Jammu and Kashmir (often written as J&K) is bestowed with ample natural resources. The state is rich in forest resources, fresh water bodies, and medicinal plants. The state, particularly Kashmir valley, is also well known for its horticulture production of dry fruits like walnut, almond, apricot as well as fruits like pears, peaches, plums, figs
READ MOREThe end of Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009 might have signalled a new era of peace and reconciliation, but some nationalist Buddhist monks are actively working to turn the Sinhalese majority against a “new threat:” Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority. Most prominent among the new wave
READ MOREBeing an atheist in Bangladesh can be perilous living as has been attested by the killings of atheist bloggers in recent years by religious extremists. A new study has now revealed that doubt and suspicion about atheists may be much more deep seeded and ingrained in the life of the average Bangladeshi as well. Timeline
READ MOREBook review: The China-Pakistan Axis by Andrew Mall The China-Pakistan Axis: Asia’s New Geopolitics Author: Andrew Small Oxford University press Release: 2015 China-Pakistan Axis is a good effort by Andrew Small; it covers most of the part of Sino-Pak relations throughout the history. This book contains seven chapters from which first three chapters are about
READ MOREBook review: Indian Summer by Alex von Tunzelmann Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire Author: Alex von Tunzelmann Henry Holt & Company 401 pp Released: 2007 Alex Von Tunzelmann, a British scholar in her path breaking book Indian summer, the secret history of the end of an empire is
READ MOREIndia’s commitment to non-alignment and reluctance to join the Western bloc made its relations with the United States (US) fragile and ambiguous. Suspicions, political mind-sets and mistaken ideologies are residues of the cold war period that further increased the hollowness of this relationship. On the other hand, New Delhi always struggled with the challenges of
READ MOREPakistan to all intents and purposes, was indeed carved out on the underpinnings of religion from its womb called Hindustan in which Islam was said to play a unifying role. But Pakistan that emerged has been ethnically and linguistically an amalgam of complex states. Pashtun’s and Punjabi’s are scattered along length and breadth of country
READ MOREWhy should the US claim that India is its friend and partner in South Asia and yet initiate processes that are not India-friendly, particularly when other friends and allies of the kind from the West on the one hand, and East and South-East Asia on the other, have experienced an entirely different American treatment all
READ MOREThe problem of growing intolerance in India was discussed in the Parliament in this Winter Session as a pressing national concern that tampered with the fabric of peaceful co-existence, which is a vital determining characteristic of the Indian state. In modern Indian politics, the word ‘intolerance’ can be construed as an umbrella term that encompasses
READ MORECommon sense dictates one thing but Kashmir moves to the other direction. Researches, commission reports and articles, along with a plethora of propaganda (by media vultures), keep piling up on the human or social fallout of the K-issue. Plenty of discourses remains on the assaults (sexual or physical) on the vulnerable, the monster of women
READ MORE