India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Bangladesh's interim government head Muhammad Yunus

Bangladesh–India Relations at a Crossroads: Needed Recalibration, Not Rupture

The current strains in Bangladesh–India relations should therefore be seen not as an inevitable deterioration, but as a test of diplomatic maturity. Bangladesh and India share more than geography and history; they share a responsibility to ensure that temporary political frictions do not harden into structural mistrust. In a time of regional uncertainty, neither country benefits from a relationship defined by grievance or miscommunication. 

A Dangerous Power Grab in Pakistan; Unpredictable Consequences For Region

The 27th Amendment, celebrated by its proponents as a security reform, is in reality a political coup executed through constitutional means. It marks not only Munir’s personal triumph but the institutional victory of the military over all other state authorities. As history warns, empowering any unelected institution above the republic’s elected will invites instability—not strength. Pakistan may soon discover that consolidating military power does not secure the nation’s future, but instead places it at greater risk

How Foreign Digital Influencers Are Tarnishing India’s Global Image

India must now transition from conventional soft-power thinking to visibility governance—the systematic management of how the country appears, circulates, and is emotionally interpreted across global platforms. Failure to do so will leave India’s global image increasingly shaped by commercial incentives outside Indian control.  

Afghanistan Should Not Get Caught In The India-Pakistan Strategic Rivalry

The strengthening of Taliban-India ties runs counter to Pakistan’s interests. The more border clashes intensify between the Taliban and Pakistan, the more secure the Kashmir region and the Line of Control (LoC) become for India. Under such conditions, Pakistan will remain preoccupied with its northwestern border, giving India a unique opportunity to consolidate its control over Kashmir and potentially weaken, drive out, or eliminate Kashmiri militant groups 

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Need for India to have a sound policy regime: Role of advisers is crucial

When the first COVID-19 case came to public notice in India in January this year, questions in concerned quarters have been raised as to why did it take almost two months to prepare for lockdown and that too with a notice of a few hours to leave many citizens unprepared and more so the migrant and the poor, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor

Post-COVID-19: RSS sees an ascendant India in changed world order

RSS remains quite optimistic about the way the new world order is going to pan out post-COVID-19. It feels that it is the beginning of a new golden era for India, writes Arun Anand for South Asia Monitor

India must relax lockdown in phases; economic activity must resume gradually

The consequence of continuing the lockdown, even under present conditions, could be grave, as the self-employed people like vendors, plumbers, auto drivers, small automobile workshops etc.  as well as  poor senior citizens, visually impaired/differently-abled people, who are millions in number all over the country, would be badly hit, writes N S Venkataraman for South Asia Monitor

Need for collective strategic action by SAARC to survive pandemic

The legitimacy of a regional organization like SAARC and others alike will be uncertain if strategic measures and procedures to control COVID-19 do not work in South Asia, writes   Maj. Gen Binoj Basnyat (retd)  for South Asia Monitor

Hindu-Muslim ties in the time of a pandemic

No one can predict what the trajectory of communal relations will be when it is clear that so much will change in the post-corona period not only with regard to Hindu-Muslim ties, but in every other field that the scene in India will be quite different from what it is today writes Amulya Ganguli for the South Asia Monitor

Right time to usher in reforms in India's Armed Forces

The armed forces, after decades of clamouring, have been accorded a historic opportunity to usher in change and reforms. It is imperative that this opening is utilized with sagacity and deliberate forethought writes  Admiral  Arun Prakash (retd) for the South Asia Monitor

US -Taliban peace deal: Peace for whom?

How much the talk of sharing power with the Taliban is realistic - that raises doubts, as it is impossible for the Taliban to be diverted from their ideology, writes Monira Nazmi Jahan for the South Asia Monitor

Nepal needs to show social solidarity in coronavirus lockdown

We, the people of Nepal should understand that if an unfortunate incident can befall one, it can befall others too. That’s why we all need to stand together, writes Jivesh Jha for the South Asia Monitor

India needs to brace for another lockdown

While the South Korean model of aggressive and maximum testing has proved successful; the world is also studying and appreciating the Indian model wherein a densely and an overpopulated nation with limited resources and a not very advanced health infrastructure has been able to control the exponential spread of the pandemic, writes Brig Anil Gupta for the South Asia Monitor

SAARC is back, but only to fight COVID-19

The question whether India’s initiative will develop into a SAARC minus Pakistan or lead to a revival of SAARC itself remains open,  writes Amb T P Sreenivasan (retd) for South Asia Monitor

Only a Biden presidency can strengthen Indo-US ties

This inability to get any meaningful trade agreement in place speaks volumes about India’s potential future relations with the US with Trump as president, writes Frank F Islam for South Asia Monitor

Time to review lockdown to stop economic shutdown

Lockdown cannot be an option to exercise indefinitely. We need to progressively lift it so that the economic costs will not overwhelm us, writes Mohan Guruswamy for the South Asia Monitor

55 years later, India returns favour to US, emerges as humanitarian force

It wasn't only a favour to the US, Brazil or Israel. India also decided to send HCQ  “to all our neighbouring countries who are dependent on our capabilities” and “some nations who have been particularly badly affected" by the pandemic, writes Arul Louis for South Asia Monitor

Is 'temporary' release of prisoners enough to halt spread of COVID-19?

In South Asia, India has, on the directives of its Supreme Court, constituted High Powered Committees in each state to define criteria for release of both sentenced and unsentenced prisoners, writes Madhurima Dhanuka for the South Asia Monitor

India could be staring at a human security catastrophe

India has about 450 million workers in the informal sector and about a third of them are in the migrant cluster. Even if it is estimated that half of this workforce is grappling with hunger, the numbers are mind-boggling, writes C Uday Bhaskar for South Asia Monitor