Category South Asia Studies Center

Remembering Ambedkar: His enduring vision and India’s constitutional journey

The ideas and ideals of Babasaheb, whose birth anniversary is today, on April 14, still guide and motivate us. But there’s another special date to remember — January 26, the day we adopted the Constitution in 1950. This year, our Constitution turned 75. Whenever we find ourselves at the crossroads of a constitutional dilemma, we find ourselves turning to the Constituent Assembly debates and the words of Babasaheb, hoping that they will guide us in resolving not only our constitutional quandary but also our moral and social ones.

Advancing Free Trade Through AITIGA Reforms

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) was signed and entered into force on January 1, 2010. The AITIGA (also known as ASEAN-India FTA) was a culmination of a series of efforts by both ASEAN member-States and India to ameliorate their ties. After completing a decade of the AITIGA in 2019, ASEAN and India mutually decided to review the agreement through consultations. While attending the 20th ASEAN-India Summit in 2022 at Jakarta, the Indian Prime Minister emphasised the need to complete the AITIGA in a time-bound manner.

PM Oli’s China Visit: Optics Overshadow Substance

High in optics and but low in content, Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s visit to China this week sends signals of balancing India. For the past decade, China has been upping the ante in Kathmandu with close political tie-ups between the communist parties, promises for infrastructure projects, trade, tourism and others.

The Shadow of Modi and Xi: A Defining Element of the Summit

This week has been one of the most eventful in recent times in the chronicles of Indian diplomacy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping signalled their intent to defuse tensions with their meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia. This development has been preceded by South Block announcing that both sides had agreed to patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Shifting Focus: Jaishankar Signals Pakistan’s Reduced Role in India’s Strategic Priorities

After generating days of excitement in the media, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit finally concluded with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar making a quick visit to Islamabad. For all the speculation about India and Pakistan, in the end, what the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of the SCO will likely be remembered for is perhaps Jaishankar's sunglasses. In this age of intense social media scrutiny, a small clip, now viral, of Jaishankar sporting his sunglasses in style became symbolic of India's confidence in dealing with Pakistan. Hilarious though this might seem, all that is left of Pakistan in Indian foreign policy imagination today is decoding our diplomats' style and body language.

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