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Thursday, October 15, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
POLITICS-INDIA: Pro-Hindu Ruling Party Back to Hardline Politics
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced Monday a new Cabinet that reflects the increasingly hardline stance of his pro-Hindu, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the 23-party National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that rules the central government.SOUTH ASIA: Animal Sacrifices May Yet Improve Indo-Nepal Ties
-Animal sacrifices performed in India's ancient Hindu temples this week by Nepal's King Gyanendra may be one source of relief for the constitutional monarchy, torn by a bloody Maoist insurgency and a split in the caretaker Nepali Congress party.MEDIA-INDIA: Foreign Investment to Help Small Newspapers
A just-announced government decision to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in India's print media may help smaller newspapers, which have been groaning to get a toe-hold in an industry monopolised for half-a-century by a handful of big newspapers.MEDIA-INDIA: Foreign Investment to Help Small Newspapers
A just-announced government decision to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in India's print media may help smaller newspapers, which have been groaning to get a toe-hold in an industry monopolised for half-a-century by a handful of big newspapers.HEALTH-INDIA: Now Available: ‘Upper Class’ Blood
India's notorious social distinctions based on caste and class have spilled into the blood donation sector that even reputable blood banks now advertise blood that is guaranteed not to come from the dregs of society.INDIA: Untreated Sewage Turns Yamuna Into River of Death
Scientists see the phenomenon this week of thousands of dead fish washing up on the shores of the Yamuna river, that flows past the capital city and provides its 13 million inhabitants with 70 percent of their drinking water, as an ominous sign that the river had turned dangerously toxic from untreated sewage.POLITICS: In South Asia, Nobody Listens to Anti-Nuke Activists
No one on the subcontinent, called the world's most dangerous place, takes anti-nuclear activists seriously -- certainly not A P J Abdul Kalam, India's main candidate for president and architect of India's very own strategic defence initiative, which includes missiles, nuclear warheads and satellites.ECONOMY-INDIA: Privatisation to Ease Massive Power Theft
For years, the Indian capital's state-run power utility suspected that a smelter in a dense jungle of residents and industrial units here, called the Dilshad Garden area, was stealing unusually large amounts of electricity.SOUTH ASIA: Foreign Media Invited to Cover Kashmir, India Says
Having received international assurance that Pakistan would curb cross-border infiltrations into disputed Kashmir, India on Monday said it would allow foreign observers and international media to watch and report on crucial state assembly elections due in September in the Indian part of the territory.SOUTH ASIA: India’s Latest Missile is the Missile Man
India's latest missile in its image battle with its Islamic neighbour, Pakistan, is the 'Missile Man' himself -- A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the Muslim chief architect of India's missile and nuclear programmes.SOUTH ASIA: U.S. Technology not Troops To Monitor Kashmir Border
India on Friday accepted an offer from the United States to install ground sensors along the 700 kilometre-long Line of Control (LoC) to help monitor infiltration into Indian Kashmir, which Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has pledged to permanently end.POLITICS: Replay of Kargil in Indo-Pakistan De-escalation
When U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld lands in India this week, he will be arriving in a country grateful for having extricated it from the brink of a possible nuclear war with Pakistan for the second time in three years.DEVELOPMENT: India to Ditch Farmers for Big Firms – Activists
Food security activists who campaigned for years to get India's farmer-friendly Plant Varieties Protection Act passed last year are aghast at the government's attempt to reverse the gains achieved by that law.ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Dam Activists Suffer Another Setback
Environmental activists have failed to secure a court order to halt a further increase in the height of a controversial dam across the Narmada river in central India and prevent the submergence of pristine forests and land which supports some 10,000 tribal and peasant families.SOUTH ASIA: Opinion Poll on Kashmir Weakens Pakistan’s Case
The newly released results of an independent opinion poll indicating that that less than six percent of people in Indian Kashmir would, given a choice, opt to join Pakistan is good news for India, which plans to hold elections there in September.POLITICS-INDIA: Exodus of Foreigners Sparks Nuclear War Panic
As the United Nations and major diplomatic missions pack off their non-essential staff and families and advise their citizens to leave fearing a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan, the reality of the situation is beginning to sink into residents of the national capital.SOUTH ASIA: India Sees Early Win in Diplomatic War
India is basking what it sees as an early diplomatic win over Pakistan in their battle to win international approval, after visiting British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw indicated Wednesday that the onus of defusing the military standoff between the nuclear-armed neighbours rests with Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.SOUTH ASIA: Missile Tests Raise Pakistan-North Korea Link
Pakistan's missile tests over the weekend have provided India with another opportunity to harp on its neighbour's "clandestine" acquisition of nuclear and missile technology from North Korea.SOUTH ASIA: Indian Govt under Pressure to Talk to Pakistan
The Indian government of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee came under pressure Friday from domestic critics as well as from foreign governments to open dialogue with Pakistan and avert a war that could lead to a nuclear exchange between the South Asian neighbours.INDIA: Killing of Moderate Leader Setback for Peace in Kashmir
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee indicated Wednesday that his country had exhausted efforts at peace with neighbouring Pakistan and was being forced to fight a "decisive battle" to settle the dispute over Kashmir, where he is on the second day of a three-day tour.SOUTH ASIA: India,Pakistan May Fight Millennium’s First Water War
Nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan may get to fight the millennium's first war over water, if New Delhi abrogates the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty as part of punitive diplomatic and economic measures in response to continued suicide strikes allegedly carried out with Islamabad's blessing.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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