Last week’s visit to New Delhi by the U.S. national security advisor offered a preview of some of the deliverables that will come out of President’s Obama upcoming visit but also illuminated areas of discord that could forcefully intrude upon the proceedings.
Consider for more than a breath that about 50% of children under 5 years of age in Bangladesh are malnourished. That hard to picture statistic masks more than 8 million hungry, often starving children. These babies often do not eat for stretches, born without fault in a country where the median age floats around 22. […]
India and Pakistan held another round of diplomatic exchanges last week when India’s Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna visited Pakistan and held meetings with his Pakistani counterpart, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi. The bilateral talks were a continuation of the recently resumed dialogue process between the two countries. The meeting was not expected to throw up any […]
Imagine a piece published in the New York Times that tries to tackle the epidemic of tax evasion in Bangladesh. Imagine that in the first few paragraphs, the piece rushes to describe the sights and smells that stand behind and in front of that seemingly intractable epidemic : “Much of Bangladesh’s capital city looks like […]
Sabrina Tavernise’s new piece for the New York Times is a must read for anyone interested in Pakistan. Here’s the real take away, come what may: “Out of more than 170 million Pakistanis, fewer than 2 percent pay income tax, making Pakistan’s revenue from taxes among the lowest in the world, a notch below Sierra […]
As India and China battle it out in the Indian Ocean, human rights takes a back seat in South Asia.
Bangladesh’s political economy made it into the front page of the New York Times this morning. Unfortunately, though important, it was a story about the garments industry in Bangladesh. That is, it was a story about the downward push of wages and regulations in the garments industry in Bangladesh. The kind of downward push that is […]
One of the principal reasons that Bangladesh’s economic development has been so slow in coming and so meager upon arrival is that information hasn’t reached the poorer, farther flung, places in Bangladesh. Villages that do not have easy transport access (and therefore do not have information, publicly or privately bundled) do not enjoy their fair […]
Two events occurring within hours of each other earlier this week illustrate India’s potential for great power status as well as the vast distance the country still has to travel to fulfill its global ambitions.
In another mutual advantage move, Bangladesh and Nepal have signed a deal that will very likely increase bilateral trade between the two countries. A transit deal, including a transport route worked out in Dhaka–and finalized in early 2011– will increase transport and tourism between the two countries. The deal initially made in 1976 will finally […]
The Indian Rupee now has its unique symbol – a confluence of the Roman ‘R’ and Indian (Devanagari script) ‘Ra’. The symbol was finalized yesterday by an Union Cabinet Committee. Uday Kumar, the designer of the symbol explains the symbol, “My design is based on the Tricolour with two lines at the top and white […]
The government has stumbled upon the opportunity to move against all its enemies on the religious right. International partners are asking the Awami League government to take its next steps carefully. The BNP is backing down from its high pitched rhetoric on the ruling party’s moves against the right. With that confluence of events, the […]
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