International Border between Bangladesh and West Bengal

Bangladesh–West Bengal Relations: Beyond ‘Islamisation’ and ‘Hinduisation’

Neither Bangladesh nor India — including West Bengal — is likely to fully concede its position. The future instead lies in pragmatic compromise, where domestic political constraints are balanced against the imperatives of regional cooperation. Ultimately, the trajectory of India–Bangladesh relations will depend less on identity politics and more on whether both sides can align economic necessity with political will.

Strait of Hormuz: More than a Regional Flashpoint; Prolonged Instability Could Ripple Across Continents

The broader reality is that even if a political understanding emerges, restoring confidence in the Strait may take far longer than restoring a ceasefire. Shipping markets operate as much on perception of risk as on military realities. Tanker operators, insurers, charterers, and energy traders require predictability — and that predictability is currently absent.

Trump-Xi Reset Could Leave India Strategically Exposed

New Delhi now occupies an awkward middle space: not fully trusted by the West, yet no longer fully aligned with the broader Global South consensus either. That ambiguity becomes riskier if Washington and Beijing move into even a temporary phase of strategic stabilisation.

Renewing Ties with Bangladesh: An Agenda for the new Indian High Commissioner

The major bilateral issue is border security and management. While India claims that millions of Bangladeshis enter India illegally, reside and work here, Bangladesh dismisses that contention outright, saying that as their per capita income was higher than India’s, there was no reason for economic migration from Bangladesh to India. 

More on Geopolitics and Strategic Affairs

India needs to keep up its assertive stance against terrorism

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

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