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.
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, 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.
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.
Due to COVID-19, Bangladeshi workers abroad are caught jobless, quarantined in shabby living places, mentally disturbed because of their family crisis of getting no money, fear of being affected by the coronavirus aftermath and uncertainties of being back in Bangladesh, write Dr. Mohammad Rezaul Karim and Dr. Mohammad Tarikul Islam for South Asia Monitor
Some of the decisions by the CC have resulted in a major tussle between the Council and the Executive in Sri Lanka, writes Sugeeswara Senadhira for South Asia Monitor
Devising a strategy to help close the digital skills gap should be a key focus for all businesses during the next decade and beyond, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
A common thread that runs through them is of COVID-19 taking the back seat in the plans and actions of various stakeholders in the AfPak region working at cross-purposes, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
There is growing realization within the government and diplomatic community that India stands to lose a great deal in allowing Islamophobia to spread within India and among Indians abroad and some nimble diplomacy is required to change perceptions, writes Nilova Roy Chaudhury for South Asia Monitor
Indian pharma’s soft power has, no doubt, opened up possibilities for foreign policy in the neighbourhood, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
The terrific trio of Modi, Macron and XI should meet over videoconference and announce WAVE. They have the capability and potential to make history, writes Rajendra Shende for South Asia Monitor
What really jumps up from the plethora of information floating around is the lack of preparedness and lack of governmental attention to health care, especially in the overcrowded South Asian region, writes Sreeradha Datta for South Asia Monitor
Irrespective of whether they succeed in convincing the foreigners, the reactions in India to the minister’s assertion will range from amusement to derision, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor
This abundant food-in-the-granary exigency will unfold even as a large number of Indians are grappling with hunger pangs and are stuck in varying degrees of deprivation, writes C Uday Bhaskar for South Asia Monitor
The wider consequences of the agreement between the US and Taliban remain ambiguous, writes Iqbal Dawari for South Asia Monitor
The Indian government’s decision to pass and enact, in December 2019, the Citizenship Amendment Act, naming Bangladesh as a country where minorities are persecuted, had an extremely negative fallout in that country, writes Nilova Roy Chaudhury for South Asia Monitor
India is poised for an all-out war and, like in any war, this is not the time for partisanship. It’s in this scenario that Modi will find himself at a fork in the road, writes E.D. Mathew for South Asia Monitor
Indeed, if anyone is serious about the plight of the Rohingyas and is looking for sustainable solutions to the crisis, then the person ought to put her gaze not on Bangladesh but on Myanmar, writes Imtiaz Ahmed for South Asia Monitor
When the first COVID-19 case came to public notice in India in January this year, questions in concerned quarters have been raised as to why did it take almost two months to prepare for lockdown and that too with a notice of a few hours to leave many citizens unprepared and more so the migrant and the poor, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
