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.

INDIA: Affirmative Action Plans Take on Business, Middle Class

By Ranjit Devraj
The new government is on a collision course with the powerful corporate sector and the relatively affluent middle class because of its plans to enforce affirmative action on behalf of socially deprived groups in India's caste hierarchy.

INDIA: Pro-Hindu Party Faces Split over Anti-Muslim Pogrom

By Ranjit Devraj
India's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which lost power in recent elections, is in crisis after its leader, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, blamed his government's poll defeat on the party's failure to rein in the anti-Muslim pogrom in western Gujarat state in 2002.

POLITICS-INDIA: Communists Stymie Plans to Send Troops to Iraq

By Ranjit Devraj
Any plan by the Congress Party-led minority government of India to change earlier decisions not to send troops to Iraq have been nipped in the bud by its communist allies, which oppose U.S. dominance in the occupied country.

INDIA: Fake Clashes with Pakistan Fuel Calls for Demilitarisation

By Ranjit Devraj
This week's stunning confessions by two Indian soldiers that they helped stage fake encounters with Pakistani troops on Siachen, often called the world's highest, coldest and costliest battlefield, has renewed calls for demilitarising the Himalayan glacier.

INDIA: Fake Clashes with Pakistan Fuel Calls for Demilitarisation

By Ranjit Devraj
This week's stunning confessions by two Indian soldiers that they helped stage fake encounters with Pakistani troops on Siachen, often called the world's highest, coldest and costliest battlefield, has renewed calls for demilitarising the Himalayan glacier.

ENERGY-SOUTH ASIA: Gas Pipelines to India Not Pipe Dreams

By Ranjit Devraj
Growing energy demands and the more open attitude of India's new government toward its neighbours may see the revival of plans to pipe natural gas into the country from Iran to the west and Burma in the east.

RELIGION-INDIA: With Pro-Hindu Party Out, Church Activity Picks Up

By Ranjit Devraj
Encouraged by the installation of a new government committed to the secular values enshrined in India's Constitution, churches in the country have begun reviving evangelical and charitable activities that were in limbo under the previous pro-Hindu coalition.

ECONOMY-INDIA: Rich to Pay More for Water, Electricity

By Ranjit Devraj
Are households in India that have three Mercedes cars parked in the driveway expected to pay more for electricity and water supplies than people who live in the slums?

POLITICS-INDIA: New Gov’t Bares Tougher Foreign Policy Approach

By Ranjit Devraj
The return to power of India's Congress party - riding on support from communist parties with whom it shares ideologically similar views - naturally carries with it the diplomatic baggage of the Cold War era, a time India was firmly aligned with the former Soviet Union.

POLITICS-INDIA: Ousted Party Defends Anti-terrorist Laws

By Ranjit Devraj
India's ousted right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not been looking kindly at moves by the new Congress party-led government to undo its policies, warning against plans to repeal anti-terrorist laws introduced after the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

POLITICS-INDIA: Ousted Party Defends Anti-terrorist Laws

By Ranjit Devraj
India's ousted right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not been looking kindly at moves by the new Congress party-led government to undo its policies, warning against plans to repeal anti-terrorist laws introduced after the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

POLITICS-INDIA: New Gov’t Has Mixed Feelings on Ties with U.S.

By Ranjit Devraj
India's newly installed Congress-led coalition government may be communist-supported, but is nevertheless keen on maintaining the good relations with Washington built up by the ousted right-wing government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

INDIA: New Gov’t Steered into Pro-people Path by Leftist Backers

By Ranjit Devraj
India's new communist-supported, Congress party-led government has immediately been beset by the need to maintain a pro-people image, while squaring up to serious economic and social realities.

INDIA: New Gov’t Steered into Pro-people Path by Leftist Backers

By Ranjit Devraj
India's new communist-supported, Congress party-led government has immediately been beset by the need to maintain a pro-people image, while squaring up to serious economic and social realities.

INDIA: New Leader Boosts Chances of Healing Hindu-Sikh Rift

By Ranjit Devraj
The appointment of Manmohan Singh, a follower of the Sikh faith, as India's prime minister may finally bridge a serious rift between the small but powerful religious minority and the Congress party.

INDIA: Prime Minister-Designate Has Learned from the Past

By Ranjit Devraj
The image that most residents of the national capital have of Manmohan Singh, slated to be India's next prime minister,is that of a diminutive, turbaned man patiently steering his small car through a chaotic sea of sleek limousines, hulking buses and slow-moving pedicabs.

POLITICS-INDIA: Even without Top Post, Sonia Gandhi Leaves Her Mark

By Ranjit Devraj
When Sonia Gandhi led the Congress party to its resounding electoral win this month, she was laying to rest the ghosts of the Nehru-Gandhis - the illustrious political dynasty that not only steered India to independence but fought for democracy, pluralism and religious secularism on the subcontinent.

POLITICS-INDIA: Foreign Tag Continues to Plague Sonia Gandhi

By Ranjit Devraj
While the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi is now certain to be sworn in as India's prime minister this week, her political opponents in the ousted and ultra-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)are determined not to let her forget her foreign origins.

INDIA: With Leftist Help, Sonia Gandhi Set for Prime Ministership

By Ranjit Devraj
After successfully running the gauntlet of a gruelling Indian election, the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi cleared one more hurdle to the prime ministership Saturday, when the victorious Congress party that she leads elected her for the coveted job.

INDIA: Voters Wreak Vengeance on Arrogant Cabinet Ministers

By Ranjit Devraj
Having seen their one-room shack in an Indian slum on the edge of the river Yamuna razed by bulldozers in April, Salim and Amina Bano have little to cheer about.

INDIA: New Rulers Vow to Put Human Face to Economic Reforms

By Ranjit Devraj
After the right-wing and business-friendly Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bit the dust in the just-concluded parliamentary elections, India's new rulers from the victorious Congress party and its communist allies have promised to continue with economic reforms - but with a human face.
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