World Press Freedom Day: What are the many meanings of freedom?

Press freedom is increasingly endangered across the world. At least 28 journalists were killed due to their work in 2021, with India and Mexico topping the list of countries with the most media worker deaths, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Journalists in many countries are feeli…

Anger on the streets: Sri Lanka in crisis

Sri Lanka is in the midst of an acute crisis. Thousands of Sri Lankans are on the streets protesting shortages and the soaring cost of food, medicines and fuel. Long power cuts and no cooking gas are causing Sri Lankans unimaginable distress and suffering. Hospitals cannot perform routine surgeries…

Ukraine in 2022: The Russia invasion that should never have been

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has inaugurated a dangerous era of world politics with a huge human cost. Overnight, more than 1 million people have already become refugees, fleeing to neighbouring countries such as Poland and Hungary. While we must hold Russia accountable, the role of the US, Europe …

Myanmar’s persecuted Chin refugees on the run, seek shelter in India’s Mizoram

Ethnic communities in Myanmar have long borne the brunt of abusive military rule since the military staged a coup against the democratically elected government in 1962. Time and again ethnic people especially in the states of Rakhine, Chin, Shan, Kachin, and Karen have been significantly abused.  T…

Reflecting on the state of Urdu in India and South Asia

Urdu is a major South Asian language spoken in large parts of India and Pakistan. In India, it is one of the 22 languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution while in Pakistan Urdu is the national language. There are similarities between the Urdu, Persian and Arabic scripts. …

Caste and its absence from critiques of Indian foreign policy

The discipline of international relations and its practice, which includes foreign policy,  is an esoteric field. Debates on foreign policy and international relations are abstract and rarefied as if it doesn’t affect the lives of people.  But on the contrary,  foreign policy decisions affect all k…

The unbridled power of corporations and why we should be worried

Increasingly powerful and wealthy corporations are challenging the might of the state, though in most cases, states facilitate their rise to those powerful positions. In many cases, corporations also behave as a force multiplier for states. But what happens when a giant multinational corporation li…

Spotlight on the Rafale deal

Defence modernisation is a declared priority of successive Indian governments. When some years ago,  the Indian Air Force sought to replace its outdated aircraft, major defence equipment manufacturing companies put in their bids. Dassault Aviation, a French company,  won the bid and was selected fo…

Its now or never: the urgency of climate action

The Sixth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change strongly concludes that human beings are almost wholly responsible for climate change and its calamitous effects. The Conference of Parties (COP), an annual multilateral summit which brings together - and frequently divides- countries on the issue…

A Woman Walks Kabul

Despite the presence of and intervention from foreign forces, the people of Afghanistan have always sought peace, which continues to evade them. In attempting to make sense of events in Afghanistan, what is the importance of listening and referring to Afghan voices? Do the long historical, trade an…