RANCHI, India (UCAN) -- Church people have expressed happiness that the High Court in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand has upheld tribal Christians' right to government quotas.

"We welcome the decision," Gossner Evangelical Church Bishop Nelson Lakra of Ranchi told UCA News on June 28, following a meeting he and nine other Church leaders from Jharkhand had in order to study the June 12 court ruling.

Ranchi, the state capital, is 1,160 kilometers southeast of New Delhi.

The verdict came in response to petitions that challenged the government's reserving seats in educational institutions and jobs for tribal converts to Christianity. The petitioners argued that the benefits are only for tribal people who practice their traditional religion.

The Indian Constitution allows such quotas for low-caste and tribal people to help their socio-economic advancement.

However, low-caste converts to Christianity are denied these benefits on the ground that their new religion does not recognize the multi-tiered caste system practiced by Hindus.

The petitioners wanted the same logic applied in the case of tribal people. They argued that tribal converts to Christianity leave their tradition and culture, and thus cease to be tribal people. Hence, they said, tribal converts should not be considered for statutory benefits.

Dismissing the petitions, the court said, "It cannot be accepted that merely by change of religion a person ceases to be a member of (a tribe.)"

The court "has done the right thing," Bishop Lakra said. "We are born tribal and will remain tribal until we die. Nobody can change this status which God has given us," added the prelate, who heads his Church as its moderator.

Cardinal Telesphore Toppo of Ranchi, who heads the Catholic Church in the state, also welcomed the verdict. "Truth prevails and it must prevail," the cardinal told UCA News on June 13 by phone from Canada, where he was visiting. "We are tribal by birth, not by faith. Change of faith cannot eliminate tribal-ness," explained the first Asian tribal to become a cardinal.

Salhan Murmu, a tribal leader who chaired the June 28 meeting, expressed surprise over the late response from Christians to the issue. Murmu, who follows an indigenous religion, told the meeting that although Christians "are highly educated, they are unaware of their tribal rights."

On March 12, the Jharkhand legislative assembly witnessed uproarious scenes when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian people's party), the main opposition, questioned quotas for tribal Christians. The party, considered the political wing of Hindu radical groups, wants tribal Christians kept out of the quota benefits.

Observers say Hindu groups presume tribal people would be discouraged to join Christianity if they lose the statutory benefits. They also maintain taking Christians off the quota list would funnel the benefits to more traditional tribal people.

Father Hilarius Barla, vicar general of Ranchi archdiocese, who attended the June 28 meeting, said Christians have been passive over the reservation issue. The tribal priest told UCA News that tribal Christians in eastern India live together with their traditional counterparts, "rooted in our customs and traditions." Nowhere is faith an obstacle, he continued.

The quota issue came up in 2002, when two tribal people following their own indigenous religion petitioned the court to have Christians removed from the quota list. A few others also joined them, allegedly supported by radical Hindu groups.

As the case dragged on, two people filed an "intervener" plea this year asserting the Christian rights. They argued that change in religion does not change tribal identity.

Some Hindus also welcomed the court verdict. K.N. Pandit, a local scholar, told UCA News he thanked the judges "for ending this issue forever, which had kept people in a dilemma for long."

Manoj Yadav of the Congress party, which supports the state government, said the BJP wanted the quota issue kept alive to divide the tribal people. "The court's decision is a good response to them," he told UCA News.

END