By Mahendra Ved, LOKMARG MUMBAI (IDN) — Buzkashi, the national game of the people of Afghanistan, has horsemen competing to possess the headless body of a goat. In one of the world’s most enduring ironies, the country has itself become the goat, being dragged and tossed around. A horrified world watches as an elected government […]
Will India Return to The Path Envisaged by The Freedom Movement?
Musings on 75th Year of Independence Viewpoint by Dr Ram Puniyani This article is the 16th in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. The writer is a former professor of biomedical engineering and former senior medical officer affiliated with the Indian Institute of […]
India Failed to Fulfil Its Obligations but Wants Sri Lanka to ‘Fully Implement’ 13th Constitutional Amendment
Viewpoint By Sugeeswara Senadhira With increasing Chinese influence in Sri Lanka, the Indian government is lately trying to use Sri Lanka’s “non-implementation” of the 13th amendment to the constitution to provide more autonomy to Tamil areas of the island as agreed 34 years ago, in the infamous Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement, to interfere in Sri Lanka’s […]
Afghanistan Faces Funding Shortfall Amid Deepening Humanitarian Crisis
By Radwan Jakeen NEW YORK (IDN) — Nearly 18 million Afghans or half the population of the South Asian country require assistance. A third of the country is malnourished, while half of all children under five are experiencing acute malnutrition. In view of this critical situation, Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, […]
The Opposition in India Should Focus on Restoration of Democracy
Viewpoint by Dr Ram Puniyani This article is the 14th in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. The writer is a former professor of biomedical engineering and former senior medical officer affiliated with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (now Mumbai) and meanwhile […]
Indian Univ. Fight against the Pandemic Adopts ‘Communication from Within’ Strategy
By Moumita Maji* SANTINIKETAN, India (IDN) — Different units of Visva-Bharati University have come together since the onset of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, in an attempt to fight the virus and ensure the safety of the community with minimum expenses but maximum courage. The home-grown strategy developed is unique with an emphasis […]
DOUBLE TAKE: Nepal Falls Back into Familiar Rut
Viewpoint by Shastri Ramachandran * NEW DELHI (IDN) — When K P Sharma Oli became Nepal’s Prime Minister for a third time on May 13, 2021, he was a much-diminished political figure from the one who rode to office at the head of a massive mandate in February 2018. He had then represented new hopes […]
Mounting Atrocities Against Dalits Across India
India is witnessing a worrying decline in the social status of the Dalits, coupled with an economic decline. This makes the marginalised groups even more vulnerable. Viewpoint by Dr Ram Puniyani This article is the 13th in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. […]
Covid-ravaged India Hard Put to Cope with the Crisis
By Shastri Ramachandaran* There is no dearth of novels and films that conjure up images of a dystopia of the dead and the dying. The reality in India though is indescribably grimmer than anything imagined or picturised in fiction or films. Not even the most authentic and devastating accounts of the plague and Spanish flu […]
A Story of Nightmare for Patients in India’s Government-Run COVID-19 Hospital
By Tarique Anwar This report was first published in News Click on May 8, 2021. NEW DELHI (IDN) — The healthcare staff at Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital in Delhi frantically clear the facility of bodies. One of the biggest government-run COVID-19 hospitals in the national capital, it is swamped by patients, triggering chaotic situations […]