‘A continent divided’
In 1969 WH Auden, the celebrated British poet published ‘Partition’, a poem which is a tragic reminder of when riots, rapes, atrocities, massacres and savagery raise high the bar of inhumanity in our land
In 1969 WH Auden, the celebrated British poet published ‘Partition’, a poem which is a tragic reminder of when riots, rapes, atrocities, massacres and savagery raise high the bar of inhumanity in our land
India’s strategic interests in South Asia have always been intricately linked with its relationship with Bangladesh. Over the past 15 years, the India-Bangladesh partnership flourished under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s leadership.
Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule ended on 5 August when she left her country for temporary refuge in India. The progeny of Bangladesh’s founding patriarch Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, she was once heralded as a transformative figure whose leadership ushered in an era of unprecedented economic prosperity for her nation.
The Fragile State Index has highlighted South Asia as a politically unstable region with the maximum number of failed states and acute political instability.
India remains a "strong" recipient of foreign investments as multinationals recognise it as an alternative manufacturing base for supply chains, according to the United Nations.
The report highlights how the pandemic has worsened the situation for children who are already suffering malnutrition in the region, bulk of which lives in India.
The report said that an even more troubling aspect of the pandemic has been the blaming of ethnic or religious communities for starting or fuelling the spread of COVID-19.
With the pandemic expanding rapidly across a region that contains a quarter of the world’s population, Lives Upended describes the disastrous immediate and longer-term consequences that the virus and the measures to curb it have had on 600 million children and the services they depend on.
The COVID-19 outbreak came at a time when India's economy was already slowing, due to persistent financial sector weaknesses, the report said.
Modi had then offered an initial contribution of $ 10 million from India to the fund which would be at the disposal of all SAARC countries -- India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives -- to confront the challenge posed by the pandemic.
