Commentary
India and SCO Summit at Bishkek and Beyond

India has completed two years as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), and therefore it would be useful to assess the worth and utility of being a member of such an organization. There is no gainsaying in the fact that it is ....

Notes from the Sub-Continent

Bangladesh: Optimistic but Unrealistic Budget?
On June 13, Bangladesh’s Awami League-government presented the country’s biggest-ever national budget, amounting to Tk 5,23,190 crore. However, most analysts and commentators seemed to agre....

The Universalism of Yoga

When 21 June was first declared as International Day of Yoga (IDY), it was accepted warmly by most countries of the world. However, in India, a small section of the intelligentsia was opposed to the idea. Their understanding was that this was an atte....

What Explains the Appointment of Pakistan’s New ISI Chief?

In a recent reshuffle of the Army top brass, Lt. Gen Asim Munir was replaced by Lt. Gen Faiz Hameed as the new chief the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The change comes barely eight months after Munir was appointed as the spy chief. The fact that....

A Perilous Quadrangle: Iran, United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia

The world is witnessing with increasing alarm the escalating tension in West Asia. We do not know whether there will be a war. But we have reasons to fear that hostilities might break out if there is no de-escalation. We do not see, as yet, any signs....

Tiananmen Square Incident @ 30

The year 2019 is very special in the calendar of China as it marks some of the most important anniversaries. But the one anniversary which Beijing refuses to acknowledge is the thirty years since the Tiananmen Square Incident. On June 3 and 4, 1989 h....

Neighbourhood Media Watch - May 2019

Bangladesh: Desperate Migrants
On May 10, a boat carrying migrants from Libya to Italy capsized in the Mediterranean. Of the 51 Bangladeshis on board, 37 drowned; bringing back painful memories of a similar tragedy in February. Over the c....

BIMSTEC - Towards a Security Architecture

The renewed mandate for PM Modi holds several implications for India’s domestic and foreign policy both. The presence of Bay of Bengal initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) leaders in Delhi for the Prime Ministe....

Ideas for PM Modi’s upcoming SCO Summit in Kyrgyzstan

The 19th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit is scheduled to be held on 13-14 June 2019 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. It is the second summit after India was granted full membership of this organization in June 2017, along with Pakist....

Jal Shakti

One of the highlights of Government formation for a second time under the prime ministership of Narendra Modi was the creation of a new Jal Shakti Ministry. This was pursuant to the promise the Bharatiya Janata Party had made in its poll manifesto, n....

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