However, concerns persist that efforts to reshape Bangladesh’s political landscape have not ceased. There are allegations that Yunus has mobilized aligned groups, including student activists, to push for constitutional reforms that critics argue could weaken the current government and create conditions for renewed political upheaval.
It becomes evident that the emergence of Sri Lanka–Israel relations in the 1980s was fundamentally driven by the realist imperatives of both states: Sri Lanka sought to strengthen its defence sector, while Israel aimed to legitimize its ties with Colombo. Each actor pursued distinct strategic objectives. However, what largely remains unknown is the US involvement in bringing Israel to Sri Lanka’s platform in the early 1980s.
It is high time South Asian countries not only pass stricter environmental regulations but also strictly enforce them, making sure that there is no factory releasing waste water without adequate treatment. Besides, upholding legally binding labour standards must also be a priority together with ensuring safety of the workplace environment.
The Rohingya dimension is inseparable from the question of AA engagement. Bangladesh hosts 1.4 million displaced Rohingya. While these numbers do not decrease, the fiscal, social, and security costs compound, pressing against the newly elected Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s electoral promises: a domestic agenda centered on growth in the Chattogram division, and a foreign policy agenda built around repatriation of the Rohingyas.
In view of the unprecedented tension between the Indian Army and the Chinese Peoples’ Liberation Army on the Line of Actual Control since early May 2020, it is vitally important for ordnance factories to be able to meet large requirements of arms, ammunition, vehicles, and various equipment, writes Col Anil Bhat (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The scourge of the COVID pandemic has radically altered the nature of the challenge cum dangers lurking in the maritime sector for South Asia as related to the Indian Ocean and the surrounding seas, writes C Uday Bhaskar for South Asia Monitor
Although madrasas educate only between 2-4% of Muslim children and youth, they need to modernize their curriculum and move away from Islamic centric or Islamic-only education to a holistic approach that enables these students to integrate fully into Indian society, writes Frank Islam for South Asia Monitor
The global healthcare has benefited hugely from the Indian pharmaceutical industry, and from generic drugs that the Indian pharmaceutical industry produces for the world, writes Sunil Prasad for South Asia Monitor
Now it became possible for young and talented cricketers with abilities to shoot into the top rung via the IPL. With cricket now being played increasingly across South Asia, one sees rising stars from Afghanistan and Nepal also in the IPL mix, writes Col Ravi Rajan (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Having a porous border with Pakistan and Afghanistan, Iran should focus more on institutionalized Shia killings in these countries, not Gulf states normalizing relations with Israel, writes Lt Gen P. C. Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
COVID-19 has ushered in a global movement for cycling and India is slowly catching up to that trend with cycling to work, cycling for leisure and fitness becoming more acceptable than ever before, writes Pankaj M Munjal for South Asia Monitor
Integrating complementary approaches into the primary care setting will help widen its reach and efficacy and help India promote a healthcare service delivery model that will be unique in its approach and act as an example for developing countries across the world, writes K R Raghunath for South Asia Monitor
The ambitious provisions of fundamental rights mentioned in Nepal’s Constitution would lose its charm if the state turns a deaf ear in giving effect to its provisions in a true and material sense, writes Jivesh Jha for South Asia Monitor
Onions may just be a singular example but if unwritten undertakings are violated, the saga of bans exemplify a larger story of how a trust deficit ensures that trade within South Asia remains perhaps the lowest in the world, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
The new defence agreement is a clear shift in the Maldives position towards the US after a period when the government in Male forged close economic and political ties with Beijing, writes Shubha Singh for South Asia Monitor
The progress of India’s air bubble agreements with neighbouring South Asian countries bears watching in the period ahead, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
Though, the Pakistan government does not officially support discrimination against Shias, it is failing to efficiently counter the influence of extremists and bring an end to violence against the community, writes Sanchita Bhattacharya for South Asia Monitor
Had the Kra Canal come up, China would have taken control of it in all probability like the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka giving it a tremendous strategic advantage, writes Lt Gen P. C. Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
With the setting up of world-class education at low cost India will begin to attract students from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Maldives, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka for whom it is the first choice of destination when it comes to studying abroad, writes Dr. Sheenu Jain for South Asia Monitor
