It was an extraordinary speech delivered in the midst of a crisis that had brought India to the precipice of insolvency. Laying out an exhaustive prescription for how he would go about fixing a sick economy, Dr. Singh was sensitive enough to give it a highly optimistic and sanguine touch.
The practices of wearing vermillion on her forehead, a ‘mangalsutra’ (auspicious thread worn by married women in their husband’s name) around her neck, a ‘laal bindi’ (red dot sign that a woman is married) and changing her name to include the name and/or the surname of her patriarch. The claims of patriarchal superiority thus come to embodied in her body, identity, entity, and space.
The Supreme Court’s decision reaffirms the pivotal role of the military in Pakistan’s national security framework. While civilian authorities are crucial, the military is often seen as the protector of the nation, especially during times of instability. The Court’s ruling underscores the importance of the military’s involvement in ensuring swift justice for those involved in anti-state activities, particularly when national security is at stake.
Vajpayee was known to speak slowly, sometimes with long pauses, because he chose his words with utmost care. But in those pithy but strong words lay Vajpayee's innate convictions about his 'idea of India'
Fifty years after its liberation from Pakistan, Bangladesh is the reverse image of the country it broke away from -- a moderate Muslim majority nation anchored in its liberal syncretic Bengali culture that guided its 1971 secession from Pakistan, writes Subir Bhaumik for South Asia Monitor
In stark contrast with Pakistan, which relied on hard power tools to pursue its foreign policy goals in Afghanistan, India opted for the soft power strategy --winning hearts and minds of Afghans by investing in common people through culture, building state capacities, and training and educating a new young professional Afghan class, writes Shraddha Nand Bhatnagar for South Asia Monitor
Collectively the peacebuilders, physicians and public-health activists from across South Asia noted that inequity is the key challenge and asked their governments to address it properly so that the lessons of the past year are not forgotten, writes Rida Anwar for South Asia Monitor
In Zoramthamga, a former rebel leader and now chief minister of India's northeastern state of Mizoram, India has a potential mediator who has close links with all stakeholders in Myanmar, including the Tatmadaw and Aung Saan Suu Kyi's NLD, writes Subir Bhaumik for South Asia Monitor
The upheaval in Nepalese politics over the past few months has occurred following a power tussle within the ruling Communist-led dispensation despite the best efforts of Hou Yanqi, China’s ambassador to Nepal since 2018 to resolve it, writes Lt Gen P. C. Katoch (Retd) for South Asia Monitor
Unlike the US, vaccine hesitancy among large sections of the population is not an issue in India, but production is, writes Frank F. Islam for South Asia Monitor
Labor economists and various surveys have said the pandemic and consequent job and income losses have pushed tens of millions of Indians into poverty in the last few months, writes Vaibhavi Pingale for South Asia Monitor
I believe that as an Afghan and as a youth, after the full withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, no pretext and justification will exist for the Taliban to continue the war - the jihad against a foreign power, writes Bator Arsalan for South Asia Monitor
The least India can do is to let the Tibetan community in India select a new Dalai Lama; if there are two Dalai Lamas (one selected in India and one in China), New Delhi should have nothing to do with the Beijing-backed Dalai Lama, writes M.R. Narayan Swamy for South Asia Monitor
Amid pervasive expansion of Chinese influence in Myanmar, New Delhi doesn’t want to give further space to Beijing and feels the best option is to remain silent on the Myanmar military’s actions, writes Pema Tseten Lachungpa for South Asia Monitor
Police brutality in India is a form of institutional violence as it is closely connected with law enforcement and torture is perceived as an expeditious method of policing, writes Rahul Machaiah for South Asia Monitor
Politically, the Sheikh Hasina government has adroitly maneuvered a middle but autonomous road for Bangladesh, away from the influences of two regional powers, China and India, writes Aneek Chatterjee for South Asia Monitor
The nation, and especially Hindus and Muslims, will be waiting with bated breath to see what impact the RSS supremo’s advice has on the ruling BJP, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor
Dilip Kumar suffered during the phases when neighbors Pakistan and India went to war, but his popularity and the run of his films remained unaffected, on both sides of the border, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
Pakistan fails to realize that with US troops exiting Afghanistan, Washington will no longer overlook the generation of terrorism and recruitment of child soldiers by Pakistan, especially when it is wedded to Beijing against the US, writes Lt Gen P. C. Katoch (Retd) for South Asia Monitor
