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: Amid Economic Pressure, Premier to Step into Energy Row

By Ranjit Devraj
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's announcement Friday of plans to intervene in a giant U.S. firm's vexed dispute with western Maharashtra state is another sign of his government's desire to revive a flagging economy through foreign investments.

DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Millions Starving Amid Bumper Harvests

By Ranjit Devraj
"Our granaries are brimming only because people do not have the wherewithal to purchase foodgrain," was how India's blunt-speaking Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh summed up a piquant situation.

RIGHTS-INDIA: Study on Caste’s Origins in Race Undercuts Govt Stance*

By Ranjit Devraj
New genetic evidence that caste originated in race discounts the Indian government's protestations that caste is not race and therefore ought not be discussed at the U.N. conference on racism that starts at Durban, South Africa on Friday.

POLITICS-INDIA: Pro-Hindu Govt Revives Temple Issue

By Ranjit Devraj
Faced with polls in a politically crucial state, the party of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has ratcheted up the issue that brought it to national power -- the building of a temple on the site of a mosque at Ayodhya town in northern Uttar Pradesh state.

TRADE-RIGHTS: India Still Sifting Grain From ‘Basmati’ Chaff

By Ranjit Devraj
A U.S. government ruling this month, upholding the patentability of India's 'basmati' rice, proves how companies bent on biopiracy can run circles around countries trying to protect biodiversity resources and traditional knowledge, experts here say.

TRADE-INDIA: Delhi Will Protect Own Interests at WTO Meeting

By Ranjit Devraj
India is standing pat on plans to protect its interests at the World Trade Organisation (WTO)'s ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar in November -- interests also shared by several other developing countries.

TRADE-INDIA: Loss of ‘Basmati’ Rice Patent Battle Hurts Farmers

By Ranjit Devraj
When the Indian government lost its battle against the patenting of the famed 'basmati' (fragrant earth) rice by a U.S. firm last week, it compromised the rights of millions of farmers in the developing world, say food security activists.

HEALTH-INDIA: Archaic Laws Put AIDS Activists’ Work at Risk

By Ranjit Devraj
Activists fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in India are in increasing danger of being arrested by police and put away for weeks under archaic, British colonial laws on obscenity and homosexuality.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-INDIA: Astrology Takes Star-crossed Path to Academia

By Ranjit Devraj
It is no exaggeration to say that India is a land run by astrologers. Politicians and businessmen make their moves after consulting them and few dare take the uncertain path of matrimony without their approval.

SOUTH ASIA: New Violence in Kashmir Has Roots in Failed Summit

By Ranjit Devraj
Far from building rapproachment on the 52-year-old Kashmir issue, the mid-July Indo-Pakistan summit may actually have triggered a new phase of intensified violence now unfolding over the divided territory.

TRANSPORT-INDIA: Govt Took Us for a Ride, Say Taxi Drivers

By Ranjit Devraj
Sohan Singh, who drives a taxicab in India's national capital, has not seen his family for two days. Reason? He was stuck in a miles-long queue waiting for his turn to fill up on compressed natural gas (CNG).

ECONOMY-INDIA: Govt Mutual Fund Falls Victim to Liberalisation

By Ranjit Devraj
With a lifetime of savings safely stashed away in a tax-free government mutual fund over the last 37 years, M S Gupta had begun to look forward to a comfortable retirement.

POLITICS-INDIA: Govt in Crisis, This Time over Mutual Funds Scam

By Ranjit Devraj
The scandal-ridden, right-wing coalition government of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is at risk of coming apart following the near-collapse of a once-popular, state- run mutual fund due to dubious investments.

INDIA: Bandit Queen’s Murder Highlights Caste, Gender Conflicts

By Ranjit Devraj
It is tempting to blame the feudal Thakurs for Wednesday's brutal shooting of Phoolan Devi, also known as the 'Bandit Queen' who led a violent crusade against bullies from that land-owning upper caste who use rape as an instrument of oppression in India's villages.

POLITICS-INDIA: Vajpayee Pilloried in Parliament over Failed Summit

By Ranjit Devraj
Tough talk against 'cross-border terrorism' in Kashmir did not save Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee from being pilloried in Parliament Tuesday for the failure of his high- voltage summit with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, earlier this month.

POLITICS-INDIA: Ties with Washington on the Upswing

By Ranjit Devraj
The chief of the United States' policy on South Asia began talks with top Indian leaders here Monday, raising chances of the early removal of Washington's economic sanctions against this country and of new strategic alignments in the region.

DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Dam Discharge Maroons Millions

By Ranjit Devraj
A million people were marooned in eastern India's Orissa state Thursday by floods caused by incessant rains but worsened by authorities discharging waters from the world's longest dam, the Hirakud, into the Mahanadi river delta.

POLITICS: Kashmir Remains a Stumbling Block for India, Pakistan

By Ranjit Devraj
Kashmir remains an obstacle to accord between India and Pakistan after the South Asian rivals abandoned plans late Monday to crown their two-day summit with a joint declaration.

POLITICS-INDIA: Naga Tribals Warn Against Change in Cease-fire Terms

By Ranjit Devraj
Naga tribal leaders warned the "central government" on Monday of unwanted consequences if it allowed itself to be pressured by other ethnic groups in India's troubled north- east to renege on a ceasefire agreement offered to Naga militant groups.

POLITICS-SOUTH ASIA: Vajpayee-Musharraf Summit Promises Peace

By Ranjit Devraj
Meeting in this historic, former seat of the Mughal empire on Sunday, Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee began a process that may well hold the key to peace between the nuclear- armed South Asian rivals.

POLITICS-SOUTH ASIA: Vajpayee-Musharraf Summit Promises Peace

By Ranjit Devraj
Meeting in this historic, former seat of the Mughal empire on Sunday, Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee began a process that may well hold the key to peace between the nuclear- armed South Asian rivals.
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