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Saturday, October 17, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
DEVELOPMENT: Technology is Boon and Bane for South Asians
A new United Nations report paints technology as both boon and bane for South Asia's 1.4 billion people, as critics begin to ask about the real costs of the information technology boom in countries Iike India.POLITICS-INDIA: Easier Entry for Pakistanis Boosts Summit Atmosphere
India's announcement Monday of plans to open visa facilities at checkposts along the Line of Control (LoC) that runs through disputed Kashmir is the latest move aimed at building confidence with Pakistan ahead of a bilateral summit in a week's time.ENERGY-SOUTH ASIA: Gas Pipelines May Shorten Route to Peace
Natural gas pipelines may yet succeed in bringing peace and prosperity to South Asia, bedeviled by mistrust and suspicion among neighbours that has hampered the economic growth of the region.HEALTH-INDIA: U.N. Study Links Drug Abuse to Unemployment
A new United Nations-sponsored report reveals unemployment in India's sprawling national capital as a major factor in the city's emergence as an hub for international trafficking in heroin and other narcotics.POLITICS-INDIA: Southern State Defies Central Authority
The dramatic weekend arrests of two key members of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet in southern Tamil Nadu state has sparked off a major constitutional crisis impinging on centre-state relations in India's federal polity.TRANSPORT-INDIA: Ageing Tracks, Bridges Threaten Rail Safety
Traffic flow on India's ageing railways may be increasing at the cost of safety, as shown by last week's train tragedy that saw a 140-year-old bridge give way under a speeding express in southern Kerala state.POLITICS-INDIA: Government Gets Ultimatum on Naga Ceasefire
Politicians from north-eastern Manipur state have given Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee a Jul. 31 deadline to withdraw a ceasefire he offered to Naga tribal militants in the volatile state 10 days ago.ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Activists Thwart GM Crop Approval
Concerted campaigning by vigilant international activists have thwarted this week approval for commercial production of genetically modified (GM) cotton in India, but the victory may be short-lived.SOUTH ASIA: Ahead of Summit, No More ‘Megaphone Diplomacy’ Over Kashmir
India and Pakistan's agreement to avoid any more "megaphone diplomacy" before a mid-July summit, expected to address their long-standing dispute over Kashmir, sets a better tone for the high-level meeting.POLITICS-INDIA: Violence Marks New Ceasefire With Tribals
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's coalition government is under mounting pressure to revoke the extension of a ceasefire with separatist Naga tribals to areas outside Nagaland state in India's turbulent northeast./UPDATE/POLITICS-INDIA: Truce with Naga Leaders Means Peace, For Now
India's turbulent north-east was assured another year of peace following an agreement in Thailand Thursday between Naga tribal leaders seeking a separate homeland and government representatives, to extend a four-year-old ceasefire.POLITICS-INDIA: Truce with Naga Leaders Means Peace, For Now
India's turbulent north-east was assured another year of peace following an agreement in Bangkok Thursday between Naga tribal leaders who are seeking a separate homeland and government representatives, to extend a four-year-old ceasefire.ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Tough Action Needed vs Pesticide Use, Exports
"Think Green," says a recent government advertisement in major Indian dailies, exhorting people in the national capital to collect and plant trees saplings distributed free of cost./ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-INDIA: Government Reinvents Gandhi’s Spinning Wheel
The humble spinning wheel that Mahatma Gandhi used to spin 'khadi' or handspun cotton as a symbol of resistance to British imperialism has come full circle.DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Open Markets Let Imported GM Food in –Critics
Pressured by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to open its markets to imported food items starting April, India is now seeing genetically modified (GM) processed foods come in as well.POLITICS-SOUTH ASIA: Wary India Watches Nepal Drama in Silence
By right, the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in India should have hit it off with the world's only Hindu kingdom, Nepal, which is now struggling to recover from the massacre of its royal family.HEALTH-INDIA: HIV Scare Can Be More Deadly Than Virus Itself
Medical tests conducted last year proved conclusively that Kaushalya, 29, did not have HIV. But by then the virus had destroyed her social life and forced her to abort her child.POLITICS-INDIA: Law on Reporting Foreigners to Police Gets Flak
Widespread criticism of a law requiring Indians to inform police of foreigners staying at their residences or premises for more than 24 hours has forced the interior ministry to look for ways to tone down the rule.SOUTH ASIA: ‘Self-determination’ for Kashmir Still Far Away
As India and Pakistan wrangle over whether or how the dispute over Kashmir would figure in their first summit since Feb 1999, there is little hope of self- determination for the people of the violence-blighted valley.HEALTH-INDIA: Anger Grows at UNICEF-funded HIV/AIDS Study
The portrayal of an Indian caste as being inherently given to prostitution, in a government report on HIV/AIDS funded by the United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF), has drawn condemnation from human rights and women's groups.SOUTH ASIA: Latest Peace Initiative Runs into Snags
India's plans to invite Pakistan's military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf for talks on disputed Kashmir have met an enthusiastic response, but prospects for a negotiated solution to the long-simmering dispute remain dim.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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