Carbon finance is expected to play a critical role in leveraging private sector finance for flourishing regional power trade between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
By repeatedly threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz — the artery through which a significant portion of the world's energy supply flows — it has shown it is willing to inflict suffering on billions of people across India, China, and Africa simply to extract political leverage. A government willing to hold the world's energy supply hostage today will hold the world's existence hostage tomorrow if given the means to do so.
India stands at a historic crossroads. The older frameworks of left-wing politics and the secular-liberal consensus are gradually receding into history. The nation is moving forward on the pillars of development, identity, and global leadership. This is not a temporary wave but a structural transformation.
The current crisis in West Asia offers us a window. In a world where oil routes can be disrupted overnight by wars India did not start, energy independence becomes a sovereign necessity. Every gigawatt of solar power installed is one step away from the Strait of Hormuz. Every electric vehicle on the road is a barrel of oil India does not have to import. Every rooftop panel is a small act of national self-reliance.
South Asia’s problem is not that it lacks importance. Its problem is that it lacks collective strategy. Each country is trying to survive the new order separately. India seeks global-power status. Pakistan seeks strategic relevance and economic stability. Bangladesh seeks balanced partnerships and export security. Sri Lanka seeks recovery. Nepal seeks space between two giants. The Maldives seeks bargaining power. Bhutan seeks quiet sovereignty. Afghanistan seeks recognition and survival.
Carbon finance is expected to play a critical role in leveraging private sector finance for flourishing regional power trade between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
As Pakistan may play dirty with Indian aid to Afghanistan transiting its territory, India could consider the Iran route, writes Lt Gen P. C. Katoch (Retd) for South Asia Monitor
There’s no doubt we will see a growing number of Indians leading companies in America and around the world. And we hope that more of these leaders will be women, writes Raj L Gupta for South Asia Monitor
The success of the CPEC project, which is dubbed as a “game-changer” for the region, will be in question if the concerns of the people of Gwadar are not dealt with practically by the Pakistani establishment, writes Nizam Hassan for South Asia Monitor
Disregarding Gwadar in particular and forsaking Balochistan in general is causing a sense of alienation among the people, writes Mannan Samad for South Asia Monitor
Many competent and high qualified individuals refused to work in Ghani's administration and quit their jobs in frustration, writes Qudratullah Karimi for South Asia Monitor
Technological domination by developed nations emerges as a new form of colonization as developing countries are the markets, writes Dr Mohammad Rezaul Karim for South Asia Monitor
Covid-19 led to disconnected efforts of governments, severely damaging global supply chain linkages, now leading to Omicron strain, writes Akshat Singh for South Asia Monitor
Overfishing by highly subsidized distant water fishing fleets threaten the low-income countries that depend on fish for food sovereignty, hurting livelihoods of fisherfolk of this region like India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan, writes N. Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
It remains unclear why no leader from India’s closest neighbour Bangladesh has ever been a chief guest at the Republic Day parade, writes Nilova Roy Chaudhury for South Asia Monitor
Pakistan seems headed to greater instability with Taliban cadres joining ISIS-K against China for genocide against Muslims in Xinjiang, writes Lt Gen P. C. Katoch (retd.) for South Asia Monitor
By becoming a leader in the green energy movement now, India can reap economic and climate change benefits for the nation and its citizens in the future, writes Frank F Islam for South Asia Monitor
It is a sad picture of India of the 21st century that communal fires have erupted in states as far apart as Tripura and Maharashtra, writes Jagdish Rattanani for South Asia Monitor
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh must sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and, if needed, a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) to boost trade and connectivity, writes Pathik Hasan for South Asia Monitor
The Modi government in India has repealed farm laws as it does not want to pay a political price in coming state elections, writes Jagdish Rattanani for South Asia Monitor