Delhi and Lahore pollution

Pollution blows with the wind: South Asia's public health challenge needs harmonized regional action

In the larger South Asia context, air pollution does not follow national boundaries and therefore the solutions for all the airsheds cannot come from any one city or a country. The countries in South Asia – India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan - that share a common airshed are impacted by the transboundary pollution. More than half of the air pollution across major cities in South Asia is not local but transboundary in nature.

South Asia's climate crisis needs a regional response

Regional bodies like the SAARC, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, have the potential to foster cooperation on climate adaptation, disaster preparedness, and trans-border pollution control. However, geopolitical tensions, particularly between India and Pakistan, hinder progress.

India's Caribbean outreach carries geoeconomic and geopolitical significance

In the years gone by, India was defined by its religious and cultural strengths, but it has now taken Prime Minister Modi, with a new initiative, to give a boost to India-Caribbean ties through a purely development agenda. It is hoped that CARICOM would set up the mechanisms to get this agenda going. Is it that India is now showing its readiness to take on American and Chinese frontiers aimed at becoming a leader of the Global South if not a world power?

Securitization of the South Asian refugee: Where national security trumps human security

While the South Asian states securitize, local politics has often scapegoated refugee populations, turning majority insecurities into electoral capital – a fear that refugees’ encroachment  on physical and political spaces, jobs, land, corner welfare resources meted out by the state and place undue pressures on infrastructure; acase in point the rhetoric against Bangladeshi migrants in India.

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British stance on Kashmir can strain India ties

Boris Johnson has ended the British stance till now that Kashmir is a bilateral India-Pakistan issue, thereby delivering a lethal blow to India-Britain relations, writes Prakash Chand Katoch for South Asia Monitor

A CDS for India's armed forces must come with integrated theatre commands

CDS by itself without its essential adjunct of integrated theater commands would be of little avail. It may turn out to be just one more four star-general, without any enhancement in Indian military’s war fighting capabilities, writes  Lt-Gen Harwant Singh ( retd )  for South Asia Monitor

Kashmir developments triggered by Trump-Imran meet?

India has rudely shaken China, pushing back the bilateral Wuhan understanding with Beijing. It has hit not just China’s prime ally, but has moved close to Aksai Chin, the Kashmir territory Pakistan ceded to China, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor

India should celebrate religious diversity, find spiritual common ground

Religious leaders should promote interfaith dialogue. They should bring together followers of different persuasions for meaningful conversations. They should promote a dialogue of understanding and a shared sense of community with other faiths, writes Frank Islam for South Asia Monitor

Jammu and Kashmir: Why revoking Art 370 was vital

The abolition of J&K’s special status will complete the ongoing process of annexation into the Indian Union, as it was a temporary provision, and will bring misguided and stone-pelting Kashmiri youth into mainstream politics, writes Sudhanshu Tripathi for South Asia Monitor

How sacrosanct is the 'Idea of India'?

Experts are divided about the legality and constitutional propriety of the August 5 decisions in relation to Article 3 and the reorganization of states. What is at stake is the sanctity of  constitutionalism  and for PM Narendra Modi the way the Kashmir issue unfolds  will  define his political legacy, writes C Uday Bhaskar for South Asia Monitor

Jammu & Kashmir: A landmark decision, but a work in progress

Internationally, the impact has been positive across the international community and, even China, although initially negatively disposed, has chosen not to be too vociferous in its protestations, writes  Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (retd)  for South Asia Monitor

The pivotal role of Haj in transforming Saudi-India ties

Haj will continue to be the harbinger of cultural and economic cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia, writes Dr H A Nazmi for South Asia Monitor

Modi's ‘high-risk’ coup could yield rich dividends in Jammu & Kashmir

Those who have closely watched Modi believe that the prime minister wanted to give a clear signal that his government would be in a pro-active mode to handle long pending issues, writes Arun Anand for South Asia Monitor

Why Pakistan got trapped in its Kashmir plebiscite demand

The reason Pakistan was afraid of the plebiscite was that the raiders and troops it had sent in “had indulged in loot, arson, rape, and murder in the State. Scores of villages and towns were destroyed and hundreds of thousands of people uprooted, writes Arul Louis for South Asia Monitor

India's move will bring investments into Jammu & Kashmir, create employment

Pakistan can be expected to up the ante on terror, but any misadventure by Pakistan will be suitably responded to by India, writes  Lt Gen Prakash Chand Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor

In Kashmiri psyche, Hindu majoritarianism will replace a multicultural democratic India as national symbol

If, in the name of security, the BJP can, with one stroke, undo the federal asymmetry which was a product of the unique circumstances pertaining to the accession of J&K state to India, with a complex set of legal and constitutional mechanisms, the same can be done to the Northeast special powers, but with greater ease, writes Reeta Tremblay for South Asia Monitor

The course of three South Asian democracies - Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives

After a decade, these three countries - Nepal, a Hindu majority country, Bhutan, a Buddhist country and Maldives, an Islamic country - make a compelling study in the journey of democracy, writes Rishija Singh for South Asia Monitor

India's nuclear policy has destablised South Asia: A Pakistani view

Despite dramatization of Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities, it is quite clear that South Asia has remained safe from any major conflict due to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, writes Rabia Javed for South Asia Monitor

The dichotomy in Bangladesh: Democracy or development

By narrowing the space for dissent and dichotomizing values, the ruling Awami League has effectively defanged the opposition, media as well as ordinary people writes Rishija Singh for South Asia Monitor