Port City project itself is looking more like a calculated gamble in a country where gambling/ betting are frowned upon publicly, but practiced commonly, writes Indika Hettiarachchi for South Asia Monitor

It might be prudent to pass the amendment to the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act 1986 (IRWA), to include virtual spaces, that has been pending before the Indian parliament for nine years, writes Aaliya Waziri for South Asia Monitor

One thing is clear: a Dalai Lama picked by atheist China will lack legitimacy in the eyes of the world. And if two Dalai Lamas emerge, it will be a test for India: who will it recognize as the temporal head of the Tibetan Buddhists, writes  M.R. Narayan Swamy for South Asia Monitor

But if India fails to adhere to this main tenet of a modern society, it risks being labeled as an “electoral autocracy”, as Sweden’s V-Dem Institute has done, or “partly free”, as America’s Freedom House has done, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor 

Is India being overtaken by its eastern neighbor? Far from it, although these numbers will no doubt upset a segment of the Indian political leadership that has pushed a narrative that Bangladeshi infiltration into India is largely because of hunger and poverty, writes N. Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor

The suspected under-reporting in Uttar Pradesh is hazardous from an epidemiological perspective as it would stand against the state preparing for a targeted vaccination drive and a potential third wave, writes Akshat Singh for South Asia Monitor

Whatever sway Islamabad holds over the Taliban, Pakistan realizes it must weigh its options with considerable circumspection to at least mitigate blowback effects in case Afghanistan descends into a civil war, writes  Shraddha Nand Bhatnagar for South Asia Monitor

On May 20, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa explained to Asian leaders how Sri Lanka balances relations with China and India, writes Sugeeswara Senadhira for South Asia Monitor

Yet, the craze in Pakistan about Indian Bollywood beauties at times assumes dimensions that are wonderful but simultaneously bizarre, if published views of physicians and surgeons dealing with beauty-care are to be believed, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor

The 16th India-EU summit, though virtual, marked a watershed in India’s foreign policy, as far as engagement with the West is concerned, writes Amb Bhaswati Mukherjee (retd) for South Asia Monitor

The ceasefire announcement on February 25 came just over two weeks after China and India agreed to military disengagement in eastern Ladakh, leading to speculation that the India-Pakistan ceasefire declaration and China-India disengagement plans aren't unrelated incidents, write Harsh Mahaseth and Ananya Shukla for South Asia Monitor

Perhaps even more than the BJP, the RSS must be deeply concerned about the present calamity since it can delay the implementation of its Hindutva project yet again, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor

The Parliamentary Committee on Health and Welfare, in its recent report, had suggested that the public expenditure on health needs to be enhanced to at least 2.5 percent of GDP in the next 3 years, much of which should be invested in creating and modernising the strained infrastructure, reports V K Varadarajan for South Asia Monitor

The underlying reason for Bhutan to keep China at an arm’s length is not India’s strategic influence; rather it emanates from a firm belief that opening diplomatic ties with China is against its national interest, writes Thinley for South Asia Monitor

It is likely that under the Biden administration US-India relations will grow stronger and will have more routes to work on a range of issues -- free and open Indo-Pacific, restoring peace in Afghanistan, arms control, countering aggressive behavior of China and climate crisis with stress on multilateralism, writes Indu Saxena for South Asia Monitor