4.4 Capitalisation
Use capitals sparingly.
•For headlines: capitalise only the first letter of the first word of the headline. The other words will all be first alphabet lower case, unless it is a proper noun or abbreviation – in which case, capitalise the first letter of proper nouns and capitalise the entire abbreviation.
○Examples
>Correct: When Balaji flunked the UPSC exams
>Incorrect: When Balaji flunked the Upsc exams
>Correct: The last battle of Laxmi Panda
>Incorrect: The Last Battle of Laxmi Panda
>Correct: When ‘Salihan’ took on the Raj
>Incorrect: When ‘Salihan’ took on the raj
•For slugs (categories’ titles) that recur periodically on the website, the capitalisation rule is the same as that for headlines on PARI.
○Examples
>On the PARI site it should be Rural bytes and not RURAL BYTES in all capitals >Talking albums (not Talking Albums).
We will be making these corrections over time.
○Exceptions
>When a formal title is used, such as Visible Work, Invisible Women.
>Or when words are conjoined in a slug, such as VideoZone (to be done).
>And PARI’s main title: People’s Archive of Rural India.
•After a colon: the first letter is not capitalised, either within the text of an article or in a headline, unless it is:
>a proper noun
>the start of a direct quote
○Examples
>Godavari: and the police still await an attack
>The Big Five states are: Maharashtra....
>The NCRB says: “We plan to do a data audit.”
•Words not capitalised: words like administration, agreement, cabinet, district, parliament, treaty, are typically not capitalised unless they are part of a proper name.
>Seasons: do not capitalise spring, summer, fall/autumn, winter.
○Example
>The Land Boundary Agreement between India and Bangladesh
–But it will be:
>According to the agreement...
Words capitalised (list in progress and can be added to):
>At the Centre (when referring to the central government). But it will be ‘c’ lower case when the term is “central government” in a sentence.
>Class, when referring to a level in school: She studied till Class 8.
>Constitution (of a country).
> Independence, when referring specifically to India’s Independence. (For example: Countless ordinary Indians sacrificed much for Independence without a thought of reward).
>Indian Army (but “the army has almost no ...”).
>The Left (but it will be leftists); the Right (but right-wing).
>Lord/ God/ Goddess, when referring to a specific deity. (For example: The performers themselves bore expressions of deep concentration, and did not speak. They were fully focused on Lord Shiva). But it will be ‘l’ lower case in this usage: The aim is to express my devotion to the lord publicly.
> Raj (when referring to the British empire). But raj (‘r’ small) when saying panchayati raj.
>State as a political entity (For example: He was declared an enemy of the State).But it will be state (‘s’ lower case), when referring to a state within a country (for example: In the state of Odisha, consumption levels are very low).