Indian Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan visit to Sri Lanka

Trincomalee Energy Hub Development Will be a Strategic Milestone in India-Sri Lanka Ties

If one location matters most to India in Sri Lanka, it is Trincomalee. With one of the finest natural harbours in the world, Trincomalee has immense commercial, naval, and energy value. For decades, strategists in New Delhi have viewed it as critical to the security architecture of the Bay of Bengal.

SAARC vs BIMSTEC: Why Regional Integration is Failing in South Asia

South Asia cannot remain an archipelago of isolated economies connected only by shared history and mutual suspicion. Changing acronyms does not change reality. Summit declarations will not achieve true economic integration. True integration requires the political courage to dismantle physical and bureaucratic walls. Only then will the region stop holding its immense potential captive.
 

Body Blows to Indian Democracy: The Deeper Story of a Parliamentary Bill That Failed

The resultant reduced trust signals a declining democratic discourse that should be the biggest worry for the nation at this stage. The bill that failed thus tells the deeper story of all that is going wrong in the Indian democracy, bit by bit, in areas that are clearly visible and sometimes in many invisible ways.

Manipur’s Unfinished War: When Suppressed Conflict Returns with Firepower

Manipur today is not merely a regional crisis. It is a test of India’s democratic resilience. It highlights the limits of governance models that prioritize control over consensus. Without a shift toward genuine political engagement that addresses the fears, rights, and representation of all communities, the conflict will persist and resurface with greater intensity.
 

More on Spotlight

Mahatma Gandhi and India@75: Fabricated news making a mockery of Gandhi's quest for truth

Paradoxically, but not surprisingly,  over the last six decades, the collective commitment to truth as a principle to be adhered to with Gandhian conviction has been diluted progressively, writes Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (retd) for South Asia Monitor 

Mantra of development should be spirituality with high technology – the Gandhian way

Gandhi believed in all-inclusive growth and felt that India can only become a great nation when its teeming and impoverished rural masses become better off, writes Anil K. Rajvanshi for South Asia Monitor

Global efforts, moral discourses and educational awareness must for combating terrorism

Terrorists and extremists need discourses in the inculcation of eternal moral values and practicing of yoga and meditation that can contribute immensely to attaining a perfect and balanced personality as described in ancient Indian classical texts, writes Prof. Sudhanshu Tripathi for South Asia Monitor

Lata Mangeshkar, at 92, plans to croon again: The music legend's singing truly defies attitudinal and technological changes

If Lata’s ‘Allah, Karam Karna’ and ‘Allah Reham” are popular among the Muslims, two of the Indian cinema’s best bhakti (devotional) songs, “Allah Tero Naam Ishwar Tero Naam” and “Prabhu Tero Naam”  are sung six decades after she rendered them in Hum Dono, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor

Will Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Tamil diaspora shake hands?

A section of the diaspora has taken a line that it needs to bury the past and open a line with India, which many blame for the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils, writes M.R. Narayan Swamy for South Asia Monitor

Will the Indian government’s move to use tech to fix agriculture enthuse its farmers?

But will this productivity-driving initiative really take off when the most prosperous farmers belonging to the vanguard agrarian regions of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh firmly remain on the path of agitation against government efforts to fix agriculture through reform? writes N. Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor

Can a Japan-India-Russia-China-South Korea coalition cement the Indo-Pacific?

Examining new paradigms and alternate formulations often leads to game-changing events,  writes Lt Gen PR Kumar (retd) for South Asia Monitor

COP26 in Glasgow: Developed countries should stop giving excuses, keep climate finance commitments

Strangely, Kerry, while extracting ambitious emission cuts during his rounds of developing countries, does not talk about meeting the financial commitments given by President Barack Obama in Copenhagen in 2009. He talks only about initiating a ‘finance dialogue’ with developing countries, writes Rajendra Shende for South Asia Monitor

Pakistan seeks recognition of its civil nuclear program to address energy deficit

Pakistan is also one of the largest recipients of IAEA’s technical and financial help that shows Pakistan has achieved considerable expertise in the application of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, writes Usman Ali Khan for South Asia Monitor 

International community should stand by Afghan people, resettle refugees

The political crisis in Afghanistan is closely linked with the flow of refugees from the country. The latter cannot be contained without solving the former, writes Anirban Sen for South Asia Monitor 

India-US ties can shape a balanced, prosperous global order

The positive roles played by the American community colleges and universities along with the contributions of the Indian diaspora in the grand American dream are among the key adhesives of the larger bilateral relationship between the two democratic giants,  write Dr. Manan Dwivedi and Shonit Nayan for South Asia Monitor

Amidst fire, floods and felonies, relocation is the only viable option for Rohingyas in Bangladesh

It is only meaningful and sincere cooperation between Bangladesh authorities and a wide array of non-governmental, inter-governmental and development organizations which has, so far, made supporting 1.1 million Rohingyas with such limited resources possible, writes Habibur Rahman for South Asia Monitor 

India needs to formulate a humane refugee and asylum policy in keeping with its cultural tradition

Having a refugee and asylum policy will improve India's standing in the global community and avoid unnecessary expenditure from the national and state exchequers, writes Amb Sarvajit Chakravarti (retd) for South Asia Monitor

Gifting tales from the Indian subcontinent: Toshakhanas have a curious history

While India inherited the British-era law regarding accounting of official gifts received by government leaders, Pakistan and Bangladesh enacted their respective laws only in 1974, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor 

India's resumption of vaccine supplies will ensure low-cost jabs for the world's poor

The impending resumption of exports thus is good news that will ensure low-cost jabs for the poor in Asia, Africa and Latin America and will also be beneficial for the South Asian neighborhood, especially countries like Afghanistan that are facing a humanitarian disaster while coping with the ravages of Covid-19, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor