In 1957, the Communist Party of Kerala became the first democratically elected communist government in Asia. While many in the West feared that this election would help communism spread across South Asia and make Kerala the "Yan'an of India", the Keralite communists' actions were checked by Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress party's control of the federal coffers. Instead, from within the political bounds of India's divided government, Kerala initiated what has...

The state government has decided to bring two lakh nomadic Gujjar and Bakerwal families in Jammu and Kashmir under the Public Distribution System (PDS). “Temporary ration cards will be issued to the nomadic Gujars and Bakerwals so that they could get ration while migrating from one place to another without any difficulty,” Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD), Qamar Ali Akhoon told Greater Kashmir on Sunday. He said that...

Two years ago, when I told some of my more cynical fellow-tribals from the journalistic fraternity that I was about to complete a textbook on media ethics, they smirked. Media ethics? That’s an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms, they said glibly. What became apparent to me then was that the image of the journalist in India has taken quite a battering. There are many among the aam admi who still...

Documents availed through Right to Information (RTI) Act are giving sleepless nights to former pradhans contesting the panchayat elections again. Armed with these papers — mostly related to utilisation of panchayat funds — the villagers are questioning candidates who come seeking votes. The authenticity of the information being guaranteed, the candidates have no chance to argue. In village Hamirpura in Jalaun, a candidate contesting for the the gram pradhan’s seat for the...

More than 200 tax investigators in India have searched the offices of a number of contractors used in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games. The raids in Delhi came as the main opposition party, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), demanded a parliamentary investigation. The Games, which ended last week in Delhi, were marred by spiralling costs and allegations of corruption. The BJP says it has evidence of wrongdoing at government...