Beyond India–Bhutan relations, the visit conveys a wider message to South Asia: cooperation grounded in respect, development, and stability remains essential in an uncertain global environment. As the region evolves, India appears to recognize the importance of maintaining strong partnerships without pressuring smaller neighbors or escalating strategic competition.
The involvement of four doctors, one of whom allegedly executed the Red Fort blast, indicates a model that blends 'inspired' radicalisation with limited external facilitation. Interactions with certain outfits, Kashmiri terror commanders, and external handlers—if confirmed—point to an infrastructure that encourages attacks while maintaining plausible deniability.
It is time for India, along with like-minded nations across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, to articulate a shared agenda of non-alignment 2.0, not as a posture of neutrality but as a strategy of autonomy. The original Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) emerged from the Cold War’s bipolar tension; its modern counterpart must respond to multipolar volatility.
The world over, as is evident from the Atlas of endangered languages, there is a thrust of the dominant languages taking a precedence and most of the endangered languages are likely to disappear by 2100. Soon, possibly in the near future, the grand and great grand-children of the present generation may not be able to tell the story of their own mother tongue. Some of these languages will be lost forever and will only be limited to the pages of gazetteers and history books.
India’s superpower ambitions require a comprehensive strategy to use the Indian education sector, both private and government, towards advancing India's strategic aims and objectives. A starting point to experiment such knowledge/education diplomacy lies in its neighbourhood.
However, religion, domestic compulsions and failure to improve political conditions, with or without national elections, have embroiled Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, all compounded by economic woes, in issues that impinge on their national identity.
In a way, Sri Lanka's economic crisis has served as a blessing in disguise, bringing India and Sri Lanka closer as South Asian neighbors. However, India remains concerned about security in the Indian Ocean, where China has been actively expanding its influence.
For Afghans to find their own solutions they need an engaged international community inside Afghanistan. The more isolated they become the more possible it is for the most regressive among the Taliban – which it must be said is not a monolith – to impose tighter and tighter controls, which is what is currently happening.
Then there is the thorny issue of "Lar o Bar," a nationalist idea that has long existed on the fringes of Pashtun politics. The phrase, literally meaning "here and there," reflects the dream of uniting Pashtuns on both sides of the Durand Line, the border drawn between Pakistan and Afghanistan during British rule. While the notion might resonate with cultural pride, it’s a direct threat to Pakistan’s territorial integrity.
India has made strides in creating a legal framework that supports the rights of individuals with disabilities, but their full inclusion is still a distant goal. The integration of sensory and speech-impaired individuals into the workforce requires a multi-faceted approach beyond vocational training that includes accessible infrastructure, employer sensitization, and use of assistive technologies.
The hope for a better and more sustainable future now lies, first with the youth in the ages of 18-25, studying in the universities and higher education institutes. These youth would be the young decision-makers by 2030. That year would see the end of SDGs and expected to halve the GHGs emissions. By 2050, the youth of today would be at the helm of the affairs in business and government.
The region and the world should reconsider their policies toward Afghanistan and the Taliban. They must assist the Afghanistan people in forming a legitimate government and establish professional security forces. The Taliban are not a trustworthy partner in the fight against terrorism.
In the bustling city of Karachi, solar panels are becoming a common sight. Pakistan is investing heavily in renewable energy, aiming to generate 30% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030
It is a fact that Pakistan's obsession with military power without attending to the roots of political exclusion and economic disparity has left its vulnerable masses base to the extremes.
Most analysts agree that there is no clear-cut winner and the race to the presidency is a multiple-horse race
What sets these protests apart was their apolitical nature, illustrating that regardless of how firmly a government may seem entrenched in power, movements grounded in just causes can expose the vulnerability of even the most resilient regimes, as recent events have clearly shown.
Cross-border arms and drug trafficking has always been there in the region, with recent reports suggesting large quantities of guns being shipped to Manipur from an illicit market located close to the border between China and Myanmar. Drugs are being used by the insurgent group to finance their procurement of arms and fund other illicit activities.
The Brussels-based think tank Egmont Institute, in a policy brief in April, said individual EU member States attach a lot of importance to their bilateral relationship with New Delhi and are interacting with the Indian government at the highest level. “However, visits of the leaders of the EU institutions to India are rare. One fails to see a real political interest in India from the Commission President and from the President of the European Council.”
China, Pakistan and Russia have clearly and unequivocally declared that they will exercise ‘FIRST USE OF NUKES’ option under certain circumstances. For China and Pakistan, India is the target. Yet our Chief of Defence Staff and premier think tank viz Centre for Air Power Studies, IDSA, USI and many others continue to ‘sing’ the outdated NFU policy.
