India's Christians decry 'inaccessible' government benefits for minorities

Lorraine Caballero Wednesday, March 02, 2016

Demonstrators shout slogans as they hold placards during a protest outside a church in New Delhi February 5, 2015. | REUTERS / Anindito Mukherjee

Christians in India are decrying their lack of access to government benefits supposed to be given to religious minorities.

The Indian government has designed scholarships, no-interest loans, and other social and economic benefits for religious minorities, but while Muslims, Jains, and Sikhs are all able to avail most of those benefits, Christians say they are often being excluded from them, UCA News reports.

Sujit William, the national president of the Rashtriya Isai Mahasangh, or the national Christian forum in Bhopal, said the government benefits for minorities do not reach Christians in India and the regulations make it impossible for them receive the benefits. Former forum founder Father Anand Muttungal echoed the sentiment and said the federal and state governments are discriminating against Christians with the regulations, the report relays.

Father Muttungal explained the example of the more than 100,000 student scholarship for Christians in Madhya Pradesh. He said only 3,000 scholarships were actually given to Christians, and those who were eventually able to receive the benefit had to go through huge difficulties.

"More than 90 percent of these benefits go to Muslims, the biggest minority community [in India]," Father Muttungal said.

Meanwhile, Dalit Christians, who belong to the Indian caste of the "untouchables," planned a nationwide rally in March to fight for equal rights to government benefits. Although the current caste order allows them access to government benefits, mostly only those who still cling to their Hindu backgrounds can receive them, according to the Gospel Herald.

International Christian Concern reports that around 25 million Christian Dalits were reportedly forced to abandon their faith in favor of government benefits in 2014.

E.D. Charles, advisor for the National Council of Dalit Christians, says the Congress and the ruling BJP party are to blame for the situation. He says both have refused to implement any initiatives to support Christian Dalits' equal rights.

The forum has demanded changes in the country's policies to help Christians have easier access to government benefits, and to end the effectual descrimination against Christians in the welfare system.