South Asia Chat

Episode 54: Germany’s Indo-Pacific Strategy and its Way Forward

Germany’s Indo-Pacific strategy unambiguously promises greater responsibility and engagement in Asia, including intensified military cooperation and deployments, defence diplomacy and participation in regional multilateralism particularly ASEAN-led forums. The shift in Germany’s strategy is expected to strengthen the EU’s role in the Indo-Pacific as more countries in the region come out in support. To discuss the internal factors that led to the change, new areas of cooperation with India and the role of China, we spoke to Dr Garima Mohan, a fellow in the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund (GMF) of the United States where she leads the work on India and heads the India Trilateral Forum. Prior to joining GMF, she was the acting team leader and coordinator for the EU’s Asia-Pacific Research and Advice Network (APRAN), which supports EU policymakers on issues concerning the Asia-Pacific. She also led the Global Orders program at the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin. Garima holds a PhD from the Freie Universität Berlin and received her master’s degree from the London School of Economics.

Episode 53: Navigating Sri Lanka’s Foreign Policy

Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa emphasised on an equidistant policy soon after being elected in 2019. While China is Sri Lanka’s largest economic partner, the latter recognises India to be an important neighbour. However, as a small state, it is concerned about the power competition in the Indian Ocean. With the incoming of a new cabinet, how will the island nation navigate the challenges? Will there be any major departures from the past policies? To shed light on the direction of Sri Lanka’s foreign policy, we hosted the current Foreign Secretary of Sri Lanka, Admiral Prof Jayanath Colombage. Admiral Colombage served the Sri Lanka Navy for 36 years, was its 18th Commander and was appointed Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy in 2012. At the time of his appointment as Foreign Secretary, he was the Additional Secretary to the President on Foreign Relations and the Director General of the Institute of National Security Studies Sri Lanka (INSSSL).

Episode 52: The Big Tech Affair in India

India has witnessed huge developments in the technology space in the recent past. First, it welcomed investments from American tech companies and now is witnessing collaborations between US and Indian firms such as Facebook and Reliance Jio. However, there are challenges that come with these. Recently, Facebook has come under heavy scrutiny in India for not acting against hate-posts targeting one of the minority groups in India. This has opened debates about the intervening role of big tech companies in democracy. Besides, with the investments, come other concerns regarding data privacy and market monopolisation. To understand the role of big tech companies, Karthik Nachiappan, a Research Fellow at ISAS, spoke to Urvashi Aneja, the founder of Tandem Research. Aneja’s recent report studies the influence these big tech companies wield on the Indian markets, civil society, and the policy pathways. 

Episode 51: Abraham Accord and Pakistan’s Role in the Muslim World

The peace agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, also known as Abraham Accord, seeks to normalise relations between the two countries. The deal is historic as it is the first Gulf country and the third Arab country to have full diplomatic relations with Israel. However, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan stated his government would not recognise Israel until the Palestinians are given their own state. At the same time, the country’s army chief, General Bajwa visited Saudi Arabia after Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi criticised the OIC for not denouncing India's action in Kashmir. Meanwhile, as China’s stakes in the Muslim world is growing, it is becoming an important partner for Beijing. To get insights on these developments, we spoke to Ambassador Riaz Khokhar, a distinguished diplomat and a former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan (2002-2005). He has held senior appointments in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, besides representing Pakistan in some of the most important capitals in the world including the US, China, India, and Bangladesh.

Episode 50: India and its engagement in the Indo-Pacific

In recent times, New Delhi has started envisaging a bigger role for India in the Indo-Pacific region. This strategic shift coincides with the rise of China in the Indian Ocean ring. While the Indian partnerships in this region can be broadly classified into three groups – the Quad, ASEAN and Western Indian Ocean, the government believes that these new partnerships should be primarily based on common interests. Darshana M Baruah, non-resident scholar with the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and visiting fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Tokyo shares her views on India's engagement with this region.

Episode 49: Myths and Realities of Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple

The Supreme Court of India recently upheld the rights of the Travancore royal family in the management of the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, overturning an earlier verdict of the Kerala High Court. The latter had directed the state government to set up a trust that would take control of the administration and assets of the temple as the present king could not automatically step into the shoes of the last ruler and claim management rights over it. This has led to legal, religious and political debates, including demands for liberating other temples in southern India. Mr Vinod Rai, Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow at ISAS joins us in this episode to share his insights on the various implications of this judgment and also the myths surrounding the treasure in the Vault B of the temple.

Episode 48: Future of Artificial Intelligence - Impact on the Indian Economy

India is on the brink of tremendous opportunity for economic progress and digital transformation. Over the last several years, it has built digital highways to bring equitable access of technology. To assess the digital transformation and new technologies such as Aritficial intelligence’s (AI) impact on the manufacturing industry, e-commerce and other sectors, we spoke to Dr Rajat Kathuria and Mansi Kedia, who recently published a report on the implications of AI on the Indian Economy. The analysis in the report is based on in-depth interviews with 13 AI companies in India that are developing applications for 10 different sectors including law enforcement, healthcare, banking and finance, agriculture and manufacturing. In terms of the AI used, the report finds machine learning and its subsets featuring prominently across organisations building and providing AI-based services. Here is the link to the report- http://icrier.org/pdf/Implications_of_AI_on_the_Indian_Economy.pdf

Episode 47: China-Iran Deal - What’s the way forward for India ?

A proposed US$400 billion economic and security cooperation deal between China and Iran has raised concerns for India and the United States. India has been involved in the development of the Chabahar port to gain strategic inroads into Central Asia while the United States has imposed sanctions on it in response to the Iranian nuclear programme and its support to terrorist groups. Will the proposed partnership between China and Iran impact India’s own position in the region and what lies ahead? To find out more on this, we spoke to Sumitha N Kutty, an Associate Research Fellow with the South Asia Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her research focuses on India’s foreign and security policies across the Indo-Pacific region with special interest in the Middle East.

Episode 46: Sri Lanka- Singapore Mark 50 Years of Diplomatic Relations

Sri Lanka and Singapore mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties on 27 July 2020. The two countries share a long history and, over time, trade and economics have become central to their bilateral relations. We spoke to the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Singapore, Sashikala Premawardhane, to understand how this relationship has evolved and what lies ahead.

Episode 45: Can Russia Play a Constructive Role in Sino-India Rivalry ?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently hosted the Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting, the first opportunity for External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for face-time with each other over videoconference amidst the border de-escalation process. Russia is said to have a “special relationship” with India as it is one of the key weapons supplier to the country. Last year, Russia also upgraded its relationship with China which is now dubbed as a “comprehensive strategic partnership”. Given that Russia is close to both India and China, what role can it potentially play in the de-escalation process and in the larger ties between the two neighbours in the Indian subcontinent? We spoke to Nandan Unnikrishnan, a Distinguished Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi with expertise in Russia and Eurasia. Unnikrishnan began his career as a journalist with the Press Trust of India (PTI). He was deputed by PTI to the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) and did a three-year stint in Moscow as its Bureau Chief, before moving to Business India’s Television Channel.