South Asia Chat

Episode 107: New Political Party in Pakistan

In early September, a new political party, the National Democratic Movement (NDM) led by Pashtun leader Mohsin Dawar, was formed in Pakistan. This party sought to promote a federal democratic system and oppose the growing militarisation of the country. It has also been launched within a few weeks of the Taliban taking over Afghanistan. To discuss the role and the future of the NDM, we spoke to Dr Iqbal Singh Sevea, Visiting Research Associate Professor at ISAS. He is also an Associate Professor of History at the University of North-Carolina-Chapel Hill with research focus on modern Islam and modern South Asia.

Episode 106: Quad Summit and Indo-US Relations

The first in-person meeting of the Quad leaders was held on 24 September 2021 followed by bilateral meetings between the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and American President Joe Biden. The Quad statement clearly spelt out various areas of co-operation including vaccine diplomcy, climate change, new technologies and people-to-people engagement amongst others. Similarly, many of these issues also found place in the bilateral disccussions between the leaders. Prof C Raja Mohan, Director at ISAS, shares his views on some of the significant takeaways from these meetings and how they stregthen multi-lateral, regional and bilateral cooperation.

Episode 105: NMP - A Good Move?

The Indian government recently announced the four-year National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) aimed at unlocking the value of investments in brownfield public sector assets by tapping institutional and long-term capital. Through this, it expects to raise ₹6-lakh crore, that will go a long way in shoring up the economy. To share his views on the NMP and the challenges that the government would have to overcome to make it a success, we spoke to Dr V Anantha Nageswaran, Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at ISAS and Member (Part Time), Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India.

Episode 104: Unravelling India‘s Economic Data

The Indian government recently released the economic growth numbers for the first quarter of 2022, with the gross domestic product growth standing at 20.1 per cent. But do these indicate a real revival of the economy? Dr Amitendu Palit, Senior Research Fellow; and Research Lead (Trade and Economics) discusses the impact of several key issues such as inflation, low consumer spending, revival of key sectors and government's recent measures to boost the economy.

Episode 103: BIMSTEC – The Way Ahead

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an organisation of seven South Asian and Southeast Asian countries. While it was set up on 1997, it became active only in the late 2016. Recently the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), New Delhi, brought out an edited volume titled BIMSTEC: The Journey and Way Forward, which examines various aspects of this grouping. We spoke to Dr Sreeradha Datta, editor of this book to discuss the organisation’s growth and success, the China factor,  the recent Myanmar coup and the Rohingya crisis, amongst other issues. Dr Datta is Centre Head and Senior Fellow, Neighbourhood Studies, VIF. She is also a Non Resident Senior Fellow at ISAS.

Episode 102: Political Churn In Nepal

In the recent weeks, Nepal has witnessed many political changes with Mr Sher Bahadur Deuba replacing Mr KP Sharma Oli as Prime Minister. A new Common Minimum Programme was also launched which touched upon issues relating to national interest, such as the border dispute with India, water resources and unfavourable treaties. To discuss the political and economic implications of these developments and what the future holds for Nepal, we spoke to Dr Nischal Pandey, a Non Resident Senior Fellow at ISAS. He is also Director at the Centre for South Asian Studies; and Convener, Consortium of South Asian Think-Tanks Kathmandu, Nepal.

Episode 101: Destination Lakshadweep

A slew of proposals were recently announced by Lakshadweep’s new administrator Praful Khoda Patel, which included land transfers without guaranteed compensation, banning panchayat poll aspirants with more than two children and inviting global tenders to develop eco-tourism. These proposed measures have invited opposition from all around. To discuss the implications of these announcements, Nithya Subramanian, Editor, ISAS spoke to Mr Shakti Sinha. Non-resident Senior Fellow at the institute. Mr Sinha is also, honorary director of two institutes, the Delhi School of Public Policy and Governance as well as the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Policy Research and International Studies.

Episode 100: The Return of the Taliban

With the Taliban taking over Kabul, Afghan politics and society will witness many challenges and changes. However the rapid pace of Taliban takeover was something that was not fathomed by either the United States or any other country. Discussing the run up to these developments, explaining the Taliban leadership structure and also the issues faced by the erstwhile Ashraf Ghani's presidency, Dr Imran Ahmed, Visiting Research Fellow at ISAS spoke to Dr Haroun Rahimi, Assistant Professor of Law, The American University of Afghanistan.

Episode 99: Subscribe, Unsubscribe?

The Indian government recently announced a new set of rules to hold social media companies and OTT platforms accountable for content. While the government believes that these will prevent the "misuse and abuse" of these platforms, others feel that they are aimed at policing the Big Tech companies. To discuss various facets of these new guidelines, Dr Karthik Nachiappan, Research Fellow at ISAS spoke to Dr Narayan Lakshman, Associate Editor, the Hindu and Prof Nalin Mehta, Dean, School of Modern Media, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies; and Advisor, Global University Systems. The two experts are also Non-Resident Senior Fellows at ISAS.

Episode 98: The Kashmir Issue

Territorial disputes over the Kashmir region between India and Pakistan have been going on since 1947. To discuss the current situation in the four major regions of Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh and Gilgit-Baltistan as well as the recent initiatives taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, we spoke to Mr Sanjeev Tripathi, former Chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's premier intelligence agency. Mr Tripathi not only provides a good background to the problem here but also makes some suggestions for the way forward.