NEW DELHI: In yet another fallout of the age-old conflict between state and religion the world over, the 65-year-old Missionaries of Charity on Saturday officially announced its decision to discontinue adoption work in India. Although it didn't explicitly cite any reasons for doing so, MoC is known to have been opposed to the Centre's new guidelines allowing single parents to adopt children (TOI has reported about it, including in our editions of Friday and Saturday).

Describing it as God's will, the charity said it would be "difficult" for it to comply with all the provisions of the new adoption guidelines if it were to continue the work of Mother Teresa. It has applied for derecognition of 13 of its 16 institutions from the Central Adoption Resource Authority. The new 'Guidelines Governing Adoption of Children, 2015' were notified by the ministry of women and child development (WCD) in July, which also allows each application to be tracked online. The MoC's decision followed soon thereafter.

MoC's statement on its controversial stand comes days after Union minister Maneka Gandhi said that organization had been following its own "agenda" and had balked when asked to follow the "unified secular agenda".

Gandhi had on Wednesday said, "Till now Mother Teresa's orphanages had their own agenda and now when they have to come under a unified secular agenda they are refusing it. They have decided not to follow the guidelines." Saying "they are good people", the minister, who's passionate about adoptions, indicated she would try and persuade the organization to accept the new guidelines. But her efforts appear to have cut no ice.

MoC spokesperson Sunita Kumar said, "Our adoption work, started by Mother Teresa, has been a fruitful and rewarding experience which has changed the lives of thousands of people. We are grateful to God for having allowed us to serve Him through this work for so many years. It is clear to us that it is the will of God to discontinue this work."

She added, "It was two months ago that the Missionaries of Charity decided to discontinue all our adoption work in India. We have voluntarily given up our recognized status to run adoption centres. If we were to continue the work set up by Mother Teresa, complying with all the provisions would have been difficult for us."

There are innumerable instances, across the world, of religious beliefs being in opposition to government and court orders. In the US, many government clerks have refused to grant marriage licences to gay couples on the grounds that it went against their conscience – despite the US Supreme Court judgement earlier this year legalizing same-sex marriages across the country. Pope Francis during his maiden visit to the US last month spoke out in support the "human right" of such conscientious objectors.

The MoC statement also said, "The Missionaries of Charity is synonymous with helping the needy and the afflicted. Since it was started 65 years ago by Mother Teresa, we have been serving the poorest of the poor, free of charge, irrespective of caste, creed and religion. Our adoption centres have been providing homes to thousands of children. We trust that God will take care of all the children in need of love from parents. We will continue to serve wholeheartedly and free of charge – unwed mothers, children with malnutrition and differently-abled children – in all homes run by us, irrespective of caste, creed and religion by God's grace."

Around the same time that the new guidelines came into force, TOI had reported that for the first time in three years, adoption of children had seen a slight increase with 1,368 children finding new homes in the quarter between January-March 2015. India has one of the largest populations of children who are abandoned, deserted or in institutional care. About 50,000 orphaned children are estimated to be in need of homes.