Photo: Rayees Masroor

Jammu & Kashmir's Drug-Addiction Crisis is a Multidimensional Threat: Joint Civic and Institutional Campaign Against it has Generated a Sense of Shared Responsibility

A particularly noteworthy initiative has been the implementation of the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan (NMBA), the national de-addiction campaign. In Jammu and Kashmir, this national mission has gained remarkable traction. The recently conducted 100-day intensive campaign under NMBA has created widespread awareness and engagement across all districts. It has mobilized stakeholders from all sections of society, including educational institutions, law enforcement agencies, civil society groups, and community leaders.

Indian Elections: Big Changes and Some Bigger Questions

At the end of the day, this is a political battle that shows the BJP to be an unstoppable steamroller, now controlling power across the North, the West and the East. The Opposition parties, which have been unable to come together with a cogent way to stand up and fight the political fight for the long haul, will have to once again think of the road ahead. It is clear that the BJP of today will stop at nothing in doing the deals it needs to take power

India Should Scale up its Fast Breeder Reactor Program to Meet Rising Energy Needs

The constraint on India’s expansion is fissile inventory, particularly between 2035-2045. At present, the breeder program depends on plutonium from a limited set of eight unsafeguarded reactors. Meanwhile, India has accumulated spent fuel from uranium imported for its safeguarded reactors. This significant plutonium is lying idle because we lack safeguarded reprocessing facilities. 

A Thousand Splendid Wounds: Afghanistan through Hosseini’s prophecy

India's engagement with the Taliban is strategic as much as it is humanitarian, a counterweight to Pakistani influence, a gateway to Central Asian connectivity. And the Taliban's continued erasure of women and minorities sits as a profound moral contradiction at the heart of any diplomatic embrace.

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India adds its first tactical ballistic missile to its military arsenal

The newly developed missile, fired from a canister, can make precise manoeuvres before impacting a target.

Healing hands in a disaster: Poignant notes from flood-ravaged Sindh

Flash floods destroyed 70 per cent of the region’s standing summer crop. The stagnant flood water has derailed the planting of the next crop. For a population already tethering on the brink, this spells doom. I’m petrified of the famine looming on the horizon – something my friends at the #FixSindhDrainage Twitter Space have been communicating for the past three months.

Who gained from India's ill-conceived demonetisation policy?

The net impact of the overall  Rs.32.12 lakh crore currency in circulation at present is that the benefit of demonetisation stands undone, resulting in a disturbing level of growth of a parallel economy and corruption in the country.

Has the RSS reshaped its agenda for the upcoming elections?

Why has the language of the RSS chief seemingly changed from his 2018 speeches at Vigyan Bhavan? There may be many reasons for Bhagwat to be more forthright than sugarcoating his agenda earlier. Many state elections are due in 2023 and general elections are due in 2024. The polarization around identity issues seems to be the main instrument in its hands.

Why has India's national census been delayed

The present delay in conducting the national census, when even some of our South Asian neighbours have conducted theirs, despite covid difficulties, is cause for concern.

Wildlife at risk in Bangladesh as infrastructure development disrupts protected forests

Bangladesh has two laws on forest protection, only one of which, the 2019 revision of the 1927 Forest Act, makes even a glancing mention of infrastructure projects inside forests. It prohibits making any changes to a restricted forest, and threatens violators with up to five years in prison and up to 50,000 taka ($490) in fines. That hasn’t stopped the state from building multiple-lane roads through protected forests.

‘Third World’ or ‘Global South’? Its time to redefine

‘Third World’ and ‘Developed Nation’  are terms that are derogatory and ethnocentric in concept. The terns 'Global North' and the 'Global South' can offer researchers, columnists, as well as development partners a politically balanced perspective. 

In Covid wake, India caught off-guard over measles outbreak; exposes fragility of health system

Interestingly, strategies employed during the Covid pandemic are being replicated. Much like the Cowin app was used to track and monitor Covid vaccinations, the Indian government plans an app to monitor every eligible child to ensure that they are up to date with their vaccination schedules

Bangladesh's Matarbari Deep Sea Port offers new prospects for maritime connectivity in South Asia

The port can grow to be one of the key hubs of trade and business in South Asia as a result of its geographic advantages and deep-sea port capabilities.

Bangladesh is integral to the development of India's Northeast

If India focuses on improving bilateral economic and connectivity initiatives with Bangladesh, the economic development of this region is inevitable.

The bulldozing of the 'idea of India'

The manner in which bulldozers as tools of retaliatory State violence and punishment are being normalised now is akin to illegal 'encounter' (extra-judicial) killings which have now been normalised by police forces across the country.

Why I'm boycotting the World Cup in Qatar: FIFA stadiums built on the blood, sweat, and lives of migrant workers

I learned, too, that on average, the Gulf countries send half a dozen coffins a week to Nepal with the remains of somebody’s beloved family member. This didn’t just apply to Nepal — workers from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and African countries faced a similar fate. 

Sri Lanka's dire food insecurity: Need for a well-planned policy framework

The root causes behind the food insecurity status of Sri Lanka are two-fold. Short-sighted policies such as the chemical fertilizer ban imposed by the Rajapaksa government generated a domino effect on agricultural production. Additionally, foreign exchange constraints severely limited food imports.

The hypocrisy of COP meetings: Be the change you want to see

As Mahatma Gandhi said we should be the change that we want to see or in other words we should practice what we preach. That is never the case.  So we heard pontification on how we should reduce the carbon footprint to make this world sustainable by people who never practice sustainable living in their personal life. 

Greater Bangladesh-Northeast India engagement will be a win-win for both countries

If trade and cultural relations between Bangladesh and Northeast India improve, the picture of the entire region will change.