholics.

Feminists decry contraceptives
Citing dangers to womens’ health

Women’s groups have urged the Indian federal government to ban injectable contraceptives and to make sure the drugs have no role in the government’s family-planning program. In a memorandum submitted to federal health minister C.P. Thakur, the women’s groups pointed out that injectable contraceptives, especially Depo-provera and Net-en, cause irreversible damage to women’s health.

“Depo-provera is suspected to cause premature menopause, irreversible atrophy of the ovaries, and endometrium, and even death due to spontaneous formation of clots inside blood vessels,” the statement said. However, these contraceptives are given to village women who are not even aware of the side effects, said the women’s groups.

While Depo-provera is being sold across the country and prescribed by doctors, the limited use of Net-en has been allowed as part of the family-planning program, said Dr. Sarojini of Sama, the group leading the campaign against the contraceptives. Accusing the American manufacturers of Depo-provera of deliberately suppressing the “serious and life-threatening” complications caused by the contraceptive, the women’s groups condemned “this deliberate misrepresentation of information as unethical and urge the Indian government to ensure that such hazardous drugs are not brought into the country.”