South Asia
From the dizzying heights of the Himalayas to the coastal communities of Bangladesh, our stories highlight the lives of those living in South Asia.
We shine a spotlight on South Asian artists and speak to climate activists calling for loss and damages payments to support environmental action. Our journalism also focuses on contentious water conflicts and sacred rivers, such as the Mekong and the Ganges, that are intrinsic to life in South Asia.
Why are Indian farmers angry?
With the government trying out a variety of ploys to derail the mass movement, Indian farmers are determined to resist until their demands are met. Tarun Gidwani explains why they have been forced to act.
Displaced by a riot
Since 2018, a remarkable uptick in communal violence has taken shape in India. Dilnaz Boga speaks to survivors of ethnic violence in the 1990s, who explain their fears for where the country is headed.
Adding pain to the pandemic
Nilanjana Bhowmick on the recent legislation steamrolled through parliament that has disadvantaged working people and gripped India’s farmers in protest.
Why Indian outrage over Black Lives Matter rings hollow
Anti-blackness is still a galvanizing force in India, writes Nilanjana Bhowmick.
The interview: Sarojini Nadimpally
Fresh from organizing deliveries of PPE to frontline workers, social scientist Sarojini Nadimpally speaks to Amy Hall about women’s health, the Covid-19 crisis and the inequalities it has exacerbated.
Abandoning the rural poor
The deadly neglect of India’s rural communities must end, writes Nilanjana Bhowmick.
Unfit for habitation
India’s air pollution crisis affects millions, and not just in Delhi. Aruna Chandrasekhar meets people forced to live, and resist, at Mumbai’s toxic perimeter.
Hall of infamy: Amit Shah
Is Amit Shah, the scandal-ridden Indian home minister, too cunning for his own good?
Can the world handle another Rohingya crisis?
India is looking at the world’s largest statelessness crisis. Nilanjana Bhowmick asks, have we learned nothing from the ongoing dispossession of Rohingya Muslims?
A brutal blasphemy verdict
Another prisoner of conscience falls victim to Pakistan's draconian blasphemy laws.
Globalization and extremism – join the dots
Insecure people can be highly susceptible to false narratives purporting to explain their precarious situation, argues Helena Norberg-Hodge.
Dhallywood dreams
Sophie K Rosa and Alice McCool on the older women fighting for a place in 'Dhallywood'.
Invisible green warriors
Nilanjana Bhowmick heralds India's most overshadowed environmentalists: waste-pickers
Not Modi’s India any more
Ongoing countrywide protests are rooted in a battle for India’s secular values, argues Nilanjana Bhowmick.
The interview: Shahidul Alam
Bangladeshi photojournalist Shahidul Alam tells Subi Shah that, despite his notorious arrest last year, he’s still not holding back his criticism of the government.
Radical readings on Kashmir
As Kashmir enters the 64th day of a communications blackout, Ammar Bukhari recommends a reading list on the 71-year conflict.
As nationalism grips India, indigenous struggles persist
On World Indigenous Day, columnist Mari Marcel Thekaekara revisits the fortunes of India’s ‘original inhabitants’ since independence.
Small city, big dreams
India’s rapidly expanding cities attract young dreamers like magnets. Snigdha Poonam observes how the horizon of promise keeps receding in Ranchi.
Time is money
Lack of punctuality in India is sometimes given a ‘spiritual’ spin by Western observers, but underneath this comic veneer is a deep transport and infrastructure crisis.
Letter from Dhaka: The bangle seller
Despite having bought colourful bangles for over a decade, Parsa Sanjana Sajid wonders who makes them and at what cost.
The Pakistani lawyer putting his life on the line
Despite mass protests against his work and credible threats to his life, Saif ul-Malook keeps going. He speaks to Subi Shah about why.
What’s next for Indians living under Modi?
Narendra Modi’s second mandate is a ‘sword hanging above the heads’ of India’s minorities. Nilanjana Bhowmick explains why.
Kashmir’s ever-present torture chambers
Umar Lateef Misgar reports on an alleged victim of the policing crackdown in Kashmir: a school teacher who was found tortured to death.
The most important election since independence
Mari Marcel Thekaekara reflects on the Easter Sunday massacre in Sri Lanka and provides a glimpse of a more hopeful future in India as voting in the country’s general election begins.
Letter from Dhaka: the careful image
What is required to be an authentic person? Parsa Sanjana Sajid ponders the answer from the bright lights of a photo studio.
The giant of India’s environmental movement
Fiona Broom reflects on the legacy of the pioneering environmental journalist, Darryl D'monte, who passed away last month.
Will downtrodden farmers decide Modi’s fate?
Agricultural workers in India are facing a monumental crisis. They backed Modi in the last election. The question is whether they will do so again. Nilanjana Bhowmick reports.
The depth of a scar: Kashmir’s PTSD crisis
A photo story by Faisal Magray explores the psychological toll of Kashmir’s decades-long conflict.
A non-violent movement is gaining ground in Pakistan
The army is quashing a peaceful liberation movement in Pakistan, Suddaf Chaudry asks why.
Where is India’s Jacinda Ardern?
Can the country produce its own iconic Prime Minister? It desperately needs one, writes Mari Marcel Thekaekara.
