Nalanda University in Rajgir

The Reconstituted Nalanda: Can it Leverage its Civilizational Memory to Become an Alternative Academic Hub for the Global South?

Nalanda serves as a counterweight to the historic monopoly of Western universities over social, political, and ecological theory. It invites Asian and African scholars to address regional dilemmas such as resource sovereignty, post-colonial statehood, and sustainable modernization using indigenous analytical categories.

'Girls going to schools would be the real revolution in Afghanistan'

The daughters and granddaughters of these warlords, like those of several key Taliban commanders, live and study abroad. Sabori’s school in Archi is half-closed, owing to the ban on education for girls over 12 years of age. Several underground schools have sprung up where even some Taliban foot-soldiers send their daughters. 

Where Happiness is a Measure of Governance: What Bhutan’s Democratic Consolidation Can Teach Global South Nations

As democracies around the world confront public dissatisfaction, Bhutan reminds us that the health of a democracy cannot be measured only through the ballot box.  It must also be evaluated through the well-being, dignity, security, and trust experienced by citizens.

India's Education Deficit: Real Reforms Lie in Making Coaching Redundant

India's digital infrastructure can certainly deliver free coaching to millions. But an even greater achievement would be to build an education and employment system in which families no longer feel compelled to buy coaching in the first place. Making bottled water cheaper is useful. Making the water from taps trustworthy is the real solution.    

More on Education and Gen Z Voices

Power of response: How Neeraj Chopra crafted his ‘golden’ moment for India at the Olympics

 Neeraj Chopra did not wait for the things to happen, but made them happen

Indian American women doctors lead the healthcare challenge

“Never has there ever been such a strong representation of women leaders in AAPI’s leadership positions”

Framed to die: The case of Stan Swamy

PUDR’s report, Framed to Die: The Case of Stan Swamy, offers an exhaustive account of what lay behind Stan Swamy’s death in judicial custody in a private hospital on 5 July 2021

India needs to quicken speed of vaccination, targeted testing to control another Covid wave

The speed of inoculation across India should be increased by supplying the exact doses required by each state

India needs to package the idea of getting vaccinated as a national duty to defeat Covid

A proposed solution would be a multi-sectoral approach involving various stakeholders including the state governments, civil society and private sectors, as also the religious sectors that influence the beliefs of individuals, writes Abhinav Mehrotra for South Asia Monitor

Closer Russian ties with ASEAN will be a rebalancing factor for Asia

Moscow’s worries about India’s tilt towards a closer partnership with the US will complicate its relations with India and create an imbalance in its ties with China and other Asian countries as well

'Southern Bhutanese' diaspora demand revoking of Japanese award to former Bhutanese minister

Recently, 47 organizations all over the world sent a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga requesting him to roll back the decision to confer the award to Dago Tshering, accusing him of committing human rights abuses and suppression of democracy while he was in power in Bhutan

The Pegasus controversy: India can usher in surveillance reform through open government doctrines

One of the countries identified in the investigation, India, is considering a suite of data protection bills, which according to experts, currently does not contain any provisions related to surveillance reform

Spyware Pegasus looms large over civil liberties and demands global deployment standards

If people and institutions were targeted in India for specific political and personal motives, then it is a huge problem that goes to the very heart of individual civil liberties and hence democracy itself

A national security view of the Covid pandemic: India should initiate international criminal action against bio-warfare

India could take the lead in this once-in-generation catastrophe, rated by some as the worst man-made intentional disaster after the nuclear bombing of Japan

The thrills and sweet memories of a Kabul trip 20 years back

The moment they realized we were from “Hindustan,” there were cheerful smiles and greetings, with traders giving sugar-coated almonds and other dry fruits at discounted prices, and a regular query was whether we knew Amitabh Bachchan

Change in mindset, consistent policies are a must to realize Modi’s dream of India’s 'techade'

One solution could be to privatize the CSIR labs and convert them into a joint venture between private bodies and the government, which would lead to purposive and target-oriented, and time-bound research activities

US recognizes India as a leader in the Asia-Pacific region

The US relationship with Kolkata dates back to 1794 when the first US president George Washington appointed businessman Benjamin Joy as US Consul to Kolkata

Dilip Kumar: Some fond reminiscences of India's greatest actor

As Dilip Kumar, by a wide consensus India’s greatest mainstream actor, passed away at 98 on July 7, I think of the four interviews that I did with him through the mid-1980s and early 1990s

A Taliban-led Afghanistan could come under China’s control post US troop withdrawal

India could face a serious threat following a likely unholy axis between China, Pakistan and Taliban-led Afghanistan, as they all have the common aim of weakening India and disrupting the peace in the country