Electoral Revision and the Crisis of Citizenship in India

Electoral Revision and the Crisis of Citizenship in India: Democracy is Measured by its Protection of the Vulnerable, not by Exclusion

India is neither Nazi Germany nor Myanmar, and historical comparisons should never be employed simplistically. However, comparative political sociology reveals a recurring lesson: when citizenship becomes tied to ideological notions of national authenticity, minorities disproportionately bear the burden of proving belonging.

Will the Cockroach Eventually Take to the Streets? Defining Political Question Haunts World's Largest Democracy

The BJP is winning elections at the level of the state through sophisticated identity coalitions and institutional leverage. Gen Z is winning the internet through a combination of genuine grievance, cultural fluency, and the particular humor of people who have been told they are useless and decided to make art out of it.

A Mature Democracy Must be Confident Enough to Hear Youth Anger: Domestic Unrest can Become Global Politics in Hours

Democracies need dissent. Young Indians have every right to demand credible examinations, transparent recruitment, accountable institutions and a responsive government. To delegitimise all youth anger as foreign manipulation would be intellectually lazy and politically dangerous. But it is equally naive to pretend that geopolitics ends at the border of domestic protest.

Making Workplaces Safer in South Asia: Prevention Less Costly than Catastrophe

Workplace accidents impose costs far beyond the immediate loss of life and injury. Families lose breadwinners, enterprises suffer productivity losses, projects face delays and governments incur healthcare and compensation costs. The social consequences can be particularly severe for migrant and informal workers

More on Public Policy and Governance

US extrajudicial killings and ‘Western Immorality’

Since the last decade, the US drone strike has caused numerous casualties worldwide, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia 

Will Pakistan’s terror exports ever stop?

Senior Indian Army sources asserted that the Pakistani youth's plea for surrender, as soon as his mate was killed, was a definite indication that he was not so convinced about the 'jihad' narrative but had taken on the cross-border 'task' out of financial compulsion

Women step up for peace in South Asia

The SAU aims to bring together peacebuilders and particularly women from the region to work towards a political and economic South Asian Union, along the lines of the European Union, by 2030

Which has a 'better behaved' media - US or India?

Trump also gave the Indian media backhanded compliments when he met with Modi in 2019

Taliban’s IPL ban shows media and entertainment industry won’t be able to survive for long in Afghanistan

The Taliban, the new rulers of Afghanistan, earlier this week announced a ban on the broadcast of the Indian Premium League (IPL), the hugely popular and monetarily lucrative Indian cricket league, which is widely watched in Afghanistan as their star player, Rashid Khan, is part of it

'Infiltrators' who get royal treatment on both sides of India-Pakistan LoC

They “violate” the otherwise volatile Line of Control (LoC) at their own sweet will, but far from being challenged for their “infiltration”, they are treated as guests of honor on both sides of a disputed frontier – India and Pakistan

Rights of the incarcerated: Plight of pre- and under-trial detainees overcrowding prisons in South Asian nations

Prisons in South Asian countries are overcrowded-- with some countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka having almost double their official capacities-- as most people spend years there as pre-trial detainees in the absence of speedy justice, according to data presented at a conference titled "The Rights of The Incarcerated in South Asia", organized by the South Asia Peace Action Network (SAPAN)

Academic Freedom in South Asia: SAI Heidelberg seminar attracts renowned scholars

Concerned by reliable reports of harassment of academics in India, the South Asia Institute (SAI), Heidelberg University, Germany hosted the webinar "Academic Freedom in South Asia" on 2 August, 2021 in which the following, internationally renowned scholars took part

The little-known Chinese Kali temple in Kolkata - a testament to cross-cultural bonding in challenging times

Kolkata is home to more than 2,000 Chinese, a close-knit community that has made the city its home for decades and arduously hung on to their culture and heritage through generations while making their mark in the tannery, beauty salons, shoe and restaurant businesses in the teeming eastern metropolis

South Asian countries scramble to vaccinate outbound workers to safeguard remittances

The pandemic has been a blow to countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan as all of them receive billions of dollars annually through remittances of migrant workers abroad

From cleaning plates to featuring on Forbes – the fairy tale rise of a Bangladeshi American

Beginning as a teenager clearing tables and plates at an eatery, 30-year-old Bangladeshi American  Nabeel Alamgir has featured on a Forbes list running an online delivery service that saw revenues grow seven times higher in 2020 despite the killer Covid-19 pandemic

The tale of the obscure takin, Bhutan’s national animal

Have you ever seen a takin? Chances are an overwhelming majority of people will meet the poser with a baffled look

An American petroleum engineer in love with his adopted home Bangladesh

If you chance to visit Meherpur – a remote village in Bangladesh – you may come across a lanky American national in local attire who has made the country his home for the past 12 years

Modi, Afghan envoy and the 'fragrance' of 'brotherly' India-Afghanistan ties

It is common for doctors and surgeons working in India’s National Capital Region to get Afghan patients

Maldives beckons India’s glamour and affluent set once more

Ending a two-month ban on travelers from South Asian nations following the surge in coronavirus infection in the region, Maldives is to open its borders to these countries from July 15