Kochi/New Delhi: LGBT campaigners urged the state governments in country on Monday to “learn a lesson” from Kerala after authorities in the wealthy southern state said they would cover the cost of gender reassignment surgeries. Kerala’s chief minister said his government would pay 200,000 rupees ($3,000) to allow people toContinue Reading
Nirmala Carvalho Mumbai: In a ceremony lasting over two hours, Archbishop Felix Toppo was installed as the new Archbishop of Ranchi in St. Mary’s Cathedral on Monday. Ranchi is the capital of the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand. The state has a large proportion of India’s marginalized tribal people, whoContinue Reading
Since the Indian conservative party BJP (the Bharatiya Janata Party) came into power, pressure on the Catholic Church has increased dramatically. The motive is simple and dramatic: Hindu nationalists have drawn a significant portion of their votes from Hindu religious fundamentalists who want to expel from India everything that doesn’tContinue Reading
Jakarta: Indonesian authorities on Wednesday raised to 131 the death toll in the magnitude-6.9 earthquake that shook the island of Lombok, where thousands still await food, water and shelter. The spokesperson for the National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a press conference that another 1,467Continue Reading
KOCHI: If one thought the Church would stay clear of the clutches of trade unionism in the state, which has seen its good and bad impacts, think again. In what is believed to be a first in the world, Sextons hailing from the Catholic Church across the state have comeContinue Reading
After the bishops of Chile issued a formal apology for failing to listen to clerical abuse victims and drew up national guidelines for responding to abuse allegations, Pope Francis sent them a handwritten letter of thanks. “I am struck by the work of reflection, discernment and the decisions you haveContinue Reading
Every shelter for vulnerable women and girls across Delhi will be inspected after accusations of sexual abuse at several Indian care homes and admission from the country’s minister for women that “many more” cases are likely to exist. The widening scandal, including allegations that one care home in Bihar stateContinue Reading
NANYANG: The 62-year-old Chinese shopkeeper had waited nearly his entire adult life to see his dream of building a church come true — a brick house with a sunny courtyard and spacious hall with room for 200 believers. But in March, about a dozen police officers and local officials suddenlyContinue Reading
At a time when rote learning and academic-based examination continue to dominate the Indian school system, a 21-year-old student from IIT Madras is on a mission to change the way knowledge is imparted. Using the peer-teaching model, which has the Harvard University’s stamp of approval, Divanshu Kumar hopes to improveContinue Reading
CHENNAI: Muthuvel Karunanidhi, a five-time chief minister of Tamil Nadu and the DMK president for 50 years, has died . He was 94. “With deep anguish we announce the demise of our beloved Kalaignar Dr M Karunanidhi at 6.10pm on August 7, 2018. Despite the best possible efforts by our teamContinue Reading
