The Bill will not help in eliminating child marriages as it has merely increased the age without addressing the major factors which contribute to child marriages
Why Workers Are Leaving Delhi: When Policy Needs to Align With Ground Reality
What emerges from this moment is not a singular crisis but a layered one, shaped by global disruptions, local cost pressures, and structural vulnerabilities. Workers are leaving Delhi not because the city has stopped offering work, but because it has become increasingly difficult to live sustainably in the capital city while working.
Price Tag of Deception: How Fast Fashion Exploits South Asia’s Supply Chain
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.
How Korean Noodle Brands Captured the Indian Market
The Korean noodle story is not really about noodles. It is about what happens when cultural influence travels faster than commercial infrastructure and faster than regulatory awareness. India's Gen Z - and possibly that of other South Asian countries - did not wait for brands to tell them what to eat. They watched K-dramas, did spice challenges, and built market demand that brands, regulators, and consumer education campaigns have simply not kept up with.
Security for Whom? Needed a Human-Centred Approach to ‘National Security’
If “security” is to have real meaning, it must be grounded in the lived experiences of those it is intended to protect. This requires a shift from state‑centred metrics to civilian‑centred measures of stability; where continuity of daily life, equitable protection, and psychological well‑being are integral to how we define security.
More on Open Forum
How to ‘invest in our planet’
The robber barons who gave us oil and climate change want to create new markets of carbon, new property in nature’s ecological services, reducing biodiversity and nature into financial assets to be owned and traded
Reminiscing yoga in the erstwhile Soviet Union
The impact of my father’s yoga service to the people around the USSR was such that our family was always showered with immense love from the Russians (aka people of the Soviet Union) that we can still feel in our hearts when we reminisce those days
Indian Coast Guard conducts counter-pollution exercise; Sri Lanka, Bangladesh Coast Guard also participate
During the sea exercise, 13 ships and 10 aircraft from the Indian Coast Guard and one aircraft from IAF (C-131), two ships from SACEP members states -- Sri Lankan Coast Guard and Bangladesh Coast Guard -- and 1 OSV from ONGC, assets from SCI and tugs from Mormugao Port Trust demonstrated containment cum marine spill recovery by side sweeping arms, deployment of booms and skimmers, streaming of single ship operated containment cum recovery system, firefighting drill, rescue operation, and demonstration of surface and air oil spill dispersant systems
Where has my Lucknow gone?
One good change that I saw in Lucknow was the introduction of e-rickshaws. According to guestimates, there are about 5,000 such e-rickshaws plying on Lucknow roads.
Gender equity must extend to transgenders as well
Despite many favourable developments, what transgenders face is systemic oppression, phobia, fear, bias and distrust. This keeps transgenders from living their simple lives as ordinary citizens
Sports has the power to unite: Let’s teach our children about peace before someone teaches them about hate
Can we rally support around South Asia and get friends and fans to raise their #WhiteCards for peace at the ICC event even as they root for their favourite teams
Sri Lanka should form a national government and stop depending on China
There is this accusation that Sri Lanka is governed like a family concern by the Rajapaksas. This impression should be removed
Missile mishap: India and Pakistan need long term risk-reduction measures
Though India and Pakistan showed great restraint to prevent any escalation, the missile episode has raised eyebrows among those who consider South Asia to be a 'nuclear flashpoint'
The hijab ban in India and the unnatural uniformity it seeks to enforce
The research relied upon by the petitioners, which was unceremoniously sidelined as being unauthentic and without proper credentials of the researchers, showed that head coverings are commonplace for most Hindu, Muslim and Sikh women outside their homes
Pakistan's politics of confrontation: Is it a lost game for Imran Khan?
It is, however, apparent that Imran Khan and his aides have forgotten the norms of political battles a long ago
Beyond borders: A tribute to Sara Suleri
Sara’s name is on Sapan’s Founding Charter calling on South Asian nations to institute soft borders and a visa-free South Asia
How to contain India’s TB pandemic
Unless the national programme for TB is made strong, we may end up well short of the desired impact
Need for bringing India's notorious bureaucracy to account
The BJP government has done better in preparing lists of those officers who are inefficient or corrupt
Gandhis and the TINA factor in India’s Congress party
Within the Congress also, the entire blame cannot be put at the door of the Gandhis
