Indian Catholics Returning To Hinduism To Get Benefits As Dalits

In India, special laws reserve certain government jobs, bank loans and scholarships for dalits, individuals of of low-caste origin, to help remedy the discrimination that they have experienced. UCA News yesterday reported that Christians are denied these benefits because Christianity has never recognized the caste system. In the state of Raipur, the pro-Hindu BJP party has come to power, and is looking to identify Christians in order to deny them these special benefits. This has particularly impacted a group of Gada villagers who became Catholics 70 years ago, but continue to enroll their children in schools as dalit Hindus. It has also led some Christian converts to formally return to Hinduism to claim dalit status. The trend of Gada Catholics to desert their new-found religion began in the 1980's when Catholic Relief Services stopped providing aid to the villagers.