Stories written by Ranjit Devraj
Regional editor Ranjit Devraj, based in Delhi, takes care of the journalistic production from the Asia and Pacific region. He handles a group of influential writers based in places like Bangkok, Rangoon, Tehran, Dubai, Karachi, Colombo, Melbourne, Beijing and Tokyo, among many others. He coordinates with the editor in chief and forms part of the IPS editorial team. Ranjit Devraj has been an IPS correspondent in India since 1997. Prior to that he was a special correspondent with the United News of India news agency. Assignments for UNI included development of the agency’s overseas operations, particularly in the Gulf region. Devraj counts two years in the trenches (1989-1990) covering the violent Gorkha autonomy movement in the Darjeeling Hills as most valuable in a career of varied journalistic experience.

Tata scholars at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg  Credit: Tata Holdings Africa

IBSA: India Stakes Its Bets on Training Africa

Of the various cooperation programmes Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, plans for an India-Africa Virtual University (IAVU) take pride of place.

‘IMF Chief Nationality Not Relevant, Change Is’

With the search for a new chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increasingly likely to stay within the European pale, a top Indian economist says that what matters is that the Fund changes its approach to countries in distress.

Jayalalithaa being sworn in for a third term as chief minister of Tamil Nadu state. Credit: AIADMK

INDIA: Women Hold Their Own in Provinces

Provincial elections in four major Indian states have produced two female chief ministers, proving women capable of holding their own in the rough and tumble of politics in this deeply patriarchal country.

The new waste burner dominates South Delhi. Credit: Sandeep Biswas/IPS

INDIA: Waste to Energy Project Not So Green

A waste-to-energy (WtE) project in the heart of the Indian capital run by a powerful industrial family is testing the enforceability of the country’s environmental and zoning laws.

INDIA-PAKISTAN: Osama’s Death Changes Little

Osama bin Laden’s killing by U.S. troops, in a safe house adjacent to a Pakistani military academy in Abbottabad, may vindicate India’s charges that its neighbour is a haven for jihadist groups, but it will do little to change that reality.

INDIA: Fukushima Won’t Stop World’s Largest Nuclear Facility

While the Fukushima tragedy has not deterred India from going ahead with building the world’s largest nuclear power facility at Jaitapur on the western coast, the government has announced a tighter safety regime for its ambitious nuclear power programme.

India Resists Ban on Deadly Pesticide

Will India, the world’s biggest manufacturer of the pesticide endosulfan, and also the biggest victim of the toxic pesticide, persist with opposing its ban globally?

Shyam Saran Credit:

Q&A: ‘Common Concern, Not Common Action’

The summit of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries showed up both the strengths and the limitations of the caucus of emerging economies, says former Indian foreign secretary Shyam Saran in an interview to IPS.

More Economic BRICS in the Development Wall

As BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) leaders prepare for Thursday’s summit in the resort town of Sanya in China’s southern Hainan province, experts here say there are limits to how ‘political’ the grouping can get.

CORRUPTION-INDIA: Gandhian Movement Pushes Ombudsman Law

Seeing the bespectacled old man fasting in protest against corruption in the bustling heart of the Indian capital, many are reminded of Mahatma Gandhi, the man who used ‘moral power’ to lead India to independence from British colonial rule in 1947

INDIA: Fukushima Revives Debate Over Nuclear Liability

The Fukushima disaster has prompted calls to review legislation passed by the Indian parliament in August 2010 that capped compensation payable, in the event of a nuclear accident, at 320 million U.S. dollars.

Rally against the India-EU FTA by HIV positive people in New Delhi. Credit: Mudit Mathur/IPS

INDIA: EU Trade Deal May Curb Affordable Drug Supply

As India prepares to seal a sweeping trade and investment deal with the European Union (EU) in April, civil society groups are campaigning to limit the agreement's repercussions within the local generic drug industry here upon which millions of people around the globe depend.

Amity University lecturer interacting with students of international business at Makerere University via the Pan-African e-Network. Credit: Wambi Michael/IPS

INDIA: Engaging Africa With Software and Soft Power

India cannot match China’s massive investments in Africa, but it is using its information technology capabilities and its affordable university courses to stay relevant on the continent.

INDIA: Japan Quake Focuses Anti-Nuclear Message

Anti-nuclear campaigners in India see the earthquake that hit Japan last week, which threatens the meltdown of the Fukushima atomic power facility there, as a wakeup call for this country’s ambitious nuclear power programme.

INDIA: Court Challenges Dubious Environmental Impact Reports

India’s Supreme Court has questioned clearances to industries on the basis of environment impact assessments (EIAs) carried out by private consultants in the pay of project proponents.

IBSA Together in Resisting No-fly Zone

India has found backing at this week's India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) ministers meeting for its stance that a no-fly zone over Libya must follow multilateral consultations.

INDIA: Red Link With Nepal Fades

With the powerful Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) relinquishing control of its fighting arm, the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the Indian government, faced with its own Maoist insurgency, can breathe more easily.

Rally against an asbestos plant in Muzzaffarpur, Bihar.   Credit: Ban Asbestos Network of India

INDIA: Agitation Challenges Asbestos Import

Activists hope that a popular agitation against the setting up of a factory to manufacture asbestos products in the eastern Bihar state will result in a nationwide ban on the large-scale import into this country of the deadly mineral fibre.

Mass protest against an asbestos processing plant in Muzzaffarpur, Bihar state. Credit: Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI)

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Dakar to Dhaka

Is it more important to build links with African civil society groups or concentrate on existing networks in the South Asian region? That is the dilemma before Indian delegates heading for the World Social Forum in Dakar, Senegal, and some who have opted out.

INDIA: New Push to Chase Money in Swiss Banks

After Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's refusal to divulge details of billions of dollars allegedly stashed away abroad by Indians, anti-corruption crusaders are banking their hopes on promised Wikileaks revelations.

Delhi residents rally against polluting waste incinerators. Credit: Ranjit Devraj

ENVIRONMENT: Delhi Chokes on Winter Smog

Winter in the Indian capital is a season of mists, minus the mellow fruitfulness. The air becomes charged with toxic emissions and particles that cannot disperse due to a meteorological phenomenon called "atmospheric inversion".

« Previous PageNext Page »


give me liberty an american history 7th edition