Group photo of Silver Songbirds of Bengaluru with the Sri Lankan choristers from Colombo after the concert on 12 April 2026. Photo via Silver Songbirds of Bengaluru.

Music, Peace Building and a Shared South Asian Moment

“The presence of the Sri Lankan singers “made this not just a local gathering, but a shared South Asian moment,” Nirupama Menon Rao said after the show. “Music does that so effortlessly. It crosses borders without asking for permission”.

AI, Energy, Health, and Integrity: South Asia’s New Frontline Against Procurement Corruption

South Asia’s future depends on reliable infrastructure and trustworthy public services. Artificial intelligence—especially advanced technologies such as Graph Attention Networks—offers governments a powerful tool to reduce corruption in procurement, improve healthcare delivery, strengthen energy security and enhance public trust.

How to Lose a Country in Four Years: Will the Taliban be Architects of Their Own Demise?

Yet ordinary Afghans refuse to stay silent. In Balkh province, people are turning public walls into canvases of defiance, spray-painting graffiti demanding education, rights, and freedom. These acts of artistic resistance, risking arrest and worse, echo the courage of exiled artists like Shamsia Hassani and Fatima Wojohat, whose work continues to amplify the cry for justice. Such quiet rebellion signals a population no longer cowed.

Trincomalee Energy Hub Development Will be a Strategic Milestone in India-Sri Lanka Ties

If one location matters most to India in Sri Lanka, it is Trincomalee. With one of the finest natural harbours in the world, Trincomalee has immense commercial, naval, and energy value. For decades, strategists in New Delhi have viewed it as critical to the security architecture of the Bay of Bengal.

More on Spotlight

The unprecedented rise of the Indian-American CEO in corporate America

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

CPEC: A harbinger of utopia or misery for the people of Gwadar?

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

Pakistan exploiting Gwadar in the garb of CPEC

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

Why Ghani failed Afghanistan: Culture of corruption, mismanagement and disrespect

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 

Work-life conflict in Covid era: Is ICT a boon or a curse?

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 

Omicron and vaccine inequity: How to fix a broken system

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

Ending global fishery subsidies: India leads the fight

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

Why no Bangladesh leader as chief guest at India's Republic Day yet?

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's headaches multiplying: Afghan spillover, Chinese pressure compounding economic woes

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

Post-Glasgow, India should become a leader in the green energy drive

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 

Playing with fire: Communal flames in India pose a national threat

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 

Why Sri Lanka and Bangladesh need a FTA

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 

Why a strategic turnaround by Modi on the farm laws

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 

How bad is Afghanistan’s economy? Recipe for a failed state

Extractive institutions ensured that the limited gains of growth in Afghanistan were cornered by political elites like warlords, writes N. Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor

The maritime dimension of the India-Pakistan conflict

With geopolitical rivalry in the Indian Ocean Region intensifying, China and Turkey are exploiting Pakistan’s troubled relations with India to push forward their own strategic interests, writes Niranjan Marjani for South Asia Monitor