India attempts to get a handle on overpopulation by offering rural newlyweds cash if they delay having children.
When Demography Shifts From a “Prized Asset” to a “Crippling Burden”
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India
Sri Lanka’s Wartime Abuses
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was in India earlier this month making promises to resettle the war-displaced Sri Lankan Tamil minority one year after his government’s forces won a crippling victory over the Tamil Tiger insurgency. But can he deliver on his pledge and begin the healing of Sri Lanka’s deep ethinc wounds?
Needed: A Coherent U.S. Strategy for India
Many foreign-policy analysts linked to the second Bush administration believe that the elevated and energized partnership with India he and his advisors brought about may be his greatest and most enduring legacy. The significant effort they put in to revitalizing the relationship undoubtedly deserves to be acknowledged for what it is, an important redefinition – but that failed to create the political, institutional framework necessary to sustain the considerable momentum generated by the civil nuclear cooperation deal. Moreover, the redefinition came about as a result of a “de-hyphenated policy,” that is to say a, delinking of India & Pakistan in U.S. foreign policy (i.e., building relations with India and relations with Pakistan rather than an India-Pakistan approach).
Review: ‘Bridging Partition’
Over one million people would die before the partition of India and Pakistan was over in 1947, when one country suddenly became two. The governments in Delhi and Islamabad quickly set about recasting national identities that would strengthen each individual regime. Central to these newly formed identities was a strong loathing for the other side, developed through closed borders, years of warfare, and a systematic approach by both governments to create fear. The people, once united, became enemies.
China and India Battle Over Thin Air
Of all the world’s potential hotspots, one of the most unlikely is tucked into the folds of the Himalayas. This slice of ground is little more than frozen rock fields and soaring peaks that is decidedly short on people, resources, and oxygen. But for the past year this border area has been a worrisome source of friction between India and China, including incursions by Chinese troops, the wounding of several Indian border police, and a buildup of military forces on both sides.
A Path for Peace in South Asia
It has been a grim start to the New Year and the new decade in South Asia. Vested interests, hardened obsessions, and old habits continue to push India and Pakistan in the direction of ruinous conflict. While military planners in both countries plan and prepare for the next war, politicians and diplomats remain determined not to talk except on their own terms.
Postcard From…Tawang
The inhabitants of the remote frontier town of Tawang, in the Himalayan foothills in the northeastern Indian region bordering Chinese-administered Tibet, have lived under many flags. Anyone over the age of 62 can tell the stories of four different empires: British, Tibetan, Chinese, and Indian. During the 1962 war, Chinese troops briefly occupied what is today known as the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Today, India administers the area, though China hasn’t completely renounced its claims.
Activist Listeners
Operating from Delhi since the early 1990s, Raqs Media Collective has developed a multifaceted body of work with a unique take on globalized culture. Mixing contemporary art with historical and philosophical theory, their diverse work consists of a wide range of old and new media techniques, including image-text collages, installations, performances, and media objects.
Swing Region
In the game of geopolitics, South Asia is the big swing region. It commands the very center of the vast Eurasian heartland, which the founders of geopolitics identified as pivotal to control of the globe.
Postcard From…Dharamsala
Tibetan monks at the main temple on the 50th anniversary of their exile. Photo by Saransh Sehgal.