Examining new paradigms and alternate formulations often leads to game-changing events, writes Lt Gen PR Kumar (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Bridging the Climate Gap: India’s Path from Belém to Viksit Bharat
COP30, Viksit Bharat, and SDG 13 cannot be separated into silos of policy. They have to be woven into one coherent climate-development narrative. At COP30, India can exercise credible ambition and obtain enabling mechanisms from international partners. At home, Viksit Bharat has to internalise climate—not as a compulsion, but as the basis for India’s success. SDG 13 is the yardstick by which India’s growth needs to be measured to determine if growth is both sustainable and future-proof.
Macroeconomic Stability and Fiscal Sustainability in South Asia: Takeaways from IMF–World Bank Spring Meetings
Macroeconomic stability and fiscal sustainability in South Asia are deeply interconnected and increasingly fragile. While the region continues to grow rapidly, structural weaknesses and external vulnerabilities pose significant risks. Insights from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank highlight that sustaining stability will require improved revenue mobilisation, credible fiscal consolidation, structural economic reforms and reduced exposure to external shocks.
Climate Refugees Are Rising: Is South Asia Prepared for a Looming Climate Disaster?
South Asia is therefore not facing one climate migration crisis. It is facing many at once. Coastal displacement in Bangladesh and the Maldives is different from mountain displacement in Nepal and Bhutan. Flood displacement in Pakistan is different from drought-linked distress in Afghanistan. India contains almost every version of the crisis within one country. Sri Lanka shows how island and hill communities can be hit together. Yet the policy response remains fragmented.
A Mediator That Bleeds: Pakistan's Peacemaking Role is Riven by Contradictions
Pakistan is invited to the world's negotiating table. But a mediator's power is not spoken; it is demonstrated. A nation for whose people fuel is unaffordable, whose businesses are collapsing and whose independence is limited by 75 IMF conditions is not resilient. Until cheap energy is a strategic priority, until industrial decline is halted, until economic independence is restored, Pakistan's peacemaking pretensions will be hollow.
More on Spotlight
COP26 in Glasgow: Developed countries should stop giving excuses, keep climate finance commitments
Strangely, Kerry, while extracting ambitious emission cuts during his rounds of developing countries, does not talk about meeting the financial commitments given by President Barack Obama in Copenhagen in 2009. He talks only about initiating a ‘finance dialogue’ with developing countries, writes Rajendra Shende for South Asia Monitor
Pakistan seeks recognition of its civil nuclear program to address energy deficit
Pakistan is also one of the largest recipients of IAEA’s technical and financial help that shows Pakistan has achieved considerable expertise in the application of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, writes Usman Ali Khan for South Asia Monitor
International community should stand by Afghan people, resettle refugees
The political crisis in Afghanistan is closely linked with the flow of refugees from the country. The latter cannot be contained without solving the former, writes Anirban Sen for South Asia Monitor
India-US ties can shape a balanced, prosperous global order
The positive roles played by the American community colleges and universities along with the contributions of the Indian diaspora in the grand American dream are among the key adhesives of the larger bilateral relationship between the two democratic giants, write Dr. Manan Dwivedi and Shonit Nayan for South Asia Monitor
Amidst fire, floods and felonies, relocation is the only viable option for Rohingyas in Bangladesh
It is only meaningful and sincere cooperation between Bangladesh authorities and a wide array of non-governmental, inter-governmental and development organizations which has, so far, made supporting 1.1 million Rohingyas with such limited resources possible, writes Habibur Rahman for South Asia Monitor
India needs to formulate a humane refugee and asylum policy in keeping with its cultural tradition
Having a refugee and asylum policy will improve India's standing in the global community and avoid unnecessary expenditure from the national and state exchequers, writes Amb Sarvajit Chakravarti (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Gifting tales from the Indian subcontinent: Toshakhanas have a curious history
While India inherited the British-era law regarding accounting of official gifts received by government leaders, Pakistan and Bangladesh enacted their respective laws only in 1974, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
India's resumption of vaccine supplies will ensure low-cost jabs for the world's poor
The impending resumption of exports thus is good news that will ensure low-cost jabs for the poor in Asia, Africa and Latin America and will also be beneficial for the South Asian neighborhood, especially countries like Afghanistan that are facing a humanitarian disaster while coping with the ravages of Covid-19, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
Humanitarian assistance of Afghanistan's hapless people: India should push for coordinated international response
India’s position as a non-permanent member of the UNSC and member of BRICS gives it an edge to emerge as a responsible ally and push for coordinated international response not just for humanitarian assistance but also to set precedence for dealing with the Taliban, writes Nandni Mahajan for South Asian Monitor
Modi's US visit: It will be more substance, less optics
The pomp and pageantry that characterized some of Modi's previous visits will be absent this time because of Covid and the more reserved style of the Biden administration, writes Frank F Islam for South Asia Monitor
Pandemic an opportunity for Indian courts to address the issue of prison overcrowding
By the estimates given in the Supreme Court order dated 7 May 2021, almost 90 percent of prisoners released last year had returned to prisons between February and March this year, writes Anju Anna John for South Asia Monitor
After US' Afghanistan pullout Quad summit to have a renewed Indo-Pacific focus; India could play bridge role for EU
Biden has shifted his priorities to the Indo-Pacific where a direct confrontation with China is building up and, in fact, he cited that as a rationale for pulling out of Afghanistan, writes Arul Louis for South Asia Monitor
High time India and Australia resume FTA negotiations to seal a conclusive deal
India and Australia have come strategically closer through forums such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) and Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI), writes Rahul Nath Choudhury for South Asia Monitor
Closer Bangladesh-Myanmar ties have great economic potential - but Rohingya issue must be resolved
Enhanced bilateral ties between Bangladesh and Myanmar could contribute to the growth of trade and investment relations with ASEAN and BIMSTEC countries, writes MD Pathik Hasan for South Asia Monitor
