In 2025, Sri Lanka was ranked as the second most expensive housing market in the world based on rentals compared to average income. It is possible that market distortions caused by black economy and corruption have contributed to this.
The larger opportunity before West Bengal is therefore not another round of infrastructure creation in isolation. It is the creation of an ecosystem in which infrastructure, private capital, local enterprise and skilled labour reinforce one another.
Why not begin by reopening serious discussions with Chinese conglomerate BYD about an Indian factory? BYD is now one of the world’s dominant EV manufacturers. Its Indian ambitions were caught in the post-Galwan investment freeze. Invite it back to the table—but on Indian terms
But the choice test applies to India as much as to the countries it hopes will follow its lead. If BRICS genuinely widens India's menu of markets, technology partners and financing sources without deepening its dependence on any one of them, it becomes a credible model for the rest of the Global South.
One particular observation that gets highlighted, although not explicitly stated as such by the author, is the huge clout and influence wielded by some key diplomats and political advisers who seem to have literally hijacked the formulation of policy and response to this, complex relationship during the Nehru years
Beijing should be wise enough in realizing the dangerous impact of its using pugnacious responses to Pelosi’s visit that can risk greater backfiring from its strategic adversaries in the future
In view of China’s build-up all along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) till Arunachal Pradesh, it is just as well that India is pursuing efforts to equip its armed forces with AI-backed systems
A new spectrum of tactical competition has begun in the Indo Pacific, and it requires more than threats and deterrence to determine the path and pattern of the conflict; it needs wisdom and strategic foresight by all the players in playing both the short and long game with both conventional and new tools of war and diplomacy
The Indian Army’s notification in July 2022 inviting applications from persons fluent in Mandarin to properly communicate with the Chinese military along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is a beginning in fulfilling a decades-long important requirement
Regardless of future leadership transitions in Washington, the pivot to the Indo-Pacific will be here to stay in safeguarding America’s status quo and primacy, writes Collins Chong Yew Keat for South Asia Monitor
Interestingly, despite gaining significant influence and footprint in Sri Lanka, China’s failure to assist the crisis-hit country has left analysts baffled about Beijing’s thought process. The restructuring of loans, which Colombo sought repeatedly, was ignored by China
During the military commanders' meeting, the Indian side asked for the PLA to move back from all the “friction points”, which is a euphemism for "intrusions" used by India to avoid acknowledging it has lost control of some 1,000 sq km of territory during the 2020 Chinese aggression. For the same reason, India keeps asking of more military-to-military talks, with each round continuing 12-13 hours without any progress, writes Lt Gen P.C. Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The I2U2 is an attempt to replicate in a different environment the Indo-Pacific Quad of India, the US, Japan and Australia, the goal of which is developing a bulwark of democracies against China
The punitive mood against Chinese firms is not reflected in a diminishing dependence on Chinese goods on the trade front or telecom technology. The dragon remains one of our largest trade partners, writes N. Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
Apart from engaging in projects for upgrading India highways that go all the way till the Bangladesh border, Japan could also collaborate with India in the constantly deferred Agartala (India)-Akhaura (Bangladesh) rail link, something that provides scope for Indo-Japan collaboration under India’s Act East Policy and Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy, writes Prarthana Sen for South Asia Monitor
Abe was among the first to envision with then-Prime Minister Manmohan the group of democracies as a potential counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific taking forward the cooperation of the four countries in providing relief during 2004 tsunami
China has harmed Tibet, massacred innocent Tibetans and is occupying Tibet for the last several decades with a vice-like grip and suppressing freedom of the Tibetans
There are several ways whereby the IPEF will outbid China in the Indo-Pacific region and outweigh India’s China dependency, writes S. Majumder for South Asia Monitor
The short game might be Beijing’s to lose for now, but the long game is certainly Washington’s to squander away, writes Collins Chong Yew Keat for South Asia Monitor
