India’s neighbourhood policy can be tweaked by making conditional every foreign aid, technical assistance, bilateral cooperation and multilateral facilitation. Bangladesh is the largest beneficiary of Indian grants and assistance under the Neighbourhood First Policy. Attaching conditionalities—akin to the Chinese BRI loans— can act as a deterrent to any anti-India adventurism
The debate around freebies and promises in a democracy often centers on balancing short-term relief with long-term solutions to societal problems. Often, in these giveaways, economic prudence is a casualty in favour of transactional political advantage.
The share of workers in industry has stagnated for far too long. And so have wages. As per a report of WorkIndia, more than 57 percent of blue-collar jobs in India pay less than 20,000 rupees a month. That is probably justified because of low average productivity.
A strong India is not only about protecting the borders but equally about systems and processes that do not allow companies, particularly giants from foreign shores, to get away with anything less than standards that some of these companies are required to follow in their home countries. Even if the clean up happens, at long last, the other lesson for holding companies to account is yet to be learned.
The BJP is not really taking on the immense political challenge of explaining and then persuading the people to go with the right-wing turns in policies it seeks to implement; it is sneaking it in, and in that it is being met with defeat after defeat.
When the world descended on Afghanistan in 2001, Afghans believed it was about them, about a better life for them. It never was. It never is, writes senior reporter Kathy Gannon, who has covered Afghanistan since the 1980s. Looking back at the second Taliban takeover in 2021 she looks at why the ironically named ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ of 2001 failed and how the aspirations of Afghans have been ignored.
Sri Lanka’s current HDI score stands at 0.78 and is the highest in South Asia.
A message from the Kolkata case is to rebuild our healthcare workplaces with the intent of making them safe and gender inclusive.
The exams for IITs, IIMs, Civil Services, in particular, are strong pointers on how traditional pedagogy and mindset of our educational institutions towards learning is found severely inadequate and deficient, and call for a paradigm shift towards critical thinking and building wider perspectives.
Many of the oligarchic business syndicates that formed around the deposed Sheikh Hasina are now on the run. But their vast industrial establishments remain. It is essential to sustain these industries. Millions of people are working in these establishments that are playing a critical role in the production sector of the country. These industries cannot be shut down because of the crimes of their leaders.
After the Nirbhaya case in India, the laws were tightened against sexual violence. We also have stringent laws against child abuse. Yet the laws have not stopped reported sexual crimes from growing as the NCRB data shows.
Indian students comprise a significant percentage of the global international student community in not just Canada, but the US, UK and Australia. Some of the changes introduced by Western governments will create challenges in the short run, but they may be good in the long term.
What became a reason for special attention was that the Madras Sappers were led by a woman officer, Major Sita Ashok Shelke. This single-woman officer in a 150-strong team worked hands-on with the locals during the construction, planning the move of stores, approving the design and ensuring a safe, speedy launch. If the men kept awake for two nights, her responsibility required an even longer spell without sleep.
Now, the two important power centres in Bangladesh are the interim government led by Prof Muhammad Yunus and the students who led the protests. Both are stressing the inclusive character of Bangladesh and taking a strong position on the protection of Hindus and other minorities.
Yet, this will be a delicate task that may test India much more than Bangladesh. This is because the secular credo of Yunus and a pro-poor agenda that has defined his work and his life pose a unique political challenge to the agenda of right-wing politics that holds centre stage in India.
Thus, the renewal of the Ganges water treaty is much more dependent on the bilateral relations between the two countries. Under the present conditions, there are politically driven ideological differences between both countries that may carry adverse consequences for the Ganga treaty.
Shouldn’t we reflect as a nation of 1.4 billion people, with 117 participants at the Paris Olympics, winning only six medals (that included no gold) and ranked 71 among participating countries? Can we not learn from much smaller countries, some indeed tiny, that won several gold and silver medals and ranked above India?
India must look to improve the quality of education and make it affordable equally to all irrespective of religion or caste. Else, we will continue to feel safe in “reservations” and never ever look at improving the quality of the society
China was miffed with Hasina giving the Teesta project to India but why China gave $11 million to Bangladesh instead of earlier promised $3 billion during Hasina’s visit is because it perhaps knew regime change in Dhaka was coming?
