For Sri Lanka's tourism industry, the worst is yet to come. Experts say the downfall will continue as the energy crisis is unlikely to ease for months, writes Shraddha Nand Bhatnagar for South Asia Monitor
India's MSME sector, the backbone of its export economy, remains largely unequipped to navigate European standards and certification requirements. As ABC Live noted, the next stage will be tougher than negotiation: India must now prove that its exporters, MSMEs, regulators, ports, testing labs, and state governments can actually use the agreement. A framework signed in Gothenburg means nothing to a textile exporter in Tiruppur who cannot get a product certified to EU standards.
The central lesson is simple: unresolved India-Pakistan hostility weakens South Asia from within. It prevents trade, blocks institutions, raises nuclear risk, politicizes water, militarizes borders, and diverts attention from human development. Both countries will continue to disagree on major issues. But disagreement does not require permanent hostility. Strategic maturity means building rules to manage conflict before conflict manages the region.
The Quad's Critical Minerals Initiative provides an important platform for achieving these objectives. Through coordinated investments, technology sharing and supply-chain diversification, the initiative seeks to create resilient and transparent mineral supply networks. Australia contributes abundant mineral reserves, Japan offers advanced processing technologies, the United States brings investment and innovation capabilities, while India provides a rapidly expanding market and growing manufacturing base.
Renewing the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty could also serve as an important confidence-building measure between Bangladesh and India. A renewed agreement would help restore mutual trust and strengthen regional cooperation over shared water resources. It would further reinforce the role of the Joint Rivers Commission (JRC), which remains a key institutional mechanism for addressing transboundary river issues.
For Sri Lanka's tourism industry, the worst is yet to come. Experts say the downfall will continue as the energy crisis is unlikely to ease for months, writes Shraddha Nand Bhatnagar for South Asia Monitor
It’s a win-win situation for the BJP in the Presidential election. It now evidently hopes to fully enlist the Adivasis in its expansionist plans while the Congress flounders without a sense of direction, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor
India-bashing is a preferred pasttime for opposition politicians in countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, not to mention Pakistan and Afghanistan, writes N. Sathiya Moorthy for South Asia Monitor
Only adequate remuneration and commensurate punishment for infringement can the practice of illegal gratification be significantly reduced, if not eliminated, writes Amb Sarvajit Chakravarti (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Bangladesh has proved its capacity by building a 6.15 km bridge over the country's second toughest river using its own money, writes Fumiko Yamada for South Asia Monitor
Those who were not part of the anti-British struggle had roots in the ideologies of landlord-clergy combine. They articulated nationalism in the name of religion, called it cultural nationalism, writes Dr Ram Puniyani for South Asia Monitor
Myanmar and Bangladesh must cooperate in a neighbourly manner. Resolving the regional humanitarian problem will benefit the entire region of South Asia and Southeast Asia, writes Parvej Siddique Bhuiyan for South Asia Monitor
In view of the growing trade and cultural ties between India and the Arab world, it will be disastrous if differences aggravate and no remedial and timely actions are taken, writes Asif Rameez Daudi for South Asia Monitor
Beginning with Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru till Narendra Modi, we have a tendency to associate divine qualities to a political leader, writes Dr. Suparna Banerjee for South Asia Monitor
Covid-19 pandemic and Sri Lanka's crisis are the best examples for all member states to try their level best to revitalize SAARC, writes Dr Shakuntala Bhabani for South Asia Monitor
The major political parties in India need to oppose the gross violations of the Constitution, the bulldozer (in)justice and beating of accused in custody, writes Dr Ram Puniyani for South Asia Monitor
Unlike Myanmar and India, Bangladesh has never, particularly since 1991, promoted any discriminatory policy against minorities, writes Samina Akhter for South Asia Monitor
A number of factors in Pakistan such as the alarming economic situation, continued grey-listing by the FATF, growing terrorism challenges created the exigency for a reset in its ties with Washington, writes Shraddha Nand Bhatnagar for South Asia Monitor
But the democratic world, mainly the US, already lost its battle for democracy in South and Central Asia by allowing the collapse of the the Afghan Republic, writes Fahim Sadat for South Asia Monitor
The Taliban, on the other hand, assiduously tried to exert themselves as an independent sovereign authority in Afghanistan, which was also reflected in the series of interviews that the group’s senior leaders gave to Indian media just before Singh’s visit. They also assured, on multiple occasions, that if New Delhi decided to re-open its embassy, they will be provided security, India’s prime concern, writes Shraddha Nand Bhatnagar for South Asia Monitor