ORISSA

1 Persecution of Christians increased during the 1990s.

2 Church growth has increased in the 1990s with a multiplication of workers and new believers despite harsh state ‘anti-conversion’ laws

3 Tribal peoples of Orissa are the most responsive to the gospel, as are their brethren in adjoining south Bihar

4 The unfinished challenge:

a) The forward (high) castes, such as the Brahmin and Korono, have never been confronted with the claims of Christ

b) There are many areas with very few Christians

c) The tribals

5 The ministry of the Bible. A good new Oriya Bible was published in 1998

6 Radio broadcasts have been getting encouraging response from Hindus during the 1990s

INDIA’S north-eastern state Orissa continues to be in grip of gory anti-Christian riots in June 2010. Scores of Christians, have been burnt alive. Countless churches, houses and shops have been gutted. Even Christian orphanages have not been spared. To justify massacre of hapless Christians, Hindus spread the canard that eminent Hindu leader, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, had been killed by Christians recently. Kandhamal district was the epicentre of the communal riots. Most of the Christians were killed there. In the village Barakhama Hindus attacked Christian dwellings with guns and bombs.

Pray for our brothers and sisters in Phulbani (Orissa) who are being persecuted: Two women and a girl died after their house was set on fire in Orissa’s Kandhamal district, (Sangita Tripathy (29), her daughter Simran (4) and mother Janaki Panda (45) were charred to death at Hatapadasahi locality of Kotagada town last night, the sources said. Petrol was suspected to have been poured on the house before it was set ablaze.