The Pakistan army has never won any war but they are also aware that the political hierarchy in India is apprehensive of waging war on Pakistan with the Chinese presence in POK-Pakistan, writes Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
South Asia's higher education ecosystem — with over 1,500 universities and 60 million enrolled learners — is uniquely positioned to absorb and scale new models: work-integrated degrees, on-demand micro-credentials, lifelong learning. The Global South — Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East — shares the same structural challenges. The solutions that work at scale in India, Bangladesh or Nepal will travel naturally to these geographies.
For three decades, Sri Lanka successfully navigated the India-China rivalry, turning great-power competition into economic opportunity. Today, the country faces a far narrower and more dangerous corridor. Balancing between India and China was a game of leverage. But, balancing between the United States-Israel axis and Iran is a test of survival.
India’s calibrated reopening to Chinese FDI is a step forward, but its restrictive framework may limit the inflow of capital, technology, and expertise needed to boost high-tech manufacturing. If the objective is to transform India into a global manufacturing hub and reduce the trade deficit with China, a more nuanced approach may be required—one that balances security concerns with economic imperatives.
What is unfolding across South Asia’s cities is not just an urban crisis, it is a reflection of deeper tensions within development itself. Growth is happening, but it is not translating into stability. Opportunities exist, but they are unevenly distributed. Systems are expanding, but not fast enough to keep up with demand. Cities, which have long been seen as places where people come to improve their lives, are increasingly becoming spaces where people struggle to sustain them.
The Pakistan army has never won any war but they are also aware that the political hierarchy in India is apprehensive of waging war on Pakistan with the Chinese presence in POK-Pakistan, writes Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The pandemic has laid bare some fault lines and vulnerabilities in the domains of education and health, and the lessons need to reflect in the SDGs as fresh strategies, writes Ram Krishna Sinha for South Asia Monitor
Bangladesh’s export-led model of development is the major factor behind its growth dynamism and has altered its status from being a bottomless basket case to an Asian tiger in the making writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
The wealth of a country comes from its land. Around 55 percent of India’s population is connected with farming, writes Anil K Rajvanshi for South Asia Monitor
An Indo-US Charter with a lend-lease clause on the lines of the Atlantic Charter in 1941 is the need of the hour, writes Cmde Ranjit B Rai (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Till such time that mothers, as well as families in India, don’t cease to feel a little less obsessed about that beloved male child, or they don’t bring an end to that entitled treatment showered on him more than he deserves, daughters of India will never be safe within the domestic boundaries or beyond, writes Anuja Saha for South Asia Monitor
Pakistani media and celebrities from the entertainment world cannot help but follow Bollywood shenanigans, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
Pakistan has begun introducing new pawns in its old chessboard through The Resistance Front (TRF); intending to trigger mass unrest in the valley by enhancing the insurgents' legitimacy through a 'secular' approach and creating strong militant footholds while keeping the Indian armed forces pre-occupied, writes Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy for South Asia Monitor
All is not well with India's police forces – in fact, there has been professional incompetence and callous insensitiveness in handling critical situations. The police leadership did not rise to the occasion, writes Prakash Singh for South Asia Monitor
What now appears pretty loud and clear is that the tables have turned in the manner most foul, and the official guns are trained on the victim and her family instead of perpetrators of the monstrous crime, writes Sharat Pradhan for South Asia Monitor
The Indian American community has propelled its way to relevance in American politics over the past two decades. The representation of the community has increased at every level with each election cycle, writes Frank F. Islam for South Asia Monitor
South Asians account for 15 million workers in these countries. The prospect now is for return migration back to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka which can only deepen the existing economic gloom in the region, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
One of Jaswant Singh's finest meetings was with the New York Times editorial board, where members extensively asked about the Indian nuclear programme and why India wasn’t signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty. He patiently and firmly placed India’s position, writes Sanjoy Hazarika for South Asia Monitor
The energy situation in South Asia has been that it is primarily energy fuel deficient as all countries in the region are dependent on substantial imports of fuel, including coal, oil, and natural gas, to meet their growing energy needs, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
Even as India has marked 70 years of the Republic in January, the closure of the 150th birth anniversary of Bapu reveals the degree to which the nation has moved away from the Gandhian spirit and ethos, writes C Uday Bhaskar for South Asia Monitor