As the World Bank notes, isolated national actions are insufficient when pollution itself ignores borders. India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan share the same airshed. Without cooperation, each country keeps breathing its neighbour’s mistakes. “As the government representing the largest population affected by air pollution, India should lead this effort. Instead, the region has drifted away from cooperation, and the cost has been catastrophic,” Dr Subedee said.
This is certainly not a call to romanticise sport or overstate its diplomatic capacity. Neither did cricket ever resolve South Asia’s conflicts. But it softened their edges. It reminded the public that despite borders and disputes there existed a cultural language. The erosion of that language should now concern the whole of South Asia. Because when even the simplest forms of cultural exchange become difficult, rebuilding trust happens to be infinitely harder.
Bangladesh, though Muslim‑majority, has historically significant Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, and Indigenous minorities. Removing secularism would create a profound democratic dilemma as it is the safeguard against majoritarian dominance and structural exclusion. The South Asian experience shows the risks of privileging religion in constitutions.
What India next needs to consider is opening a dialogue with Beijing, while remaining mindful of its security concerns. Years of hostility and China’s anti-India posturing, coupled with its hegemonic aspirations, have understandably created an atmosphere of deep distrust. However, the atmospherics are now right for a rethink as to whether current distancing serves mutual interest. The middle path approach justifies seeking out areas of collaboration, especially through enhanced trade and thereby dilute the overdependence on the US market, both for China and for India.
Till such time that mothers, as well as families in India, don’t cease to feel a little less obsessed about that beloved male child, or they don’t bring an end to that entitled treatment showered on him more than he deserves, daughters of India will never be safe within the domestic boundaries or beyond, writes Anuja Saha for South Asia Monitor
Pakistani media and celebrities from the entertainment world cannot help but follow Bollywood shenanigans, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
Pakistan has begun introducing new pawns in its old chessboard through The Resistance Front (TRF); intending to trigger mass unrest in the valley by enhancing the insurgents' legitimacy through a 'secular' approach and creating strong militant footholds while keeping the Indian armed forces pre-occupied, writes Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy for South Asia Monitor
All is not well with India's police forces – in fact, there has been professional incompetence and callous insensitiveness in handling critical situations. The police leadership did not rise to the occasion, writes Prakash Singh for South Asia Monitor
What now appears pretty loud and clear is that the tables have turned in the manner most foul, and the official guns are trained on the victim and her family instead of perpetrators of the monstrous crime, writes Sharat Pradhan for South Asia Monitor
The Indian American community has propelled its way to relevance in American politics over the past two decades. The representation of the community has increased at every level with each election cycle, writes Frank F. Islam for South Asia Monitor
South Asians account for 15 million workers in these countries. The prospect now is for return migration back to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka which can only deepen the existing economic gloom in the region, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
One of Jaswant Singh's finest meetings was with the New York Times editorial board, where members extensively asked about the Indian nuclear programme and why India wasn’t signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty. He patiently and firmly placed India’s position, writes Sanjoy Hazarika for South Asia Monitor
The energy situation in South Asia has been that it is primarily energy fuel deficient as all countries in the region are dependent on substantial imports of fuel, including coal, oil, and natural gas, to meet their growing energy needs, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
Even as India has marked 70 years of the Republic in January, the closure of the 150th birth anniversary of Bapu reveals the degree to which the nation has moved away from the Gandhian spirit and ethos, writes C Uday Bhaskar for South Asia Monitor
In the past few years, radical extremists have countered Mahatma Gandhi and his teaching and his preaching with acts of ‘war,’ ‘hate,’ and ‘violence,’ writes Frank F. Islam for South Asia Monitor
Gandhi said, means are foreseeable, ends are not. Thus, means can be controlled, managed and guaranteed, writes Ram Krishna Sinha for South Asia Monitor
Churails reflects the voice of Pakistani women against the repressive traditional patriarchal societal norms, writes Azeemah Saleem for South Asia Monitor
If India is to defend its turf against China in the SAARC region, it must contribute to greater flows of intra-regional trade and investments by accepting “asymmetrical responsibilities” in opening its market to neighbours without insisting on reciprocity, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
While there is a common belief that the tit-for-tat game that India is playing with China is petty and self-destructive, this strategy has been proven to be pretty useful in the current faceoff, writes Akshat MIttal for South Asia Monitor
