Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the 18th BRICS Summit, in New Delhi. Photo: PMO

India Through a Different Lens: Post BRICS Summit, a Nuanced Change in Outlook Towards India in Chinese Media and Policy Circles

The real change, then, is not merely that Chinese media sounded friendlier towards India. It is that they assigned India a different place in the story. New Delhi appeared as a complex but consequential partner, whose strategic autonomy and cooperation matter to China's imagining of a changing world order. 

The Indus Waters Treaty: What Comes After The Hague Ruling?

Pakistan, for its part, will have to recognise that the old assumption of an immutable treaty operating independently of the broader India-Pakistan relationship has become untenable. Islamabad cannot expect the water relationship to remain insulated indefinitely from terrorism

India-China Eight-Point Agreement: A Tactical Thaw, but Trust Remains Elusive

Hopes for Sino-Indian relations centre on a cautious diplomatic thaw, institutionalised border stability and renewed high-level engagement. Indian negotiators and defence planners are well aware that “trust must be verified”. While the activation of these eight points provides valuable channels to prevent an accidental kinetic clash on the ground, the real test of China’s sincerity will not be the joint statements signed in Beijing, but whether it ceases infrastructure build-ups and respects the historical patrolling rights of Indian troops along the LAC.

What's in a Name? Nomenclature Diplomacy Says Much About Changing Geopolitics

By removing the ‘Indo’ prefix from Indo-Pacific the US implicitly acknowledges that it no longer unilaterally defines the eastern strategic landscape. Regional organisations like BRICS continue to redefine the lexicon of ‘rules-based order’ to insulate themselves from western domination.

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G-20: India can seize the moment to give a new direction to multilateralism

India's leadership has already committed itself to exploiting the linkages between economic growth, gender equality, peace, and security and the use of technological innovations for universal benefit. India has championed the cause of low-income nations in the past — and it could now do so again.

How RAW and SIS had worked together to prevent the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka

Contrary to the bizarre story spun by Maulana in the Channel 4 documentary, Indian intelligence agencies, mainly RAW, played a pivotal role in monitoring IS movements in Sri Lanka. 

‘India’ or’Bharat’: Constituent Assembly debates showed reasonableness amid opinion divergence

The incongruity of “India, that is Bharat”, as given by Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, who drafted the Constitution, was pointed out by some members of the Constituent Assembly just as an independent India was taking shape.

Growing Indo-Bangla defence ties will have a significant bearing on South Asian security and stability

India and Bangladesh have welcomed initiatives to strengthen their maritime security partnership. A MoU for the establishment of a coastal surveillance radar system in Bangladesh’s Chittagong and Mongla ports has been inked.

South Asian youth raise a collective voice for climate justice across borders

The event platformed youth environmental activists and entrepreneurs from Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka who have been working to educate, mobilise and organise people to combat climate change, obtain climate justice and move relevant policy regimes to these ends.

Will China have its way in Bhutan?

The question is whether Bhutan can ward off the Chinese pressure, given the dynamics of South Asia, chances of which don’t appear bright.

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.”

India and Bangladesh transit agreement holds promise for both countries and the region

Bangladeshi products like clothing, cement, and food can be sold directly in Nepal and Bhutan via India. In the future, Bangladesh will also find it simpler to ship goods to Myanmar.

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.” 

China poses no threat to the multi-faceted India-Bangladesh partnership

The accompanying data and graphs indicate that random charges about Bangladesh tilting toward China are just hype and with no basis in facts. Unlike Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Bangladesh has conducted prudent macroeconomic management in order to avoid overdependence on China.

Helpless pawns in a bilateral dispute: No relief in sight for poor Indian and Pakistani fishermen

The current process shows the insensitivity of our systems and highlights how fishermen and others are of the lowest priority as they remain incarcerated without reason in the other country's prisons.

The Rohingya refugee dilemma: Does a sustainable solution lie in their integration into Bangladesh?

While the Rohingya issue remains complex and multi-faceted, the potential for the coming generations to integrate into Bangladesh seems natural and realistic. As we move into a seventh year since their major influx, it's evident that repatriation efforts have made limited headway. 

Six years later, Bangladesh's Rohingya refugee crisis sees no signs of resolution

Declining funds, deteriorating camp conditions, growing insecurity, and the adverse impact of the refugees on the host community have made Bangladesh a desperate host looking to reduce the burden. This crisis is also destabilizing regional security.

Rivers as network: Towards a pluriverse South Asia

The Indus, the Brahmaputra, and the Ganges, as well as the Kabul river basin, which is interconnected to South Asian nations, are perennial rivers that have shaped and influenced South Asia's history, politics, culture, economy, and civilizations for many millennia on a shared basis.

Will BRICS create a new balance in the global order?

If BRICS can truly identify issues of larger common interest and move forward on the basis of consensus, it can become the new leader of the post-Western world order where the NDB will be the primary competitor of the World Bank and IMF.