-The Indian Express An intriguing paradox of contemporary Indian politics has been insufficiently noted: corporate India finances India’s elections, substantially if not wholly, but it is unable to determine election outcomes. Money matters, but it is not always electorally decisive. The recent Uttar Pradesh elections provide the clearest illustration of this proposition. As is well known, the Congress, BJP and BSP were all better financed than the SP which, especially after the...

RANWAN, India — In this north Indian village, workers recently dismantled stacks of burned and mildewed rice while flies swarmed nearby over spoiled wheat. Local residents said the rice crop had been sitting along the side of a highway for several years and was now being sent to a distillery to be turned into liquor. Just 180 miles to the south, in a slum on the outskirts of New Delhi, Leela...

Six months ago, 30-year-old Pari came to Gurgaon from Kolkata, hoping to earn enough to support her husband who has cancer. She first found a job as a sales girl at a shopping centre, and a few days ago she was employed as a security guard at Big Bazaar in Sahara Mall. But a day after the Gurgaon administration directed malls and shops to seek permission from the Labour department if...

A young IPS officer who stood in the path of a tractor-trolley carrying illegally mined stones after the driver ignored his calls to stop was crushed to death under the vehicle in Madhya Pradesh yesterday. The death of Narendra Kumar, 30, has blown the lid off entrenched syndicates that cart off natural resources after carving up the mineral-rich regions of the state among themselves with alleged patronage from players belonging to...

BINDOL (NORTH DIANJPUR): In these arid, impoverished parts, Bindol has another name - kidney village. The wasted, skeletal men and women you would see slumped under the shade of trees are awaiting death with feeble breaths. This is the kidney sale capital of the state, perhaps of the country. Every second home here has someone who has sold his kidney to escape starvation. Many die within years.  Now, the dying men...