South Asia

Photo: Seventy-eight-year-old Maloncho Begum received a Disabled Friendly Latrine from GUK and UNICEF under the WASH & Child Protection-Emergency Flood Response Project. Noyon, her daughter, helps her to use the latrine facilities (Bangladesh, 2021). Credit: Bashir Ahmed Sujan.

Realising Safe Cities for Sanitation Workers in India

By Sameer Unhale, Dr Simi Mehta, Dr Arjun Kumar and Kushgara Khatri

NEW DELHI (IDN) — World Toilet Day is held every year on November 19. It has been an annual United Nations observance since 2013, which celebrates toilets and raises awareness of the 3.6 billion people living without access to safely managed sanitation.

It is about taking action to tackle the global sanitation crisis and achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: Water and Sanitation for All. SDG 6.2 is the world’s promise to ensure safe toilets for all by 2030. This year, the theme is "Let’s make the invisible visible."

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 19 November 2022

Photo: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (left) and Sr Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Source: Asian Affairs (London)

Current Political Landscapes in Britain & Sri Lanka: Parallels and Contrasts

This article was issued by Asian Affairs (London).

Viewpoint by Neville de Silva*

LONDON (IDN) — They may be thousands of kilometres apart, but there is a common thread that binds Britain’s first-ever prime minister of Indian origin and of the Hindu faith and Sri Lanka’s Buddhist president installed in office less than three months ago.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 06 November 2022

Photo: H.H. Param Pujya Swami Adrishya Kadsiddeshwar Ji of Kaneri Math (right) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India.

Panch Mahabhoot, Climate Change and UN SDGs

Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S.

The writer is an ex-diplomat and Special Adviser for Asia & Africa of ALCAP, the Latin American Parliamentary Association of Audio-Visual Communication. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN InDepth News.

NEW DELHI (IDN) — Bad news first. The world is almost on the edge of an irreversible climate breakdown notes the UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report 2022.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 02 November 2022

Image source: Impact and Policy Research Institute.

India: Universal Eye Health & Impact of COVID-19

By Arjun Kumar, Anshula Mehta, Simi Mehta and Kuldeep Singh

NEW DELHI (IDN) — Vision loss and impairment affects more than how people see; it has implications for inequities in employment, healthcare access, and income. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it has been estimated that 80% of vision loss is preventable or treatable. Yet, many populations do not have access to good-quality, affordable eye care.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 20 October 2022

Photo: Subhash Chandra Bose on a 1964 stamp of India. Wikimedia Commons.

India: Misrepresenting Subhash Chandra Bose's Philosophy

Viewpoint by Dr Ram Puniyani

This article is the 23rd 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, a social activist and commentator.

: Suresh Jaura; OPINION; 22 September 2022

Photo: (From Left to Right) Rishi Sunak, former Indian PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, UK PM Liz Truss. Credit: WION Web Team.

Truss, Sunak and Vajpayee: Devil is in the Detail

By Shastri Ramachandran

NEW DELHI (IDN) — When it comes to well-known public figures, it is the little-known tidbits about them that are interesting.

How and why Rishi Sunak lost to Liz Truss in the race to become UK’s Prime Minister is no big mystery. It is because the cow could not help Sunak. Had he set about winning over a majority of the 160,000 Conservative Party voters the way he had rallied the Tory Members of Parliament, he might well have succeeded in getting to No. 10 Downing Street.

: Shastri Ramachandaran; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 18 September 2022

China and India Slug it out in Colombo

By Shastri Ramachandran

NEW DELHI (IDN) — Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar are all contested sites with both Beijing and New Delhi competing for influence in these countries. There can be no denying the geopolitics involved in bilateral relations in the region. Time was when most of the South Asian nations were conceded to be in “India’s zone of influence”.

: Shastri Ramachandaran; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 18 September 2022

Pakistan and the Fight for Climate Justice

Viewpoint by Jeffrey D. Sachs

This article was published in Project Syndicate and is being republished with the author's permission.

NEW YORK (IDN) — Around the world, 2022 has been a year of climate catastrophes, including droughts, floods, mega-fires, typhoons, and more. Among the hardest-hit countries is Pakistan. With torrential monsoon rainfall almost 190% above its 30-year average, extraordinary flooding has submerged one-third of the country and killed 1,400 people so far. But make no mistake: this is not only a “natural disaster”; rather, it is also the result of malfeasance for which high-income countries must bear major financial responsibility.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 16 September 2022

Photo: Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. (right) with K.N. Govindacharya (left)

Eco-Centric Development, SDGs, and 'Ganga Samvad Yatra'

Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S.

The writer is an ex-diplomat and Special Adviser for Asia & Africa of ALCAP, the Latin American Parliamentary Association of Audio-Visual Communication. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN InDepth News.

NEW DELHI (IDN) — Those who have seen the 1969 movie Easy Rider must have reflected on the meaning of The Ballad of Easy Rider, a beautiful elegy that evokes the subconscious bond a man shares with rivers and his very existence.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 31 August 2022

Photo: BlackRock Headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City (cropped from top). CC BY-SA 3.0

Privatizing Sri Lanka ex-ante IMF Bailout of BlackRock

India's Adani Greenwash in Mannar and Pooneryn

Viewpoint by Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

COLOMBO (IDN) — The Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, was rocked again by massive protests against austerity measures imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which have been taking place since July 2022. Structural reforms with austerity have resulted in soaring inflation, currency depreciation, poverty and inequality that is eroding Argentine society and economy while enabling bail-out of private lenders and vulture funds like BlackRock.