COMMENTARIES
  • Pakistan's Economy-I: Inherent Problems
    D Suba Chandran    ·   28 Jan, 2000    ·    #316    ·    Commentary    
    Pakistan ’s economy was in total chaos when the military regime took over power in October. The country is heavily dependent on foreign loans to meet its deficit repayment obligations, with 56 percent of the budget going towards debt ...
  • Madrassas in Pakistan - II: Breedinground for Islamic Militants?
    D Suba Chandran    ·   25 Jan, 2000    ·    #315    ·    Commentary    
    Madrassas in Pakistan are fundamentalist institutions; they are breeding grounds for Islamic terrorists to wage jihad in Kashmir and other parts of the world; they provide weapons and training to the jihadis and are independent of ...
  • Madrassas in Pakistan –I: Madrassas: A brief overview
    D Suba Chandran    ·   25 Jan, 2000    ·    #314    ·    Commentary    
    What is a madrassa? What is its history? What role does it play in Pakistani society and polity? What is taught in its curriculum? How many madrassas are there in Pakistan ? How are they funded? Do they constitute a monolithic entity? These...
  • Karmapa in India- Implications for the Tibetan Movement
    Sonika Gupta    ·   25 Jan, 2000    ·    #312    ·    Commentary    
    The Karmapa Lama’s arrival in India has generated debate on Sino-Indian relations. However, the impact of his continued presence in India on the Tibetan movement has been ignored. Tibet has been a contentious issue in...
  • GDP and Defence Expenditure in India
    Wg.Cdr. NK Pant (Retd.)    ·   24 Jan, 2000    ·    #311    ·    Commentary    
    The annual budgetary exercise is full swing these days. The defence minister George Fernandes has  advocated raising defence allocations from 2.3 to 3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). The term signifies the total value of goods and s...
  • The Ganges Water Sharing Treaty: Genesis & Significance
    Alok Kumar Gupta    ·   24 Jan, 2000    ·    #310    ·    Commentary    
    The 1996 Indo-Bangladesh water sharing treaty has opened a new gateway for fruitful bilateral cooperation. India and Bangladesh share 54 trans-boundary rivers that drain through Bangladesh of which the Ganges is hig...
  • SAARC – Impediments to Regional Cooperation
    Rahul Arun    ·   24 Jan, 2000    ·    #309    ·    Commentary    
    South Asia remains a region divided – divided between the hopes of rich and the despair of the poor. A region where the richest one fifth earns almost 40% of the income and the poorest 1/5th makes do with less than 10%. It’s a re...
  • The Hijacking and After
       ·   18 Jan, 2000    ·    #308    ·    Commentary    
    Speakers: Brig. B. D. Mishra, formerly with the National Security Guard (NSG)     Mr. Anand Verma former Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat     Maj. Gen. Ramesh Chopra     Chairma...
  • Hijacking Exposes India as a Weak Soft State
    Anand Verma    ·   14 Jan, 2000    ·    #307    ·    Commentary    
    The core question is whether the Govt. decision to release three militants in exchange for the freedom of 160 hostages was in the supreme national interests. Concomitant with that is the need for scrutiny of the methodology of the process in reach...
  • The Hijacking of IC-814
    PR Chari    ·   14 Feb, 2000    ·    #306    ·    Commentary    
    The one-week ordeal of the hostages, starting on Christmas Eve and concluding on New Year's Eve, ended with their exchange for three captured militants. Its reverberations, however, will be heard for a long time. The BJP's boast of makin...
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