However, evolving regional dynamics, particularly China’s expansion and Pakistan’s tactical nuclear developments, continue to test the durability and interpretation of this doctrine. While India has officially reiterated its commitment to No First Use, debates persist within strategic circles about its future applicability under extreme scenarios.
The significance of Shisir Khanal’s visit therefore lies not only in the agreements reached but in the broader message it conveyed. Both Kathmandu and New Delhi are signalling a willingness to move beyond the grievances and suspicions that have periodically defined their interactions. If the emphasis on development diplomacy, economic integration, and pragmatic cooperation is sustained, the current moment could indeed mark the beginning of a new chapter in India–Nepal relations.
This is also the terrain through which the US 62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) traverses, facing security threats from north to south, losing men and material in attacks by militants. That being the case, the US entry brings in another global player, ready to guard its interests against China’s looming presence. Is the South Asian region headed for a proxy war?
This contradiction—peace abroad, repression at home—defines Pakistan’s current posture. While Islamabad seeks international recognition as a mediator, its domestic record is marred by bloodshed and denial of democracy. The JAAC movement, rooted in basic economic grievances, has become a symbol of resistance against this hypocrisy.
The lack of homework by the Modi government on the adverse implications of the CAA is now clearly visible both domestically and internationally, writes Alakh Ranjan for South Asia Monitor
Sri Lanka is at the centre of the IOR and the country which will have greater stakes and leverage over this island nation will have an edge in the Indian Ocean, writes Alakh Ranjan for South Asia Monitor
There are enough existing solutions to alleviate air pollution which is a result of a waste-disposal problem. However, there is a need to have political and administrative will to implement them, writes Anil Rajvanshi for South Asia Monitor
India understands the needs of Bhutan and is equally willing to diversify the relationship beyond hydropower. During his last visit, Modi showed India’s intent towards the diversification of bilateral relations, writes Alakh Ranjan for South Asia Monitor
Gandhi was an engineer at heart. He improvised and built equipment like better snake-catching tools, small cotton-spinning wheel (takli) and chappals (sandals) from used tires. In 1929, he even instituted an INR one lakh prize (INR 20 crores in today’s value; 2.6 times bigger than the Nobel Prize) for the design of a modern charkha (spinning wheel), writes Anil K Rajvanshi for South Asia Monitor
Trump realized that the draft deal, if signed, would be labeled a surrender to the Taliban, which would be politically damaging for him. Another reason could be that he never really wanted to meet the Taliban, but wanted to showcase the peace efforts made, and place indirect pressure on them through the subterfuge writes Lt Gen PC Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
With India's growing political and strategic interest in the continent, and inclination to leverage its diaspora as an instrument of soft power, it’s natural for New Delhi to establish a beachhead in Somalia, that straddles the Horn of Africa, the source of the Nile and a gate to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, through which tens of thousands of vessels pass through Somali waters every year in what is one of the world’s busiest sea-trading lanes, writes Tarun Basu for South Asia Monitor
Delhi has not yet made an official statement, but legitimizing the Taliban at a Camp David ceremony would have had an adverse impact on India’s strategic interests in the region, writes C Uday Bhaskar for South Asia Monitor
For an outsider, the NRC process has come to be perceived as anti-Muslim. This is drawing the line along religious identity—a factor to which the indigenous Assamese Muslim community does not agree, but whose voice has been largely ignored in this massive debate, writes Azera Parveen Rahman for South Asia Monitor