GUJARAT

1 Gujarat is a focal point in India for the persecution of Christians.

2 The Christian Church is predominantly Catholic, Church of North India and Methodist

3 There is significant church growth in five districts

4 The unreached

a) Saurashtra,

b) Muslims number 4.3 million and are the largest and least reached segment of the population

c) Unreached caste groups

d) The 20 tribal peoples with little outreach

e) The Parsees (11,000 of India's 150,000 are in Gujarat) – well-educated, wealthy people of Persian origin who follow the Zoroastrian religion

f) The Jain religion is an offshoot of Hinduism with a strong emphasis on moral purity and non-violence

5 Aid projects

6 Large Gujarati communities have grown up in east and central Africa and in Britain

HARYANA

1 Haryana is one of India's least evangelized states.

2 The unreached – only 15 of the 92 people groups are known to have any congregations of believers

3 Christian ministry. There were a total of 265 Christian workers in Haryana in 1998. There are now 15 Christian training institutions in the state

HIMACHAL PRADESH

1 Himachal Pradesh has long been India's least evangelized state. It is the 'Land of the Gods' and a centre for Hindu pilgrimages

2 There has been significant growth in the Church

3 The challenges of the unreached

a) The Kullu valley

b) Unevangelized districts

c) Lahul and Spiti District is largely culturally Tibetan

d) Of 430 pincode areas, 89% had no resident Christian worker in 1998

Geography - Gujarat

Area 196,000 sq.km.

Population 50,100,000;

Capital Ahmadabad 4,100,000.

Peoples - Gujarat

FC 14.5%.

OBC 63.2%.

SC (31) 7.4%.

ST (28) 14.9%.

Languages Gujarati 91%; Hindi 2.9%; Sindhi 1.7%; Marathi 1.4%; Urdu 1.3% (Tribals 14%).

Religion - Gujarat

Religion Hindu 89.5%; Muslim 8.7%; Jain 1.2%; Christian 0.5%

Geography - Haryana

Area 44,200 sq.km.

Population 20,000,000

Capital Chandigarh 850,000

Peoples - Haryana

310.

FC 29%.

OBC (42) 63.6%.

SC (44) 7.4%.

Languages Hindi (Haryanvi) 65%; Panjabi 7%; Urdu 1.6%.

Religion - Haryana

Religion Hindu 89.3%; Sikh 6.2%; Muslim 4.1%; Jain 0.27%; Christian 0.08%

Geography - Himachal Pradesh

Area 55,700 sq.km.

Population 6,147,000

Capital Shimla 115,000.

Peoples - Himachal Pradesh

FC 35.2%.

OBC (23) 35.3%.

SC (58) 25.3%.

ST (8) 4.2%.

Languages Hindi 89%, Panjabi 6.3%; Kanauri 1.2%; Nepali 0.9%; Dogri 0.7%; Tibetan/ Bhotia 0.5%.

Religion - Himachal Pradesh

Religion Hindu 95.9%; Muslim 1.7%; Buddhist 1.2%; Sikh 1.1%; Christian 0.09%.

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