Photo: Rayees Masroor

Jammu & Kashmir's Drug-Addiction Crisis is a Multidimensional Threat: Joint Civic and Institutional Campaign Against it has Generated a Sense of Shared Responsibility

A particularly noteworthy initiative has been the implementation of the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan (NMBA), the national de-addiction campaign. In Jammu and Kashmir, this national mission has gained remarkable traction. The recently conducted 100-day intensive campaign under NMBA has created widespread awareness and engagement across all districts. It has mobilized stakeholders from all sections of society, including educational institutions, law enforcement agencies, civil society groups, and community leaders.

Indian Elections: Big Changes and Some Bigger Questions

At the end of the day, this is a political battle that shows the BJP to be an unstoppable steamroller, now controlling power across the North, the West and the East. The Opposition parties, which have been unable to come together with a cogent way to stand up and fight the political fight for the long haul, will have to once again think of the road ahead. It is clear that the BJP of today will stop at nothing in doing the deals it needs to take power

India Should Scale up its Fast Breeder Reactor Program to Meet Rising Energy Needs

The constraint on India’s expansion is fissile inventory, particularly between 2035-2045. At present, the breeder program depends on plutonium from a limited set of eight unsafeguarded reactors. Meanwhile, India has accumulated spent fuel from uranium imported for its safeguarded reactors. This significant plutonium is lying idle because we lack safeguarded reprocessing facilities. 

A Thousand Splendid Wounds: Afghanistan through Hosseini’s prophecy

India's engagement with the Taliban is strategic as much as it is humanitarian, a counterweight to Pakistani influence, a gateway to Central Asian connectivity. And the Taliban's continued erasure of women and minorities sits as a profound moral contradiction at the heart of any diplomatic embrace.

More on Perspective

Amid ruling party infighting, a former Maldivian president waits in the wings

If Yameen returns to power in the Maldives, it would have repercussions on the present close strategic ties with India

The significance of India’s relations with Gulf and Muslim countries

India needs strong and friendly relations, be they diplomatic, economic, social or cultural, with the countries of GCC. And some of these arguments carry over for relations with members of the OIC too

Pakistan’s 5.9 % GDP growth comes with ‘landmines’, fears of ‘overheated’ economy and Imran Khan's 'biggest protest'

Challenges are compounded by the almost unaffordable prices of global commodities and fuel—factors beyond the government’s control. “I cannot control this but cannot leave people without food and fuel, either,” Ismail said.

No place in Hinduism for intolerance of other faiths

Denigration of another faith is not the act or practice of a true Hindu. Every Hindu must condemn such acts., writes Amb Sarvajit Chakravarty (retd) for South Asia Monitor 

What two WHO tales say about India's health system

While ASHAs make us proud, the state of the health management system makes us hang our heads in shame.  Is this where India should be in the 21st century?

Unchecked communal rhetoric will have implications for India’s foreign policy

Messages, and communal narratives - and even state-sanctioned actions - targeting Muslims reach audiences in the Muslim countries in real time and will produce resentment against India and its diaspora community living there. These sentiments will eventually make it a bit harder for their governments to embrace New Delhi and do business with it, at least in the open.

The Indian Navy's three-dimensional capabilities

“Today, Indian Navy is counted among the frontline navies of the world. Today, the world’s largest maritime forces are ready to work and cooperate with India,” Singh said and described INS Khanderi as a shining example of the ‘Make in India’ capabilities of the country.

A bridge over the river Padma: Bangladesh's passage to a developing nation

The decision to build the much-awaited Padma Bridge, which is set to open for traffic on June 25, through its own finances has brightened Bangladesh's image in the world, writes Dr Malika-e-Abida Khattak for South Asia Monitor. 

Boosting rail connectivity between India and Bangladesh is a win-win for both

While air remains a major mode of transportation for tourists—almost 77 percent, around 80 percent of Bangladeshi tourists used the land as the mode of transportation. Thus, an integrated, cross-border railway network as a faster mode of transport could bring enormous benefits to the region, including boosting regional trade.

Progress in India’s warship building, but not enough except in surface ships

There are not many developing countries like India having the capability to produce such a wide variety of warships ranging from fast-attack craft to aircraft carriers, writes Col Anil Bhat (retd) for South Asia Monitor

How to make a better India

India is the only country in the world that was ruled by Muslims for nearly 1,000 years and yet never become a Muslim country. A probable answer lies in the higher quality of Indian spiritual thought, writes Anil Rajvanshi for South Asia Monitor

Who really gained 'strategic depth' - Pakistan or the Taliban?

For a regime as isolated as the Afghan Taliban with weak resources at its disposal, acting against the Pakistan-based TTP is like giving up on the little leverage it enjoys so far. Furthermore, there is little indication of the group’s willingness so far to transform itself into an internationally accepted ruling regime by weakening its links with ideological fellow travellers

Sri Lanka's crisis: High costs of climate injustice and foreign investment dependence

The global chemicals industry is portraying the Sri Lankan crisis as related to a few months' stop in the import of chemical fertilizers in April 2021, not recognizing that the ban was related to Colombo’s debt crisis

Big-power rivalry is becoming more intense in the Indian Ocean Region

The role of China will have a direct bearing on the Indo-Pacific security matrix given China’s warm relations with most of the Indo-Pacific states

Kashmiri Pandits - Old and New: And how a film created a broad tent of a pan-Hindu identity

Why did the influential Purana Kashmiris not think of the 1990s Kashmir Pandit exodus as a personal issue and raise their voice? Why did they take part in the conspiracy of silence that seems to have cloaked the issue for 30 odd years?