Christian villagers are rebuilding their lives more than a year after being attacked by a group of Hindu nationalist extremists in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.

Attacks on the Christian minority in the remote Kandhamal area of India's Orissa state raises questions about the country's claim to be a secular state, says a new book.

According to an Indian church worker, the violence against Christians in the Indian state of Orissa last year was not a one-time event but the consequence of a fragmented society. However, the recent elections give fresh hope.

In the wake of widespread violence against Christians in India's Orissa state, the North American relief, development and peace agency Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is helping to provide training to peacemakers in the region.

Indian church leaders have said they are wary about the motives given for the arrest of a parliamentary candidate from a "Hindu nationalist group" in the troubled Kandhamal district of Orissa state.

Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh observed that "Christianity is part of our national heritage" when general secretary of the World Council of Churches Dr Samuel Kobia called on him on at his residence in New Delhi.

The World Council of Churches' (WCC) general secretary, the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia has said that "one of the greatest problems facing the world today is religious extremism" - and that all faiths must be fully engaged in tackling it.

The executive committee of the World Council of Churches has used the opportunity of its latest gathering in Switzerland to maintain its active concern with many of the world's trouble spot and most pressing humanitarian issues.

Anabaptists in India say they have been horrified that Christians have had to the jungle with nothing but the clothes on their backs, fearing for their lives because of communal violence in a country once known for religious tolerance.

A senior Bajrang Dal leader in Karnataka has been arrested in connection with the widespread attack on Christian churches and prayer halls, police officials and the Indian Catholic Bishops Conference in India have announced.