Indo-US Democracy Foundation

The charitable organisation, set up by Mother Theresa, had had its request for renewal of its FCRA license denied last year on the grounds that “adverse inputs were noticed” in the application.

New Delhi: The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) registration of the Missionaries of Charity (MoC), an organisation founded by Mother Theresa, was renewed by the Ministry of Home Affairs on January 7, according to reports.

The ministry had earlier rejected the organisation’s application to renew the registration, citing “adverse inputs” that it had received. It is not yet clear why the ministry has reversed its decision.

Read more:

https://thewire.in/government/missionaries-of-charitys-fcra-approval-renewed-by-home-ministry

The Central government’s rejection of Missionaries of Charities’ (MoC) request for Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) renewal comes within weeks of a First Information Report (FIR) filed against one of its children’s homes in Vadodara following allegations by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) of religious conversions.

The FIR against the Children Home for Girls was filed on December 12 under Section 295 (A) of the amended Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003, which pertains to deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings.

Inspection by panel chief

This was a result of an inspection conducted by NCPCR Chairperson Priyank Kanoongo in August. He found that “non-Christians were made to learn Christian texts” and “there were several copies…

New Delhi: Six Muslim students were barred from attending classes on account of their wearing hijabs at a pre-university (PU) college for women in Karnataka’s Udupi district, Hindustan Times reported.

Apart from the dress-code issue, the students and their parents also claimed that they were not allowed to talk in Urdu, Arabic or Beary languages. As a result of these restrictions, the students began demonstrating outside the classroom on Saturday, January 1, and have been there for three days now.

According to the students, school authorities had called the parents of these students to discuss the matter but had made them wait for four hours when they did come to school and that principal Rudra Gowda refused to discuss the issue with them….

New Delhi: A group of retired government officials have written to the chief minister of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami, condemning his government’s response to the recent Dharma Sansad at Haridwar, where open calls for genocide of Muslims were made. They have also called for the immediate arrests of the organisers and speakers of the event and implementation of the July 2018 Supreme Court order on the prevention of mob violence.

The event was held between December 17 and 19 in the state, which saw the participation of a large number of Hindu religious leaders, right-wing activists and Hindutva organisations.

The event was also attended by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay, who was earlier arrested for an event he helped organise at Jantar Mantar in Delhi…

A group of men led by a politician on Thursday barged into a Gurgaon private school and disrupted a Christmas carnival. They also raised slogans of “Jai Shri Ram (long live Lord Ram)” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai (hail mother India)”. Videos of the incident show a man addressing the students and staff. “Christianity is not acceptable here. We are not disrespecting Jesus Christ but we want to tell the future generations to remember him if they want and do it legally but not fall for attempts of religious conversion. It can destroy Indian culture,” he…

Pls read:

https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/bar-association-attributes-stan-swamys-death-in-custody-to-cruel-and-unusual-institutional-mistreatment/cid/1821788

India on Tuesday rejected mounting international criticism over the handling of the case of Father Stan Swamy, an undertrial who died on Monday, saying the concerned authorities act against violations of law and do not restrain legitimate exercise of rights.

The Ministry of External Affairs said India remains committed to the promotion and protection of the human rights of all its citizens and that the country’s democratic polity is complemented by an independent judiciary and a range of national and state-level human rights commissions.

Stan Swamy, who was arrested last year under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with the Elgar Parishad case, died in a Mumbai hospital on Monday.

Please read:

https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/elgaar-parishad-case-swamy-detained-under-due-process-of-law-says-centre/cid/1821450

The body of 84-year-old Indian Jesuit priest Stan Swamy, who died under detention, was cremated on July 6 after a court asked Jesuit officials to follow prison rules. Father Stan Swamy was championing the rights of indigenous and marginalized people in eastern India’s Jharkhand state, breathed his last at the Holy Family Hospital in Bandra, Mumbai, where he was admitted for treatment over a month ago. Father Swamy was a Jesuit for 64 years, and a priest for 51 years.

The body of Father Swamy, who died of post-Covid-19 complications on July 5 in church-run Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai, was taken to a government crematorium after a requiem Mass. “Although he was free from Covid-19, we have been asked by…

“It is a dark day for democracy in India, and the national leadership and members of the judiciary should hang their heads in shame,” said George Abraham, vice-chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, USA who was reacting to the death of Stan Swamy, who dedicated his life to serving the poor tribals in India. Father Swamy’s detention and treatment in prison that led to his death is a blot on the consciousness of the nation and a travesty of justice,” said Mr. Abraham.

Father Stan Swamy was held in detention under the draconian law called  UAPA, which is supposed to be a tool against terrorists. It is pitiful that a country that professes to broadcast to the world about its…