In Mizoram, a refugee crisis highlights Mizo tribal affinities and hostility

Shared Zo identity has Mizos extending hospitality to Chin and Kuki-Chin refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh. More remarkable is that Chakmas, mistreated by the Mizo majority in Mizoram, have welcomed Kuki-Chin refugees too
The political fallout of violence in Manipur, Bangladesh’s economic crisis, the crackdown on PTI supporters and more

May - Updates and analysis from around the region
In ‘Agra’, a grim portrait of the repressed Indian man

Director Kanu Behl’s Hindi feature film examines the sexual obsession and frustration of men, mental health and the transactional nature of human relationships in a patriarchal society where space is in short supply
When neoliberalism came to the Indian farm

With a focus on agricultural policy since the 1990s, 'Distress in the Fields' demonstrates how neoliberal interventions sowed the seeds of the crisis faced by farmers today
“I write with the same hands that carried shit”: Reading Pandiyakannan’s ‘Salavaan’

The Tamil writer Pandiyakannan, the first novelist from the Kuravar community, offers an intimate portrait of the lives of manual scavengers

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The political fallout of violence in Manipur, Bangladesh’s economic crisis, the crackdown on PTI supporters and more

Violence in Manipur, Imran Khan’s arrest, the Karnataka elections and more

Marriage equality in India, fencing the Durand line, wrestlers’ protests and more

No neutrality

The military’s neutral stance around Imran Khan’s ouster may be damage control.

From Himal Archives EXPLORE

Planning Colombo

Tracing the vision of Colombo as a garden city.

| Sep 28, 2021

A matter of class

Informal patronage networks in Bangladesh have hampered the development of collective bargaining.

| May 25, 2015

What is Nepali Music?

Does music lose its identity when traditional instruments are replaced by modern ones? Or are musical ideas more important?

| Nov 01, 1993

The gentle adventurers

Kalidasa’s cloud

Bengal textiles, international cloth

The Hooghly port was a major driver of globalisation centuries before Western call centres re-discovered the Subcontinent.

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Federalism is the most significant ideological divide in Nepali politics

Amid the the “‘de-ideologisation”’ of Nepali politics, the most consequential differences are on the system of provincial government. Three emergent parties throw the divisions into sharp relief.

Pakistan’s politics continues to dictate its economic crisis

The standoff over elections in Punjab between the PML-N’s ruling coalition and Imran Khan’s PTI has intensified Pakistan’s multidimensional crisis, and may lead to sovereign default

Violence in Manipur, Imran Khan’s arrest, the Karnataka elections and more

May - Updates and analysis from around the region

Patronage politics and the economic crisis in Sri Lanka’s North and East

The North and East saw fewer protests amid Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, but disillusionment with mainstream parties is changing the region’s electoral politics.

Making Prothom Alo “the enemy” in Bangladesh

Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League government have gone after Bangladesh’s top newspaper – the last one standing in the country’s media

Screen Southasia: Q&A session for ‘Is it too much to ask?’

A conversation with the filmmaker Leena Manimekalai and Smile from 'Is it too much to ask?'

“Yes, our son is gay”: A Nepali father’s awakening

A path-breaking personal essay calling for social acceptance and full rights for Nepal’s LGBTIQ+ community

The path to women’s political participation in Bhutan

In Bhutan’s 2023 National Council elections, only one woman was elected to the NC from a female population of around 360,000. Despite progress in recent years, women still face challenges to political participation.