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. 

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Can India's pharma soft power work in South Asia?

Indian pharma’s soft power has, no doubt, opened up possibilities for foreign policy in the neighbourhood, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor

India, France, China should WAVE to fight future viruses

The terrific trio of Modi, Macron and XI should meet over videoconference and announce WAVE. They have the capability and potential to make history, writes Rajendra Shende for South Asia Monitor

South Asia needs to pay more attention to public health; SAARC needs to pool health resources

What really jumps up from the plethora of information floating around is the lack of preparedness and lack of governmental attention to health care, especially in the overcrowded South Asian region, writes Sreeradha Datta for South Asia Monitor

Muslims in India: A minister indulges in smoke and mirrors

Irrespective of whether they succeed in convincing the foreigners, the reactions in India to the minister’s assertion will range from amusement to derision, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor

Policy priorities: rice for ethanol or hungry stomachs?

This abundant food-in-the-granary exigency will unfold even as a large number of Indians are grappling with hunger pangs and are  stuck in varying degrees of deprivation, writes C Uday Bhaskar for South Asia Monitor

A questionable agreement: Has Khalilzad betrayed Afghan people by caving into Taliban pressure?

The wider consequences of the agreement between the US and Taliban remain ambiguous, writes Iqbal Dawari for South Asia Monitor

A meaningful gesture to restore trust in frayed India-Bangladesh ties

The Indian government’s decision to pass and enact, in December 2019, the Citizenship Amendment Act, naming Bangladesh as a country where minorities are persecuted, had an extremely negative fallout in that country, writes  Nilova Roy Chaudhury for South Asia Monitor

The COVID-19 fight is the test of Modi’s leadership

India is poised for an all-out war and, like in any war, this is not the time for partisanship. It’s in this scenario that Modi will find himself at a fork in the road, writes E.D. Mathew for South Asia Monitor

Myanmar needs to recognise and accept 'Rohingya identity'; integration with Bangladesh is wishful thinking

Indeed, if anyone is serious about the plight of the Rohingyas and is looking for sustainable solutions to the crisis, then the person ought to put her gaze not on Bangladesh but on Myanmar, writes Imtiaz Ahmed for South Asia Monitor

Need for India to have a sound policy regime: Role of advisers is crucial

When the first COVID-19 case came to public notice in India in January this year, questions in concerned quarters have been raised as to why did it take almost two months to prepare for lockdown and that too with a notice of a few hours to leave many citizens unprepared and more so the migrant and the poor, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor

Post-COVID-19: RSS sees an ascendant India in changed world order

RSS remains quite optimistic about the way the new world order is going to pan out post-COVID-19. It feels that it is the beginning of a new golden era for India, writes Arun Anand for South Asia Monitor

India must relax lockdown in phases; economic activity must resume gradually

The consequence of continuing the lockdown, even under present conditions, could be grave, as the self-employed people like vendors, plumbers, auto drivers, small automobile workshops etc.  as well as  poor senior citizens, visually impaired/differently-abled people, who are millions in number all over the country, would be badly hit, writes N S Venkataraman for South Asia Monitor

Need for collective strategic action by SAARC to survive pandemic

The legitimacy of a regional organization like SAARC and others alike will be uncertain if strategic measures and procedures to control COVID-19 do not work in South Asia, writes   Maj. Gen Binoj Basnyat (retd)  for South Asia Monitor

Hindu-Muslim ties in the time of a pandemic

No one can predict what the trajectory of communal relations will be when it is clear that so much will change in the post-corona period not only with regard to Hindu-Muslim ties, but in every other field that the scene in India will be quite different from what it is today writes Amulya Ganguli for the South Asia Monitor

Right time to usher in reforms in India's Armed Forces

The armed forces, after decades of clamouring, have been accorded a historic opportunity to usher in change and reforms. It is imperative that this opening is utilized with sagacity and deliberate forethought writes  Admiral  Arun Prakash (retd) for the South Asia Monitor