TEDDY NG China and India have to be “frank and candid” to reduce their ongoing tensions, Delhi’s ambassador to Beijing has said ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to China in June. Ambassador Gautam Bambawale said political communication between the two nations had resumed after the Doklam crisis last year, when troops from both…
Read moreBANGKOK The Thai government should undertake further reforms and act to eradicate forced labour and trafficking in the Thai fishing industry, Human Rights Watch has said in a letter to Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan–o–cha. “Under pressure from the European Union and others, the Thai government has publicly pledged to improve labour rights in the country’s powerful…
Read moreLOOKEAST REPORT | Seven Myanmar soldiers have been sentenced to jail with hard labour for their part in the extrajudicial killings of 10 Rohingya Muslim men last year, according to a Facebook post by the army chief late on Tuesday. The bloody incident in Inn Din village on 2 September is the only atrocity to…
Read moreTrade deficit on its own is not a bad thing. Even India suffers from a trade deficit with the rest of the world. In 2016, in terms of goods trade, the United States’ trade deficit with India was US$22bn – a mere 2.7 per cent of total US trade deficit of US$798bn with the world…
Read moreLOOKEAST REPORT Adani’s proposed Godda Power project would prove financially unviable and a poor strategic fit for Bangladesh, concludes a report published by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). The IEEFA study—“Adani Godda Power Project: Too Expensive, Too Late and Too Risky for Bangladesh”—finds also that the project is being promoted at least…
Read moreLOOKEAST REPORT The first meeting of the newly constituted ‘NITI Forum for North East’ was held in Agartala. The meeting, organised by the NITI Aayog, Ministry of DoNER and the North Eastern Council (NEC), was co–chaired by the Vice–Chairman, NITI Aayog, Rajeev Kumar and the Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Development of North…
Read moreSWADESH ROY / DHAKA It is more or less confirmed now that Sheikh Hasina will come to power in Bangladesh next time again. Instead of being the most popular leader, she is the bravest leader too in the country. According to International Republican Institute survey, 62% of the people of Bangladesh thinks that the country…
Read morePRANGTHONG JITCHAROENKUL The Orang Asli indigenous people have lived in seclusion in the rainforests of southern Thailand since ancient times, but more than a few of them have lately changed the way they live because forest food has gradually grown scarce. In hopes of a more secure future, Pise, a man in his 50s, and…
Read moreSTUTI AICH Myanmar seems to be encouraging Buddhists from Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts to settle on lands left behind by Rohingyas who fled the country’s Rakhine state. Nearly 50 families from remote hill and forest areas on the Bangladesh side, have relocated to Rakhine state in mainly Buddhist Myanmar lured by promises of free land and…
Read moreLOOKEAST REPORT The Bangladesh High Court has issued a rule asking the government to explain why the detention of four (BNP) leaders would be considered illegal. BNP Vice-Chairman M Hafizuddin Ahmed challenged the detention against the government, in a written petition on March 29, of this year, after which the said action was taken by…
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