PHOTO-2019-12-11-14-25-49 Courtesy: Gateway House
12 December 2019

Kartarpur: a reunion of bliss

Kartarpur is an exemplary achievement of bilateral discussion over two decades. For the faithful, it is an emotional reconnection with the life of Guru Nanak, now made into a grand memorial. For others, on both sides of the border, it is a neutral place where they can renew contact with long-lost relatives. The author, who visited Kartarpur a month after its inauguration, was witness to the joy and aura of collective worship

IMG_9756 Courtesy: Gateway House
12 December 2019

Bombay’s Pathans: living by a code

Bombay’s Pathan community was most visible from the 19th century until India’s partition in 1947. Taking to hard labour with a natural ease, they worked mostly in mills and as security staff. Others went into business. Their numbers have thinned now, but they have retained their cultural identity, holding fast to feudal codes of conduct

shutterstock_233927803 Courtesy: Shutterstock
28 November 2019

Strengthening democracy in Bangladesh

Bangladesh fulfills an important stabilising role in South Asia. It has been able to perform this function in the last decade because of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s efforts to fortify the domestic scenario by first cracking down on terror outfits – and their political fronts. The clean-up was necessary, but a robust Opposition and democratic institutions need to be nourished too

48858480898_d65cd12503_c Courtesy: MEA/Flickr
17 October 2019

Bangladesh, India’s exemplary neighbour

Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India earlier this month, resulting in seven new agreements, showed the strength of the mutual relationship. But both governments need to address some rankling issues: the sharing of the Teesta waters, the Rohingya problem and repatriation of the illegal people from Assam

shutterstock_83614519 Courtesy: Shutterstock
10 October 2019

Climate engineering vs. geoengineering

The United Nations’ Paris Agreement of 2015 had nations committing to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to slow the rise in global temperatures. But terrestrial geoengineering – or the use of “carbon capture” technologies and developing carbon sinks to remove gases already in the atmosphere – and atmospheric climate engineering are technologies which also seek to slow global warming