India, July 5 -- Decades-old paper notes continue to shape Congress's internal decisionmaking and communications.

With technology driving communication in the 21st century and letters and telegrams becoming obsolete, many decisions of the 140-year-old Indian National Congress still rely on a decades-old practice of "secret office notes" carried on green-coloured paper. Despite the shift to emails and secure messaging applications that are easily accessible on smartphones, the Congress has kept alive the practice of maintaining a physical paper communication system that ultimately receives the stamp of approval from the party's top leadership, including the party chief and members of the Gandhi family.

Party leaders pointed out that the ...