One of the key resolutions of 16th SAARC Summit held in Thimpu, Bhutan, in April 2010 was about the establishment of a South Asia Forum (SAF) consisting of diverse stakeholders from all member-countries, to generate ideas to further links. Pioneered by India, which emphasized the need to develop a ‘Vision Statement’, the member states of […]
Much has been written and discussed about the recent ‘civil society’ protests against corruption in India. Social activist Anna Hazare’s four day fast in April compelled the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to re-consider the Lokpal Bill through a joint committee involving ministers and members of civil society. Yoga guru, christened as ‘Baba’ Ramdev, launched his […]
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas for Pheu Thai leaders. As the campaigns for both major parties ratchet up in anticipation of the July 3rd vote, Yingluck Shinawatra, Pheu Thai’s very likely candidate for the premiership and sister to ousted ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, received a huge boost after stumping in Yala province […]
The Democratic Party of Japan handed former chief and DPJ heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa a three-month suspension for abstaining to vote on DPJ Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s no-confidence motion. Seven other members were suspended alongside Ozawa and five rookie members received warnings. Two who voted for the no-confidence motion were expelled from the party. Ozawa is […]
As with so much about contemporary India, the political trajectory and ultimate impact of its expanding middle class is a moving target. Change is indeed happening, though a healthy skepticism about its exact contours and meaning is not out of place.
Nepal, erstwhile Monarchy and once the only ‘officially Hindu nation’ of the world, may have seen much greater challenges in its journey, but May 28, 2011 would still go down as an important date in the fledgling democracy’s patchy calendar. Forestalling a major Constitutional crisis, Nepal’s key parties recently struck a last-minute deal to extend the […]
The Japanese government outlined a plan to give preferential treatment to foreigners with specialized skills Thursday. The government will issue points to foreigners based on things like academic background, skill sets and business experience. Foreigners with preferred skills will be able to extend three-year visas to five years. Japan will soon face a labor shortage […]
(Author’s Note: The following is a selected passage from a chapter that will hopefully appear in a compendium on neoliberal globalization in the Fall/Winter 2011). In many ways, the implementation and subsequent repudiation of neoliberal policies in Thailand is emblematic of the bitter divide along class lines that has afflicted the country for years and […]
The Finance Minister of Bangladesh, AMA Muhith recently angrily thrashed out the Center for Policy Dialogue, a well-respected think tank, for questioning the official government sponsored GDP projected numbers for fiscal year 2011-2012. GDP, the gross domestic product, is a measure of a country’s economic growth and as such is a bet of how politics […]
Japan’s largest business lobby, Nippon Keidanren, is urging Prime Minister Naoto Kan to step down in order to pave the way for his Democratic Party of Japan to form a grand coalition with the opposition Liberal Democratic Party. Nippon Keidanren chairman Hiromasa Yonekura said, “I would like the prime minister to sacrifice himself for reconstruction […]
It’s hard to push off the already emergent, now growing belief that the Pakistani military, and indeed the Pakistani government, is not making strong enough moves against the insurgent groups. The recent news that Ilyas Kashmiri, a top terrorist aligned with al Qaeda who trained as a Pakistani special forces officer, does not diminish the […]
Chapter 3: Indian Riddle and the SAARC Ripple Nothing sums up the Indian context to the UN Report (“Advisory Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka Allegations”) on Sri Lankan war than the two widely-held beliefs that lie at the opposite ends of the spectrum viz., India helped the rise of LTTE and India […]
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan survived the no-confidence motion that was submitted Wednesday. I figured he would survive by a small margin, but he actually came through quite well. Apparently some less-vocal members of the opposition Liberal Democratic Party didn’t think now was the best time for a change at the top. However, Kan plans […]
The disillusioned community of journalists in Pakistan is directly blaming the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI), a spy agency of the Pakistan army, for the killing of a renowned investigative reporter, Syed Saleem Shahzad, who worked as the Pakistan Bureau Chief of Asia Times. The reputed correspondent went missing on May 29th on his way to […]
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent visit to Africa received extensive attention in the Indian media. Prime Minister Singh attended the second India-Africa Forum Summit in Addis Ababa on May 24th and 25th and visited Tanzania thereafter. The visit was used not only to demonstrate India’s commitment to Africa’s development needs but also highlight the strategy […]
