INDIA- The Catholic bishops' conference welcomed the Indian Cabinet's decision to make amendments to the Succession Act of 1925, which discriminated against Christians.
The Cabinet approved two amendments to the act, which the Christian community in India had long sought.
In a meeting with the Church delegation led by Archbishop Oswald Gracias, the conference's secretary-general, Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley discussed the discrepancies in the act introduced during the British rule.
Under the act, a Christian needed a probate court's approval before he or she could inherit an ancestral property, a process that often took years. The act also had a provision that allowed a husband's family to deny his widow her right to inherit her spouse's property.
"We are extremely pleased with the Cabinet decision to approve the said amendments, which the Christian community had long been waiting for," Archbishop Gracias said of the mid-November developments. "We hope that the amendment with regard to the law of adoption by Christians will also be enacted soon."