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Trump’s Tariff Shock and India’s Export Reset: A Tech-Led Turn in the Making

The structural transformation of India’s export basket is no longer incremental—it is systemic. Technology-driven industries with higher value addition are steadily outpacing traditional sectors. If managed strategically, external tariff pressures could accelerate this transition. Rather than viewing tariff hikes solely as a threat, India can leverage them as a catalyst for deeper integration into global supply chains and stronger positioning in high-technology manufacturing. The reshaping of India’s export architecture is already underway. The tariff shock may simply fast-forward the process.

AI Encounters in Indian Higher Education: In Search of Humans in the Loop

Considering the potential of AI in solving complex questions and generating contents in individual writing styles, institutions need to ask a few fundamental questions - what is the role of academia in ensuring that the learners are not being slaves to AI, but masters who are aware of the potential bias and hallucinations that has a huge impact on knowledge acquisition and dissemination?  Should it be a social responsibility of higher educational institutions to ensure meaningful curriculum and assessment practices which make learners future ready in such a rapidly changing AI era?

Cryptocurrency and the Emergence of a Parallel Financial Architecture in South Asia

Recent global adoption indices confirms that South Asia has become one of the most dynamic regions for cryptocurrency engagement, with implications for remittance use. According to the 2025 crypto adoption index by Chainalysis, India secured the top position worldwide in overall crypto adoption across retail usage, reflecting pervasive grassroots digital activity. Pakistan and Bangladesh also feature prominently, with Pakistan ranking among top three in Asia and Bangladesh within top 20

Who Will Govern AI? Its Consequences Will Shape Global Order

Humans have always pretended we can resist new inventions, from the printing press to electricity to computers, only to discover that the world shifts regardless. AI is different only in degree, not in pattern. It moves faster than our debates, scales faster than our regulations, and integrates faster than our instincts. The question is no longer whether AI will matter. It is whether we will matter in deciding how it is used.

More on Spotlight

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

Understanding Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of ends and means

Gandhi said, means are foreseeable, ends are not. Thus, means can be controlled, managed and guaranteed, writes Ram Krishna Sinha for South Asia Monitor

Churails: A tale of unapologetic Pakistani women in a patriarchal society

Churails reflects the voice of Pakistani women against the repressive traditional patriarchal societal norms, writes Azeemah Saleem for South Asia Monitor

India and SAARC: Need to re-set engagement with key partners

If India is to defend its turf against China in the SAARC region, it must contribute to greater flows of intra-regional trade and investments by accepting “asymmetrical responsibilities” in opening its market to neighbours without insisting on reciprocity, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor

India’s tactics against China: A game theory perspective

While there is a common belief that the tit-for-tat game that India is playing with China is petty and self-destructive, this strategy has been proven to be pretty useful in the  current  faceoff, writes Akshat MIttal for South Asia Monitor