Today, in 2026, India stands at a historic moment in its healthcare and technological evolution. The convergence of biotechnology, artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, and entrepreneurship has created unprecedented opportunities. India’s strengths in scientific talent, digital infrastructure, and cost-efficient innovation position it to become one of the world’s most important centres for healthcare innovation. However, sustained leadership will require continued investment, regulatory reform, and strategic vision.
Yunus paved the way for this election with his credibility as interim administrator intact, but his economic legacy will now be under scrutiny. The man who brought microcredit to the world’s poor — a model replicated across dozens of countries — has struggled to arrest the decline of Bangladesh’s industrial base. Between August 2024 and July 2025, nearly 245 factories closed, displacing approximately 100,000 workers.
Bangladesh’s centrality to South Asia is grounded as much in material realities as in symbolic politics. As one of the region’s fastest-growing economies and a strategic gateway to the Bay of Bengal, Dhaka plays a pivotal role in initiatives such as BBIN and BIMSTEC. Its ports and transport corridors provide critical access for landlocked neighbors, while its manufacturing sector integrates regional supply chains. Cross‑border electricity trade with India and Nepal, along with prospective hydropower cooperation with Bhutan, highlights Bangladesh’s emerging role as an energy and connectivity hub.
Child sexual abuse within homes must be recognised as a central internal security and public health concern rather than a private family matter. Legal provisions such as the POCSO Act provide a strong framework, but enforcement gaps and social stigma continue to undermine protection. A coordinated response is required: universal child safety education, consistent training for frontline workers, faster court processes, and expanded counselling services across regions.
Today, while a large section of the Muslim community lives in intimidation and fear, at the same time there are elements like Riyaz Ansari and Ghouse Mohammad whose insanity is not only a blot on Indian Muslims but also is totally contrary to the sayings in Koran that if you kill a single innocent person, it is like killing the whole humanity, writes Dr Ram Puniyani for South Asia Monitor
Solar roofed buses may be handy in providing mobile primary healthcare, primary and adult education, agricultural extension services and training, even telecom and TV connectivity in rural and far-flung areas across South Asia and Africa, writes Amb Sarvajit Chakravarti (retd) for South Asia Monitor
This year, an early and hotter start to the summer has forced a change in the crop cycle in Gilgit-Baltistan, high up in the Hindu Kush Himalayas
Despite public statements by a few senior Taliban leaders supporting girls' education, there has been little indication of any progress. The group's core leadership, dominated by hardline clerics, seems bent on pushing through gender discriminatory policies, writes Shraddha Nand Bhatnagar for South Asia Monitor
Over 54 major watercourses draining excess water from South Asia into the Bay of Bengal flows through Bangladesh, to which is added its own share of rainfall, writes Ambassador Sarvajit Chakravarti (retd) for South Asia Monitor
For Sri Lanka's tourism industry, the worst is yet to come. Experts say the downfall will continue as the energy crisis is unlikely to ease for months, writes Shraddha Nand Bhatnagar for South Asia Monitor
It’s a win-win situation for the BJP in the Presidential election. It now evidently hopes to fully enlist the Adivasis in its expansionist plans while the Congress flounders without a sense of direction, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor
India-bashing is a preferred pasttime for opposition politicians in countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, not to mention Pakistan and Afghanistan, writes N. Sathiya Moorthy for South Asia Monitor
Only adequate remuneration and commensurate punishment for infringement can the practice of illegal gratification be significantly reduced, if not eliminated, writes Amb Sarvajit Chakravarti (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Bangladesh has proved its capacity by building a 6.15 km bridge over the country's second toughest river using its own money, writes Fumiko Yamada for South Asia Monitor
Those who were not part of the anti-British struggle had roots in the ideologies of landlord-clergy combine. They articulated nationalism in the name of religion, called it cultural nationalism, writes Dr Ram Puniyani for South Asia Monitor
Myanmar and Bangladesh must cooperate in a neighbourly manner. Resolving the regional humanitarian problem will benefit the entire region of South Asia and Southeast Asia, writes Parvej Siddique Bhuiyan for South Asia Monitor
In view of the growing trade and cultural ties between India and the Arab world, it will be disastrous if differences aggravate and no remedial and timely actions are taken, writes Asif Rameez Daudi for South Asia Monitor
Beginning with Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru till Narendra Modi, we have a tendency to associate divine qualities to a political leader, writes Dr. Suparna Banerjee for South Asia Monitor
Covid-19 pandemic and Sri Lanka's crisis are the best examples for all member states to try their level best to revitalize SAARC, writes Dr Shakuntala Bhabani for South Asia Monitor
