Eviction of slum dwellers in South Asian nations cannot merely be dismissed as collateral damage of urban development and anti-encroachment drives. They reflect a larger, alarming trend of displacement of the urban poor and gross violations of their dignity and human rights.
South Asian feminist voices are calling for a shift from tokenism to transformation. The path forward lies in institutionalising women’s participation across diplomatic, security, and environmental policymaking. Whether it’s building back peace in Sri Lanka, safeguarding water rights in the Indus basin, or protecting Rohingya women refugees in Bangladesh, South Asia’s feminist peacebuilders are not just responding to crises; they are redefining what peace means.
The fateful March 1977 election vindicated Indian democratic traditions and proved the triumph of freedom over bread. Ballot after regular ballot has shown that just because a man is poor and maybe cannot read does not mean he does not care for his liberty and human rights.
The time has come to reject the mythology of civilizational war. It is time to reclaim the principles of sovereignty, multilateralism, and international cooperation. And it is time to imagine and construct a new security architecture for the Muslim world
India is one of the key actors to have contributed to the post-war redevelopment of Afghanistan. So far, India has contributed USD 3 billion to it, which makes Delhi the largest donor to Afghanistan in South Asia and the fifth largest in the world, writes Chayanika Saxena for South Asia Monitor
Bhutan’s energetic and collective response under the personal leadership of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck helped to deal with the crisis. Bhutan has the advantage of both the Prime Minister Lotay Tshering and Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji being medical doctors with a background of public health, writes Shubha Singh for South Asia Monitor
The Modi government is methodically trying to resolve the Kashmir issue, which is lingering since the partition of the Subcontinent in 1947. India and Pakistan have already fought three wars, including the Kargil conflict of 1999, on Kashmir, writes Jai Kumar Verma for South Asia Monitor
While in these difficult times when there is a need for more workers' protection, relaxation of labour laws may not be in the overall interest of workers and there is a need for a rethink on the entire issue, particularly after incidents such as the Visakhapatnam gas leak, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
Major power interest in Sri Lanka despite the COVID-19 pandemic was noticed earlier this year when Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Alice G Wells, and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, all visited Sri Lanka in January to hold bilateral talks with the Sri Lankan government, writes Lt Gen P. C. Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
India's immediate neighbours, especially China, and its client state Pakistan, are conducting social media war against it. Countering them is a challenge, especially against opaque, digitally isolated China, writes Lt Gen P R Kumar (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The present regime in Nepal has been blamed for attempting to push through several controversial bills, including the Media Council Bill and Information Technology Bill, among others. The intention and some provision of the bills are against the basic notion of democracy, writes Ravi Nayak for South Asia Monitor
The 2011 census had revealed that India has as many as 453 million internal migrants and this includes both inter-state migrants and those within each state. Absent credible national data for the last few years, some studies have suggested that this figure may now be in excess of 600 million, writes C Uday Bhaskar for South Asia Monitor
Bangladesh ranked the worst position in any country in South Asia. Even it’s worse than war-ravaged Afghanistan, which has been placed at 122, Pakistan (145), India (142), Sri Lanka (127), Nepal 112, Bhutan (67), and Maldives (79), writes Aashish Kiphayet for South Asia Monitor
With Pakistan in an economic mess more should be done to hurt its economy. Limited military means to do so remains a viable option, with all other unstated options open, writes Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Considering the working environment and densely populated area combined with shabby living conditions of the workers, Dhaka and its neighboring districts of about 2.87 million people could be the next hotspot of the coronavirus outbreak, write Dr. Mohammad Rezaul Karim and Dr. Mohammad Tarikul Islam for South Asia Monitor
In the wake of COVID-19, India, with its medical diplomacy, struck the right chords and made the best use of its soft power stature in this crisis and has been trying to fill the global leadership vacuum, writes V K Samudrala for South Asia Monitor
The economic discourse in India in a little over two months has changed from one of confidently steering the economy through investment and consumption measures to one of the stimulus packages for the needy and the vulnerable by government and liquidity infusion by RBI for businesses and jobs to survive, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
We have to reach out across the country to help these performing artistes, backstage technicians, designers, cultural entities and their employees to endure the economic hardships caused by the forced closure of their operations due to the spread of COVID-19, writes Gautam Bhattacharya for South Asia Monitor
The future of India’s retail thus is increasingly digital. Post COVID-19, consumers especially in urban India are bound to change their behaviour, avoiding crowded bazaars and malls and preferring to shop online. Kiranas -- there are 12 million small and medium retailers employing 40 million people, writes Nadella Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
