Lauren Frayer

"The Dalai Lama's reincarnation is a civilizational struggle between China and Tibetans over who controls Tibetan Buddhism," says Amitabh Mathur, a former Indian government adviser on Tibetan affairs.

India is the world's top consumer of smokeless tobacco — and has the world's highest number of oral cavity cancers.

India has banned e-cigarettes. There's still a huge, hard-to-regulate market for beedis, sun-dried tobacco wrapped in leaves and sold at street stalls, which Indians smoke more than cigarettes.

He has been called racist, sexist and not manly enough. But the spiritual and political leader — who would have turned 150 on Wednesday — is deeply revered in India and around the world.

Wednesday marks 150 years since Mahatma Gandhi's birth. NPR sat down with biographer Ramachandra Guha and discussed the Indian leader's legacy.

The government expressed alarm at the growing rate of use by young people and possible health hazards.

Without phones or internet, Kashmiri media send out news on USBs ferried by airline passengers. A top editor has petitioned India's Supreme Court, saying the blackout violates freedom of the press.

After losing contact with the unmanned craft as it was trying to land on the moon, scientists appear to have captured an image of the lander on the surface, and they're trying to establish contact.

India's mission control lost contact with its Vikram lander as it tried to make a soft landing near the moon's remote South Pole. Now the craft has been located, but its condition is unknown.

Kashmiri doctors say a curfew and Internet shutdown have left hospitals dangerously low on supplies. The government denies that, and has arrested doctors who complained.

The government says its priorities are "restoration of normalcy and deepening of democracy" in Indian-controlled Kashmir. But people who have left the region this month paint a different picture.

People fleeing Kashmir describe what it's been like to live under a three-week communications blockade. The Himalayan territory is split between India and Pakistan.

It's been more than two weeks since India cut communication in Kashmir. The government says most landlines are back up. But Kashmiris in Mumbai say they're struggling to get in touch with loved ones.

"It's like they are trying to erase us — erase all of my people," says the widow of a Muslim dairy farmer who died after being assaulted by a mob while he was transporting cows.

Mobs in India are lynching minorities. Many accuse the Hindu nationalist government of failing to forcefully condemn the violence. Activists have launched a hate crimes hotline in 100 Indian cities.

Indian-administered Kashmir is now in its fourth day of a communications blackout, following the government's decision to revoke its special status. Pakistan has downgraded diplomatic ties.

India's move to remove Kashmir's autonomy and tighten its control over the country's only Muslim-majority state has provoked opposition from Kashmiri Muslims — and neighboring Pakistan.

India's government says it's going to integrate the disputed region of Kashmir with the rest of India — but Kashmiri Muslims and neighboring Pakistan have reacted angrily to the move.

In the days ahead of the move, India placed local politicians under house arrest, ordered tourists to evacuate and sent tens of thousands of troops into the region.

When parents in the U.S. paid huge sums to secure places for their children in top schools, it was a scandal. In India, it's acceptable for parents to pay private universities for this purpose.