The shift in the approach towards terrorism is mildly indicative of India's assertive and uncompromising stance in dealing with terrorism, writes Jay Maniyar for South Asia Monitor
Fifty-Six Years on, Bangladesh a Nation Still Negotiating What it Means to be Itself
Bangladesh has survived partition, the liberation war, famine, floods, military coups, and democratic collapse. It has always returned. But returning is not the same as resolving. Fifty-six years after independence, the founding paradox remains: a nation whose birth is still debated cannot fully inhabit its future. The gun salutes will be loud and unambiguous. The questions they echo, however, about what Bangladesh is, who founded it, and whose vision should guide it, remain, as they have always been
Colonialism by Another Name: Reconfiguration of Global Power With Trumpian Characteristics
For India, this raises complex challenges. Historically, India has positioned itself as a strong advocate of anti-colonialism and sovereignty. However, in the current context, its responses have often appeared measured and cautious, despite the direct implications for its interests—ranging from energy security and regional stability to strategic initiatives such as connectivity through Iran.
India, BRICS Fail the Iran Test: It Could Seek to Bridge Divides
For India, the failure is particularly significant as its presidency was an opportunity to translate “strategic autonomy”, the current buzzword in foreign policy circles, into multilateral leadership. True, its response is shaped by structural constraints. The country imports more than 85% of its crude oil, much of it from West Asia and Russia. Some nine million of its citizens live in the Gulf. The United States is its largest trading partner. Iran anchors the Chabahar port project and India’s access to Afghanistan and Central Asia. Each relationship is too consequential to risk.
Bhutan Under China’s Doklam Shadow: Delhi Needs to Move Away From Protector-Protected Dynamic With Thimpu
A key consideration for Delhi is Bhutan’s occasional denial or downplay of any Chinese encroachment on its territory, even when satellite data suggests otherwise. This is coupled with a growing perception within Bhutan that India is preventing it from completing its border negotiations with China. Although Thimphu remains closely aligned with Delhi, there is growing interest in expanding its engagement with China.
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Whither self-reliance in defence hardware? Need for complete revamp of India's DTIB
India’s political establishment seems to have utterly failed to appreciate the need for self-sufficiency in military hardware. Consequently, no roadmap or grand strategy has ever been drawn up, for attaining autonomy in defence-production, writes Admiral Arun Prakash (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Has BJP lost touch with India's masses?
The pandemic has revealed the Jana Sangh-BJP’s basic faultline which marks the breach between the affluent and the non-trader lower castes and the lower middle and working classes, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor
Universal Basic Income is answer to the migrant labour crisis
With livelihoods suddenly coming to an end due to the lockdown, the option left for the migrant workers was to make a hasty retreat to their home towns. The presence of some form of Universal Basic Income (UBI) could have mitigated their uncertainties to a certain extent, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
Its Modi’s moment to transform rural India with reverse migration
This is Modi’s moment to transform India. He has the ability to not waste this opportunity to make the migrants stay in their safe homes and not allow them back to the cities., writes Rajendra Shende for South Asia Monitor
Kerala model: Praise abroad, concerns at home
Kerala certainly has reasons to be proud of its record so far and the praise showered on it is well deserved. But the real test is yet to come, writes Amb T. P. Sreenivasan (retd) for South Asia Monitor
No permanent friend or enemies: Need for India’s deeper and bolder engagement in Afghanistan
India is one of the key actors to have contributed to the post-war redevelopment of Afghanistan. So far, India has contributed USD 3 billion to it, which makes Delhi the largest donor to Afghanistan in South Asia and the fifth largest in the world, writes Chayanika Saxena for South Asia Monitor
A success story: Good leadership, timely responses help Bhutan contain COVID-19
Bhutan’s energetic and collective response under the personal leadership of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck helped to deal with the crisis. Bhutan has the advantage of both the Prime Minister Lotay Tshering and Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji being medical doctors with a background of public health, writes Shubha Singh for South Asia Monitor
Is India planning an operation in POK?
The Modi government is methodically trying to resolve the Kashmir issue, which is lingering since the partition of the Subcontinent in 1947. India and Pakistan have already fought three wars, including the Kargil conflict of 1999, on Kashmir, writes Jai Kumar Verma for South Asia Monitor
Visakhapatnam gas leak: Need for stricter enforcement of labour laws
While in these difficult times when there is a need for more workers' protection, relaxation of labour laws may not be in the overall interest of workers and there is a need for a rethink on the entire issue, particularly after incidents such as the Visakhapatnam gas leak, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
Sri Lanka's rise in strategic importance in Chinese geopolitical calculus
Major power interest in Sri Lanka despite the COVID-19 pandemic was noticed earlier this year when Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Alice G Wells, and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, all visited Sri Lanka in January to hold bilateral talks with the Sri Lankan government, writes Lt Gen P. C. Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The power of social media: It can win or lose a war today
India's immediate neighbours, especially China, and its client state Pakistan, are conducting social media war against it. Countering them is a challenge, especially against opaque, digitally isolated China, writes Lt Gen P R Kumar (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Democracy in Nepal is under threat
The present regime in Nepal has been blamed for attempting to push through several controversial bills, including the Media Council Bill and Information Technology Bill, among others. The intention and some provision of the bills are against the basic notion of democracy, writes Ravi Nayak for South Asia Monitor
Aurangabad tragedy a scar on the Indian consciousness: Migrant workers need more State empathy
The 2011 census had revealed that India has as many as 453 million internal migrants and this includes both inter-state migrants and those within each state. Absent credible national data for the last few years, some studies have suggested that this figure may now be in excess of 600 million, writes C Uday Bhaskar for South Asia Monitor
Bangladesh lowest in press freedom rankings in South Asia
Bangladesh ranked the worst position in any country in South Asia. Even it’s worse than war-ravaged Afghanistan, which has been placed at 122, Pakistan (145), India (142), Sri Lanka (127), Nepal 112, Bhutan (67), and Maldives (79), writes Aashish Kiphayet for South Asia Monitor
