South Asia

About Centre

South Asia is one of the main areas of research focus at IDSA. The region has been going through a period of turmoil over the last few years. Definitive steps have been taken in the recent past towards the establishment of democratic governments in the region. Given the importance of developments in the region for Indian security, experts at IDSA keenly watch and analyse unfolding developments in each South Asian country.

Two projects that are currently under progress are ‘Developments in Pakistan’ and ‘Pakistan Occupied Kashmir’. In addition, individual scholars are engaged in researching various security related aspects pertaining to South Asian countries. The Centre has established bilateral institutional relations with leading think tanks in the region and proposes to undertake joint studies.

Minutes of South Asia Centre Meetings

Members:

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Ashok K. Behuria Senior Fellow
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Smruti S. Pattanaik Research Fellow (SS)
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Vishal Chandra Research Fellow
Priyanka Singh Associate Fellow
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Gulbin Sultana Associate Fellow
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Ashish Shukla Associate Fellow
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Nazir Ahmad Mir Research Assistant- Pak Digest
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Zainab Akhter Research Assistant– Pak Digest
Afroz Khan Research Assistant
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Sneha M Research Analyst

No posts of Books and Monograph.

Nepal–India Cooperation in River Water Management

There is a perception in certain quarters that Nepal was not given due share in the three major water deals between Nepal and India, namely the Kosi Agreement, the Gandak Treaty and the Mahakali Treaty. However, these projects were found to be mutually advantageous to both Nepal and India. If there was any shortcoming in the Kosi Agreement or the Gandak Treaty, it was due to the lack of experience on the part of India. As and when the need was felt, India reciprocated the Nepalese sentiments by way of making revisions in the treaty/agreement.

Strategic Importance of Radio Kashmir in Countering Pakistan’s War of Words against India

Like any other government-owned media institution, Radio Kashmir has historically been entrusted with a mission to safeguard the territorial integrity of India and help in guarding its vital strategic interests. It acts as an agency that bridges the gap between the government and the people and creates a favourable opinion of India as a strong, modern and secular democracy in a region where fundamentalism and military ambitions have created rogue states.

India: A Sacred Geography by Diana L. Eck : Harmony, Random House, New York, 2012, 559 pp., Rs 599, ISBN 978-0-385-34708-2

India: A Sacred Geography by Diana L. Eck is an important contribution to the literature on the processes that have contributed to imagining India long before the age of the nation state. Eck traces the ‘prehistory’ of the idea of India, locating it in the geographical nature of Hindu spiritual practice and pilgrimage.

Partition of History in Textbooks in Pakistan: Implications of Selective Memory and Forgetting

This article seeks to study the post-partition and especially post-1971 experimentation with history writing in Pakistan and focuses on how the revisiting of the partition has led to a reinvention of history by the selective contraction, misinterpretation and even omission of certain periods believed to be detrimental to the process of nation building in Pakistan. The article seeks to selectively apply the Hegelian approach and make a case for a common history, which it is hoped will facilitate better relations and greater mutual understanding between the nations of the sub-continent.

Can Robust Bilateral Cooperation on Common Rivers between Bangladesh and India Enhance Multilateral Cooperation on Water Security in South Asia?

The Himalayan river system, which is made up of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers, has a combined drainage area that covers the countries of China, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The basin of the Indus river, which originates in the Tibetan plateau, is the lifeline of regions in China, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.

The Promise of Involvement: Asia in the Arctic

In late 2012, the first liquefied natural gas tanker to sail through the Northern Sea Route reached its destination in Japan, carrying gas from a Euro–Arctic offshore field. Only months earlier, a Korean-owned naval architecture and engineering company had won the contract for designing the long-awaited new icebreaker for Canada's coast guard, 1 and China had completed its fifth Arctic marine survey from its own ice-capable research vessel.

Majoritarian State and the Marginalised Minorities: The Hindus in Bangladesh

The problem confronting the Hindu minority in Bangladesh is analysed in this article within the framework of a majoritarian state, which embodies the socio-cultural ethos of the majority community in its effort to establish itself as a nation state with a unique history. Such a state by its very nature marginalises the minorities, who are considered unequal in the construction of the ‘nation state’ narrative even though constitutionally they enjoy equality as citizens.

Trilateral Security Cooperation: Nepal’s New Foreign Policy

Nepal's King Prithvi Narayan Shah's famous ‘Yam between two boulders’ quote reflects the great understanding of Nepal's security dilemma, even as far back as the 18th century. 1 This has remained a cornerstone of Nepal's foreign policy to date, primarily driven by Nepal's geographic location. 2 Shah understood well that Nepal would always remain insecure vis-à-vis its powerful neighbours, that is, China and India, and urged the need to keep refining, adapting and adjusting Nepal's foreign policy in order to deal with its powerful regional neighbours.