Tarique Rahman Oath Ceremony

Rethinking Bangladesh’s Foreign Policy: Test For a More Assertive "Bangladesh First" Doctrine

The most immediate and delicate challenge for the new government lies in its relationship with India. Following the events of August 2024 and the subsequent transitional period, the bilateral bond has faced unprecedented strain. The presence of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in India remains a friction point, yet the early signs of 2026 suggest a pragmatic "reset." Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s congratulatory call to Tarique Rahman on February 13, 2026 signals New Delhi's recognition of the changed political reality. However, the path forward requires addressing deep-seated issues that have long simmered.

Why Sri Lanka Needs to Leverage Its Geography And Culture in a Post De-globalized World

Sri Lanka has a wide range of monetizable opportunities based on its strategic location and also existing domestic business landscape.  The ongoing T20 Cricket World Cup is one example. No other country in South Asia, other than Sri Lanka, will find it possible to host a match between India and Pakistan.   It is time Sri Lanka works towards leveraging its geographical location to weather global trade reset, while effectively leveraging its cultural foundation to boost its global soft power.   

Pakistan: A Cricket Defeat is Merely a Symptom of a Deeper Malaise

More than 60 percent of Pakistan’s 241.5 million population (2023) is below the age 30, with a median age of about 20. It is one of the youngest nations in the world living in a country that has remained adrift since its creation. Cricket was once a source of national confidence for young Pakistanis, but in recent years even that has vanished. The T20 defeat is just another instance of the crisis of confidence gripping the country that is also debilitating its cricket team.

AI Impact Summit: Will Artificial Intelligence Eclipse Nature’s Wisdom?

AI is neither inevitable trauma nor guaranteed transformation. It is an amplifier. The Delhi summit must therefore convey Bharat’s civilisational wisdom — the natural intelligence systems that sustained life long before algorithms. The future of nature will depend not on how intelligent our machines become, but on whether humanity remains wise enough to align them with the only system that has sustained life for billions of years. Artificial Intelligence may dominate global conversation. But Natural Intelligence remains the foundation of survival.

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COVID-19 calls for resetting targets under SDGs: Health and education needs fresh strategies

The pandemic has laid bare some fault lines and vulnerabilities in the domains of education and health, and the lessons need to reflect in the SDGs as fresh strategies, writes Ram Krishna Sinha for South Asia Monitor

Lessons from Bangladesh: India can learn from its neighbour's development model

Bangladesh’s export-led model of development is the major factor behind its growth dynamism and has altered its status from being a bottomless basket case to an Asian tiger in the making writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor

Agri reforms in India: What should be the true price of farm produce?

The wealth of a country comes from its land.  Around 55 percent of India’s population is connected with farming, writes Anil K Rajvanshi for South Asia Monitor 

A lend-lease charter with the US will bolster India's maritime security

An Indo-US Charter with a lend-lease clause on the lines of the Atlantic Charter in 1941 is the need of the hour, writes Cmde Ranjit B Rai (retd) for South Asia Monitor

Women’s safety in India is unattainable without change in mindset

Till such time that mothers, as well as families in India, don’t cease to feel a little less obsessed about that beloved male child, or they don’t bring an end to that entitled treatment showered on him more than he deserves, daughters of India will never be safe within the domestic boundaries or beyond, writes Anuja Saha for South Asia Monitor

Pakistan's Bollywood fixation reveals its society's fault lines

Pakistani media and celebrities from the entertainment world cannot help but follow Bollywood shenanigans, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor

Pakistan’s new strategy against India: Rebranding terror group network in Kashmir to create unrest

Pakistan has begun introducing new pawns in its old chessboard through The Resistance Front (TRF); intending to trigger mass unrest in the valley by enhancing the insurgents' legitimacy through a 'secular' approach and creating strong militant footholds while keeping the Indian armed forces pre-occupied, writes  Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy for South Asia Monitor

Time has stood still for India's police: Police must be reorganised and reformed

All is not well with India's police forces – in fact, there has been professional incompetence and callous insensitiveness in handling critical situations.  The police leadership did not rise to the occasion, writes Prakash Singh for South Asia Monitor 

A city known for its humour is now city of horror: Politics of rape in India

What now appears pretty loud and clear is that the tables have turned in the manner most foul, and the official guns are trained on the victim and her family instead of perpetrators of the monstrous crime, writes Sharat Pradhan for South Asia Monitor 

A record number of Indian Americans look to expand influence in US administration

The Indian American community has propelled its way to relevance in American politics over the past two decades. The representation of the community has increased at every level with each election cycle, writes Frank F. Islam for South Asia Monitor

Gulf remittances to South Asia likely to be hit: Diaspora must be made a stakeholder

South Asians account for 15 million workers in these countries. The prospect now is for return migration back to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka which can only deepen the existing economic gloom in the region, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor

Jaswant Singh, a personal remembrance: Recounting a little-known story from the Kargil days

One of Jaswant Singh's finest meetings was with the New York Times editorial board, where members extensively asked about the Indian nuclear programme and why India wasn’t signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty. He patiently and firmly placed India’s position, writes Sanjoy Hazarika for South Asia Monitor

Harnessing renewable energy: Onus on South Asia

The energy situation in South Asia has been that it is primarily energy fuel deficient as all countries in the region are dependent on substantial imports of fuel, including coal, oil, and natural gas, to meet their growing energy needs, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor

India @70 has moved very far away from Bapu@150

Even as India has marked 70 years of the Republic in January,  the closure of the 150th birth anniversary  of Bapu reveals the degree to which the nation has moved away from the Gandhian spirit and ethos, writes C Uday Bhaskar for South Asia Monitor 

Building Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy: We must be the change we wish to see in the world

In the past few years, radical extremists have countered Mahatma Gandhi and his teaching and his preaching with acts of ‘war,’ ‘hate,’ and ‘violence,’ writes Frank F. Islam for South Asia Monitor