South Asia Chat

Episode 137: India’s Digital Currencies

In India’s Union Budget this year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the country’s plans to introduce a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) as well as a tax on earnings from digital assets. These announcements reflect India's efforts to embrace digital currencies as the next step in the evolution of digital financial transformation in India. In this episode, Dr Amitendu Palit, Senior Research Fellow and Research Lead (Trade and Economics), ISAS discusses the latest developments regarding India's digital currencies. He is in conversation with Ms Ramita Iyer, Research Analyst, ISAS.

Episode 136: Indian State Elections - Punjab

In the recently held Punjab state assembly elections, the people voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The election result has displaced the stronghold of the traditional parties in the state, Indian National Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal, and has given AAP the chance at governance outside Delhi. In the second and final part of the Indian state assembly election series, Ms Ramita Iyer, Research Analyst, ISAS spoke to Dr Ashutosh Kumar, Professor and Chairperson, Department of Political Science, Panjab University. In this episode, he decoded the Punjab election verdict and what it means for state and national politics in the coming days.

Episode 135: Indian State Elections - Uttar Pradesh

On 10 March 2022, the results of the elections held across five Indian states were announced. Much of the attention was focused on Uttar Pradesh (UP), the largest and most populous state in the country, where the Bharatiya Janata Party made a resounding victory. In the first episode of the two-part series on the Indian elections, Dr Ronojoy Sen, Senior Research Fellow and Research Lead (Politics, Society and Governance), ISAS, discussed the UP assembly election results with Dr Neelanjan Sircar, Senior Visiting Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi and Non-Resident Fellow, Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania. They covered themes including electoral behaviour, the question of caste politics, religious polarisation, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the implications of the results for the upcoming general elections in 2024.

Episode 134: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - The South Asian Dilemma

On 24 February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine. This breach of Ukraine's national sovereignty has resulted in the largest conventional military attack in Europe since World War II. The invasion has sparked a catastrophic humanitarian and security crisis on European soil, and an economic and political crisis, globally. In this episode, Ms Ramita Iyer, Research Analyst, ISAS, spoke to Mr Michael Kugelman, Deputy Director of the Asia Program and Senior Associate for South Asia at the Wilson Center, United States, about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its implications for the South Asian subcontinent. Mr Kugelman shared on Russia's motivations behind the invasion, impact of economic sanctions for South Asia, reasons for divided responses of South Asian countries, and the growing Sino-Russian axis and its implications for the regional and global balance of power.

Episode 133: Data Protection in India

In December 2021, India's Joint Parliamentary Committee on data protection tabled its report on the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill in Parliament. The PDP Bill, once enacted, will regulate the collection, storage, use and transfer of data in the country. In this episode, Dr Karthik Nachiappan, Research Fellow spoke to Mr Anirudh Burman, Fellow and Associate Research Director, Carnegie India on recent developments in India's data protection framework and its implications on digital trade and New Delhi's relationship with Singapore. They also discussed issues concerning personal and non-personal data, and data localisation and state power, among others.

Episode 132: India’s Quest for Drones

In 2021, India struck a deal to procure 30 armed drones from the United States for a cost of nearly US$3 billion (S$4 billion). While this is just the latest development in the Indian military’s use of drones over the past two decades, it is in line with a broader trend of drones' expanding use on the battlefield as well as in civilian spheres across the globe. In this vein, Nishant Rajeev, Research Analyst, ISAS, spoke to Dr Yogesh Joshi, Research Fellow, ISAS, to understand India’s quest to acquire, adopt, and deploy drones and its efforts to build a larger drone ecosystem.

Episode 131: Pakistan’s National Security Policy

The National Security Policy of Pakistan was formally launched in early January this year. The document elaborates the state’s five-year national security vision and lays down some guidelines and steps to achieve important goals focused on the safety, security, and prosperity of its citizens. Dr Imran Ahmed, Visiting Research Fellow, ISAS, spoke to Associate Professor Iqbal Singh Sevea, Director, ISAS, on some of the themes, ideas and policies presented in the document. The discussion raised important questions concerning the internal and external threats to national security facing Pakistan today and the challenges that lie ahead for the country as it navigates a changing world order, mounting economic pressures and conflicts pulling at social cohesion and unity.

Episode 130: South Asia Outlook 2022 - Maldives

The Maldives' strategic location in the Indian Ocean region grants this island state significant importance. Over the last two years, the Maldives has buoyantly weathered the storm of the pandemic, though the country continues to face domestic and international challenges. To discuss the Maldives' internal politics, geopolitical dilemma, COVID-19, environmental concerns, Islamic radicalisation and more, Ramita Iyer, Research Analyst, ISAS, spoke to Dr Rasheeda Mohamed Didi, an independent lecturer and researcher. Dr Didi is also a member of the Maldives Higher Education Council.

Episode 129: South Asia Outlook 2022 - Bhutan

Bhutan, a Himalayan kingdom of nearly 800,000 people, has proved its resiliency amidst COVID-19’s ravages. Along with doubling its trade output with India over the last half decade, Bhutan oversaw what UNICEF hailed as 'arguably the fastest vaccination campaign to be executed during the pandemic'. At the same time, it has increased connectivity with India and boosted its levels of hydropower production. In this episode, John Vater spoke to Dil Rahut, Senior Research Fellow/Economist at the Asian Development Bank Institute, about the pandemic and climate change's effects on Bhutan’s most critical economic sectors. They discussed, among other things, Bhutan’s prospects for regional cross-border power cooperation, the push for sustainability as well as the evolving social profile of its globalising youth.

Episode 128: South Asia Outlook 2022 - The Union Budget of India

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget in parliament on 1 February 2022. This year's budget is critical for India as the country emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic well-poised for a strong recovery and future growth. Alongside shoring up India's resiliency against future shocks, the budget lays a blueprint for the economy's enhanced, even supercharged, expansion as India becomes one of the world's fastest growing economies. In this episode, John Vater spoke to Amitendu Palit, Senior Research Fellow and Research Lead (Trade and Economics), ISAS, about the budget's aspirations.