Dr Koyel Basu

Dr Koyel Basu

About Dr Koyel Basu

More From Dr Koyel Basu

Will IMEC be a potential game-changer for India and South Asia?

For India, IMEC is a strategic move to lessen dependency on its traditional trading partners while opening up a horizon of opportunities in markets ranging from technology to energy. Also, India is poised to countervail growing Chinese influence in South Asia if successful implementation of IMEC becomes possible. 

Child marriages in South Asia: Gross violation of girl rights that needs urgent regional attention

The persistence of child marriage in South Asia indicates the widespread failure of governments to address one of the most critical human rights issues. Effective legal remedies and ensuring accountability for those complicit in such crimes can be the panacea for such social ills.

Trouble in paradise: Bhutan's little talked about political prisoners and minority discrimination

Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director at Human Rights Watch, said, “The long-term imprisonment and mistreatment of political prisoners remains a blight on Bhutan’s human rights record. Bhutanese authorities should release these prisoners and embark on reforms to end torture in custody, unfair trials and poor prison conditions.”

Taliban's war on women: International community must not remain a mute spectator

In a brazen on-camera interview, Sirajuddin Haqqani, Afghanistan’s acting interior minister, said in response to a question on how Afghan women feel unsafe to leave homes under the Taliban rule, “We keep naughty women at home.” 

South Asia's overcrowded prisons: Lock-up culture needs to give way to reformation and empathy

Some South Asian countries have taken welcome steps toward the release of undertrial prisoners, including India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. These measures need to be implemented and applied consistently. Biraj Patnaik, 

Is the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar reaching a flashpoint?

The junta must understand that forcible occupation of a land has its pitfalls. The international community is not as politically invested in Myanmar as it ought to be, but the civil society is closely monitoring the Myanmarese atrocities, the killing of innocent children and the vulnerable.

Climate crisis and women's vulnerabilities: Boosting climate resilience in India remains a challenge

Even if the role of women is overlooked or unacknowledged, they should continue to break barriers by fighting the challenges. Only then all gender-blind and biased, often spurious claims of men that they have greater roles and responsibilities in combating ill effects of the climate crisis will be replaced by women who are fighters of climate…

Myanmar’s muddled politics is leading to Irreparable environmental devastation

This gradual decline of the environment - with disastrous consequences for the region including northeastern India and Bangladesh - cannot be arrested without the cooperation of the military rulers who are neck-deep in corruption and self-aggrandizement.

Bangladesh in the time of cyclones: When gender-based violence peaks

Wife battering is universal in Bangladesh in almost all homes. However, this increases manifold during and after cyclones. There is a breakdown of social and familial infrastructure and livelihood patterns and violence increases with economic stress and anxiety.

2022 floods in Pakistan: Violence and vulnerabilities of women increase during climate disasters

Climate crisis is a lesser word to describe the transformative shifts that are taking place in weather conditions across the Global South affecting mostly countries like Pakistan in South Asia. Attitudes of society need to change towards women. Societal attitudes, traditional norms and cultural practices create entrenched gender disparities…