South Asia Citizens Web

It is the rarest of men for whom it can truly be said that their passing away diminishes us each, personally- in the joy, care, generosity and well-being that he brought to every friendship, and politically – in the towering inspiration that he was in all our common struggles against social and economic injustice and violations of the rights of the marginalised; his faith and belief in the common people and disregard for power and privilege; and his tireless commitment to building democracy without which there could be no peace. His quiet humility that made him listen to you, before he took your inchoate words and with a clarity of wisdom lifted our understanding about layered structures of power and mapped the way forward in the struggle for human rights, democracy and peace.

August 17, 2020: In an interview with Debarati Guha for DW, Amartya Sen, a Nobel prize-winning economist and philosopher, says minorities are facing a tough time in India. He believes the country’s constitutional secularism has been weakened

The repeal of the three farm laws introduced by the Modi government is a necessary but far from sufficient condition to decisively improve Indian agriculture and the lives of those connected to it. Yet, even if some compromise is struck instead of repeal, it will significantly breach the popularity of the Modi regime. Achin Vanaik explains why.

Large number of Myanmar citizens in order to escape the brutalities of a military rule and wanting asylum have entered into north-eastern states of India i.e. Mizoram. Manipur,.Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. But and shockingly, the Home Ministry of India has written advisories to these states “to take appropriate action as per law to check illegal influx from Myanmar into India” and deport illegal migrants. However there is vast difference between ‘migrants’ and ‘refugees’. The Myanmar citizens who have entered into India to seek asylum cannot be treated as illegal migrants, notwithstanding that India is not signatory to United Nations Refugee Convention of 1951. In the past India has welcomed hundreds and thousands of people seeking asylum from all over the world and office of UNCHR was allowed to function here till recently. Courts have also come to the rescue of such suffering foreigners and have stayed their deportation in large number of cases.

The Global Gender Gap Index benchmarks the evolution of gender-based gaps among four key dimensions (Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment) and tracks progress towards closing these gaps over time.

This year, the Global Gender Gap index benchmarks 156 countries, providing a tool for cross-country comparison and to prioritize the most effective policies needed to close gender gaps. The methodology of the index has remained stable since its original conception in 2006, providing a basis for robust cross-country and time-series analysis. The Global Gender Gap Index measures scores on a 0 to 100 scale and scores can be interpreted as the distance to parity (i.e. the percentage of the gender gap that has been closed).