South Asia Journal

By Ram Puniyani on Jan 16, 2015

Religion, Politics and Violence: Paris, Across the World to South Asia

Massacre of hundreds of children in Peshawar by Pakistani Taliban, the atrocities: murders-kidnappings by Boko Haram, an Islamist group and the attack on Paris cartoon magazine Charlie Hadbo killing 16, have occurred in a short span of few months. The popular perception of relationship between violence and Islam got a further boost. The phrase ‘Islamic Terrorism’, which was created by US media in the...

By Nilantha Ilangamuwa on Jan 12, 2015

Sri Lanka: Will Rajapaksa Return?

It was hopped that the Madamulana Reich had fallen and that a new leader had come to power as I predicted moment after the announcement was made by a then minister, now the President, of his willingness to be the Common Candidate. Defeating the Rajapaksa administration, or Madamulana ‘Reich’ was the result of collective responsibility. There was a time where only few people had the courage to talk...

By Utkarsh Agarwal on Jan 11, 2015

India’s Journey of Emissions Reduction in 2015

The Policy Outlook Indian policymakers have long used India’s poverty as an excuse to not take concrete action on climate change. Limiting carbon emissions is a costly proposition, they argue, and these costs will impede development and push the common man further into poverty. As a result, unlike the developed countries of the west, India cannot afford such adventurism. However any economist worth his...

By Saurav Jha on Dec 25, 2014

New Orientation in Indian Defence Policy

Speaking at the inauguration of India’s first dedicated military university in May 2013, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saw his country “well positioned to become a net provider of security in its immediate region and beyond”. While no particular emphasis was put on the word “beyond”, it is apparent that the Indian military’s security footprint is expanding beyond the Indian Ocean Region...

By South Asia Journal on Dec 25, 2014

The Testimonies of Indian Soldiers and the Two World Wars: Between Self and Sepoy

Gajendra Singh’s depiction of the two world wars through the eyes of Indian soldiers using their letters opens an area that Indian history writers did not cover adequately over the last century. India was not an independent nation when the two great wars raged in which millions of Indian soldiers fought and many gave their lives. The Indian Army was the chief Imperial reserve force for an empire under...

By Mitchel Hochberg on Dec 25, 2014

Unsettled Nuclear Proliferation on the Subcontinent

The introduction of nuclear weapons into any rivalry, let alone one as entrenched as that between Pakistan and India, is bound to change both the stakes and the rules of engagement. Paul Kapur and Sumit Ganguly proposed theories to explain whether the possibility of nuclear warfare has made the situation more or less stable. Yet neither scholar satisfactorily explains the muted Indian military response to...

By Taslima Yasmin on Dec 25, 2014

Unsafe Working Conditions in the RMG Sector of Bangladesh: Role of the International Retailers

Background Most multinational corporations or buyers of the global apparel market have adopted corporate codes of conduct. These self-imposed ethical [codes] set out basic policy standards to guide employees and officers, but they also serve to assure consumers that the products they purchase come from a principled organization. In response to the criticisms surrounding the poor labor conditions at the...

By Mandakini Devasher Surie on Dec 20, 2014

Strengthening Right to Information in South Asia

All eyes were on Kathmandu last week as Nepal hosted the 18th annual SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Summit from Nov. 22-27, 2014. The annual meeting, convening the heads of state of the eight member nations – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka – focused this year on the theme of regional integration. In the run up to the summit,...