By Mohan Seneviratne* COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 16 January 2025 (IDN) — Water is at the centre of economic and social development. It influences whether communities are healthy places to live, whether farmers can grow food and underpins natural ecosystems. Moreover, humans experience Climate Change through water be it floods, droughts, cyclones or tsunamis. Sri […]
Empowering Indian Street Vendors to Transition from Single-use Plastics
By Satyarupa Shekhar and Om Prakash Singh* NEW DELHI | 14 December 2024 (IDN) — With the intergovernmental negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty now over, it is opportune to discuss India’s approach to plastic pollution. The single-use plastic ban (SUP ban) by the Indian government came into effect from 1 July 2022. What the country needed […]
Sri Lanka: The IMF’s Remarkable Timing and a President’s Mandate for Debt Justice
By Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake* COLOMBO | 30 November 2024 (IDN) — At Annual Meetings in Washington in October, International Monetary Fund head Kristalina Georgieva claimed Sri Lanka as a debt restructuring ‘success’ story.[i] Left unsaid was that Sri Lanka’s external debt had ballooned from $26 billion to a purported whopping $100 billion during two years of […]
Behind a Surge in India-Russia Economic Relations
By Rajoli Siddharth Jayaprakash* NEW DELHI | 16 November 2024 (IDN) — In the past decade, the core drivers of India-Russia relations have begun shifting. The traditionally dominant military-technical partnership has declined, with India buying less Russian weapons, technology and military platforms. The economic pillar stagnated as military dealings slowed, with bilateral trade hovering around […]
Sri Lanka: Daunting Foreign Policy Options for a New Administration — Part 1
By Dr Palitha Kohona Former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and more recently, Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 6 November 2024 (IDN) — In the nineteenth century, the GREAT GAME was played by two global powers among the soaring peaks and stunning valleys of […]
India-China Historic Agreement Brings Hope for Global Harmony
By Bhikkhu Sanghasena* LEH, Ladakh, India | 4 November 2024 (IDN) — It is with immense joy and relief that we welcome the long-anticipated news: the two great nations of Asia—India and China—have finally reached an agreement on military disengagement along their disputed border. This significant announcement brings hope to all those who have been […]
From Slave to Freedom Fighter
By Santosh Dahit KATHMANDU | 24 October 2024 (IDN) — Former bonded child worker and anti-slavery activist Urmila Chaudhary from Nepal is among recipients of this year’s Global Anti-Racism Champions Award given out by the US Department of State. The ceremony was on 21 October in Washington DC and the ‘Global Anti-Racism Champions Award’ was […]
Championing a Supportive Culture for Women’s Political Leadership in Sri Lanka
By Shihana Mohamed NEW YORK | 3 October 2024 (IDN) — On September 23, 2024, Sri Lanka witnessed a historic moment as Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) was sworn in as the nation’s president. This marked the first time since Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948 that voters elected a candidate outside the country’s traditional ruling […]
India To Host the World Music Peace Concert on UN Day 2024 in New Delhi
By Dr. Mohan Bhulanie* NEW DELHI | 3 October 2024 (IDN) — From Woodstock, Knebworth, Live Aid to the Global Citizen Festival to end poverty, music has united people to bring hope and harmony. It is also a wonderful medium to raise awareness about the noble ideals of the United Nations in a powerful and […]
From the Bullet to the Ballot — Can AKD become the Sri Lankan Lee Kuan Yew?
By Seevali Abeysekera* LONDON | 27 September 2024 (IDN) — All my previous posts pertaining to Sri Lankan politics written over the last decade or so have had one primary theme, namely that Sri Lankan politics was merely an extension of a culture based on false values which had created and promoted inept, incompetent and […]