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
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
Is Delimitation Becoming a Penalty for Good Governance for India's Southern States?
For decades, these states invested heavily in women’s education, public health, industrialisation, literacy and population control. Fertility rates in many southern states have already fallen below replacement levels. In contrast, several northern states lagged behind for years on precisely these indicators. If parliamentary representation now shifts overwhelmingly toward states with higher population growth, the message becomes deeply perverse: governance discipline weakens political power.
Denial of Voting Rights to Undertrials: Blinds Spots in India's Democracy
At its heart, the challenge to Section 62(5) is a test of constitutional sincerity, of whether the Indian Republic truly believes that citizenship endures even behind bars. Enacted in the infancy of the republic, the provision has long outlived its moral logic. It collapses the distinction between confinement and culpability
More on Public Policy and Governance
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
Law must be tempered by justice: CJI Ramana’s observations will restore Indians’ faith in higher judiciary
The Chief Justice of India (CJI), N.V. Ramana, struck a resounding note about the interpretation of the understanding of law per se, when he observed that “It can be used not only to render justice, it can also be used to justify oppression.”
Female genital mutilation: Controversial tweet reignites debate in the Maldives
A tweet by a university professor in the Maldives, detailing the benefits (sic) of female genital mutilation (FGM) - a regressive socio-religious practice where the clitoris of a female is removed physically for non-medical reasons-- has sparked controversy in the Indian Ocean archipelago, with many calling for banning the professor from using social media platform
