Bihar is the poorest state of the country in per capita terms. Can it find the enormous resources required to fight the virus and its impact on the economy? writes Gulrez Hoda 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
A territorial dispute with an actress caught in its midst!
The row between the two nations heated up when Nepal’s Communist Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli on May 20 vowed before the country’s Parliament to reclaim the three “disputed areas” from New Delhi., writes Kavita Bajeli-Datt for South Asia Monitor
Job loss, hunger stalk South Asia in COVID-19 times
South Asia is home to over 1.8 billion people and houses half of the world’s impoverished communities, writes Aashish Kiphayet for South Asia Monitor
Honour killings continue in Pakistan: Feudal-patriarchal mindset still rules
Honour killing has been part of social traditions in Pakistan’s deeply conservative tribal society, but not confined to it. Killings have been reported in Lahore, Karachi and other places as well, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
In post-COVID-19, Kerala needs innovation in governance
There is a need for a radical attitudinal change in governance and also among Malayalees. Skilling graduates, who are mostly unemployable, should be top priority, writes K S Nayar for South Asia Monitor
India needs to keep up its assertive stance against terrorism
The shift in the approach towards terrorism is mildly indicative of India's assertive and uncompromising stance in dealing with terrorism, writes Jay Maniyar for South Asia Monitor
Whither self-reliance in defence hardware? Need for complete revamp of India's DTIB
India’s political establishment seems to have utterly failed to appreciate the need for self-sufficiency in military hardware. Consequently, no roadmap or grand strategy has ever been drawn up, for attaining autonomy in defence-production, writes Admiral Arun Prakash (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Has BJP lost touch with India's masses?
The pandemic has revealed the Jana Sangh-BJP’s basic faultline which marks the breach between the affluent and the non-trader lower castes and the lower middle and working classes, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor
Universal Basic Income is answer to the migrant labour crisis
With livelihoods suddenly coming to an end due to the lockdown, the option left for the migrant workers was to make a hasty retreat to their home towns. The presence of some form of Universal Basic Income (UBI) could have mitigated their uncertainties to a certain extent, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
Its Modi’s moment to transform rural India with reverse migration
This is Modi’s moment to transform India. He has the ability to not waste this opportunity to make the migrants stay in their safe homes and not allow them back to the cities., writes Rajendra Shende for South Asia Monitor
Kerala model: Praise abroad, concerns at home
Kerala certainly has reasons to be proud of its record so far and the praise showered on it is well deserved. But the real test is yet to come, writes Amb T. P. Sreenivasan (retd) for South Asia Monitor
No permanent friend or enemies: Need for India’s deeper and bolder engagement in Afghanistan
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
A success story: Good leadership, timely responses help Bhutan contain COVID-19
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
Is India planning an operation in POK?
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
Visakhapatnam gas leak: Need for stricter enforcement of labour laws
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
