Modi may not be getting the kind of feedback and reality check that is vital for effective and empathetic governance and this is where, apart from Chanakya, the Canute principle acquires relevance, writes C Uday Bhaskar for South Asia Monitor
Air Pollution Knows No Borders: Smog Over Kathmandu Is A Regional Failure
As the World Bank notes, isolated national actions are insufficient when pollution itself ignores borders. India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan share the same airshed. Without cooperation, each country keeps breathing its neighbour’s mistakes. “As the government representing the largest population affected by air pollution, India should lead this effort. Instead, the region has drifted away from cooperation, and the cost has been catastrophic,” Dr Subedee said.
When Cricket Stops Being ‘Just Cricket’: South Asian Sporting Diplomacy in Retreat
This is certainly not a call to romanticise sport or overstate its diplomatic capacity. Neither did cricket ever resolve South Asia’s conflicts. But it softened their edges. It reminded the public that despite borders and disputes there existed a cultural language. The erosion of that language should now concern the whole of South Asia. Because when even the simplest forms of cultural exchange become difficult, rebuilding trust happens to be infinitely harder.
Bangladesh’s February Referendum and the Future of Secularism
Bangladesh, though Muslim‑majority, has historically significant Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, and Indigenous minorities. Removing secularism would create a profound democratic dilemma as it is the safeguard against majoritarian dominance and structural exclusion. The South Asian experience shows the risks of privileging religion in constitutions.
With India-EU Trade Deal, It's Time To Recast India's Foreign Policy
What India next needs to consider is opening a dialogue with Beijing, while remaining mindful of its security concerns. Years of hostility and China’s anti-India posturing, coupled with its hegemonic aspirations, have understandably created an atmosphere of deep distrust. However, the atmospherics are now right for a rethink as to whether current distancing serves mutual interest. The middle path approach justifies seeking out areas of collaboration, especially through enhanced trade and thereby dilute the overdependence on the US market, both for China and for India.
More on Spotlight
Relocation of global supply chain: Bangladesh should seize the opportunity
From the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, India is emerging as one of the top alternative manufacturing destinations, writes Dr. Mohammad Rezaul Karim for South Asia Monitor
China understands and respects only the language of power
China is sure that India would initiate back-room talks and negotiate some face-saving device to disengage. But, there lies the danger, writes Brigadier Deepak Sethi (retd) for South Asia Monitor
International community should recognize Pakistan as a responsible nuclear state
Pakistan has used its Centres of Excellence to promote and share best practices in nuclear security through three affiliated institutes: the Pakistan Centre of Excellence for Nuclear Security (PCENS), the National Institute of Safety and Security (NISAS), and the Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS), writes Rabia Javed for South Asia Monitor
Pakistan's 'diminishing democracy': Where dissent is a crime
Thirty prominent human rights advocates and peace activists, who disagree with a lot that is happening in Pakistan. Either living at home, but most of them exiled abroad, participated in the conference titled Enforced Disappearances, State-sanctioned killings, & Diminishing Democracy in Pakistan, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
Has Rahul Gandhi stolen a march on the BJP?
The BJP found itself on the back foot was when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was pictured sitting on a pavement, talking to a group of migrants. It was a Haroun al-Rashid moment of a privileged person closely interacting with the unwashed masses, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor
Maldives will seek a balance in its foreign policy
With the support of the United Arab Emirates, the Maldives not only prevented Pakistan from targeting India as Islamophobic during the OIC meeting, but also defended India’s record as a democratic, multicultural society, writes Shubha Singh for South Asia Monitor
India should push for relocating WHO headquarters to New Delhi
This is a time when India should fashion itself as a new global health hub and provide global leadership in health. Pushing a new agenda for the WHO’s relocation from Geneva to India would make immense sense, writes Ram Krishna Sinha for South Asia Monitor
South Asia’s rubber farmers hit hard by COVID-19
From Bangladesh to India and to Sri Lanka, the natural rubbers producers are getting squeezed under lockdowns and social distancing. It is sounding the death knell of the region’s rubber economy, writes K S Nayar for South Asia Monitor
Future challenge of banks: Bringing digital banking to the last man standing
Banks are generally very traditional in nature even though all the banks and financial institutions are going digital. Traditional nature change is again a challenge. The lockdown has come as a blessing in disguise as the changeover to digital systems can now pick pace, as it becomes the need of the day, writes Ashim Kumar Goswami for South Asia Monitor
Have Nepal's communists made it China’s proxy?
Indian policy towards Nepal has been lackadaisical. Belief of mutual Hindu traditions should be viewed in the context of power in Nepal lying with the communists for whom religion is anathema, writes Lt Gen P. C. Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Lessons from Cyclone Amphan: Need to rethink development strategy
The question that arises uppermost is that are we learning the right lessons from these recurring weather episodes or just concentrating on immediate short-term disaster relief without taking any steps to make the regions ecologically sustainable and disaster resistant, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
Will the sun shine again on Maldives tourism?
The coronavirus outbreak has hit the Maldivian economy hard, as travel restrictions and other preventive measures affected the country’s lucrative tourism industry, which contributes to the bulk of the island nation’s state revenue and foreign reserves, writes Kavita Bajeli-Datt for South Asia Monitor
A global partnership is needed to combat COVID-19
On April 23, 2020, in a virtual conference ‘Enhancing regional cooperation in South Asia to combat COVID-19 related impact on its economics’ organized by the World Economic Forum, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina placed five-point proposals to combat this global crisis with collective responsibility and partnership from every society, writes Dr. Mohammad Tarikul Islam for South Asia Monitor
Can India and Nepal resolve border dispute with elephant in the room?
The Kalapani issue first came into prominence in 1997 when the Indian and Chinese governments came to an agreement to open a route for the annual Kailash-Mansarovar yatra through Lipulekh pass. Nepal objected to the use of Lipulekh, writes Shubha Singh for South Asia Monitor
