It would be in the interest of all stakeholders, including India, to drive the agenda for peace to ensure the insurgency does not spiral into an uncontrollable cycle of violence which engulfs the region, writes Jaideep Chanda for South Asia Monitor
The Nuclear Reckoning: Moment Of Awakening For India
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.
Endangered Indigenous Languages of South Asia: With Dominant Languages Replacing Mother Tongue, Are They Doomed To Die?
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.
Global South Must Reclaim Data Sovereignty: Need For Data Decolonization
Only by asserting ownership over data and algorithms can the South escape serving as the North’s digital underclass. The path forward demands digital decolonization—a reimagining of technology not as an instrument of extraction, but as a platform for justice, inclusion, and shared prosperity. The struggle for sovereignty has moved from the soil to the server.
Demographic Changes And National Identity: Fragmented Identity Groups Risk Societal Divisions
India provides valuable lessons. Despite its complex religious, linguistic, and ethnic diversity, India has preserved unity through a robust constitutional framework, civic nationalism, and legal consistency. Even contentious debates from population balance to cultural identity are ultimately rooted in democratic institutions. Western democracies can learn from this: pluralism prospers only when supported by strong governance and well-defined civic responsibilities.
More on Spotlight
‘Aurat March’: A groundbreaking rally against patriarchy in Pakistan
The term ‘Aurat’ itself signifies the negative connotation, vernacularly, with which South Asian women have to contend. The significant rally cry, “Mera Jism, Meri Marzi” highlighted women’s body rights and gender equality, writes Azeemah Saleem for South Asia Monitor
With laws, more social awareness needed to curb child pornography in South Asia
We have strict laws but it is quite difficult to control child pornography based on only laws. We must create social awareness to stop this horrific crime, writes Monira Nazmi Jahan for South Asia Monitor
India’s challenged foreign policy: Diplomatic missteps and domestic mismanagement
The domestic turmoil at the moment is not only reshaping the country’s foreign policy but also causing an inordinate impact on the trajectory of India’s international affairs, write Muhsin & Mufsin Puthan Purayil for South Asia Monitor
India, US need to realign tech relationship to meet rapidly changing global order
Now with the world increasingly getting caught in a spreading viral infection, and the US political theatre getting embroiled in approaching elections, the India-US agreement on trade doesn’t seem likely to happen before 2021, writes Kumardeep Banerjee for South Asia Monitor
Whither police reforms? Law enforcement may be failing Indian democracy
The current pattern of law enforcement in India dilutes the claim to be a robust and equitable democracy and the hapless citizen pays a heavy price, writes C Uday Bhaskar for South Asia Monitor
Modi's cancelled visit: Coronavirus saves the blushes for Delhi, Dhaka
The moment of relief for both sides, as it were, stems from the unstated, but nevertheless evident situation whereby Modi could have faced hostile protests in Dhaka that the Hasina regime was preparing meticulously to avoid, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
Covid-19 turning point for globalisation, a challenge for India
While China may re-emerge from the crisis slightly weakened, the consequences can be devastating for countries like India, which missed out on most of the benefits of rapid globalisation and do not have the capital accumulation, unless they can reinvent themselves, writes Arul Louis for South Asia Monitor
Coronavirus helping save Modi government foreign policy blushes?
In the face of such sustained criticism, to which its foreign office is very unaccustomed, it is clear that India’s domestic politics are now placing India’s global ambitions at grave risk, writes Nilova Roy Chaudhury for South Asia Monitor
US, Taliban and the Doha Agreement: Afghan government short-shrifted
It is the agenda going forward that effectively puts a stamp over what the US assumes would be a Taliban-led, if not outright, Taliban government in Afghanistan, writes Shakti Sinha for South Asia Monitor
South Asia needs to reclaim its cultural ethos, revive SAARC
Although BIMSTEC has been gaining momentum in the recent past, it cannot be an alternative to SAARC, as it involves all the players in the region, including Pakistan, writes Samudrala VK for South Asia Monitor
Russia, India, China should cooperate to lead the Asian century
RIC, a troika of the three Eurasian powers, can work extensively on issues like counter-terrorism, transnational organised crime, illicit drug trafficking and climate change, writes Samudrala VK for South Asia Monitor
The Taliban, and Pakistan, have caught Trump in a duplicitous bind
What constituency Pakistan has in Capitol Hill is not known, but in putting up this deal, Pakistan has played its double game to the hilt, capitalizing on Trump’s pre-election promise of ‘bringing the boys home’, writes Lt Gen P C Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
US-Taliban deal will only boost Trump’s electoral prospects and Pakistani influence
The requirement of a seven-day ‘reduction in violence’ for signing the deal was a joke that demonstrated abject surrender to the Taliban, writes Lt Gen PC Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
For Trump facing re-election India was the 51st US state!
If the adulation of Trump and the rally made it seem like India was the 51st state in Trump's re-election campaign, it may be because Modi bets on the re-election of a tough, right-wing hardliner with whom he shares some characteristics, writes Arul Louis for South Asia Monitor
