India vs Bangladesh. Bigger is not always better
by Rashmee
Posted on February 17, 2020
Indian TV anchor Karan Thapar made a fascinating case the other day for big countries to show a bit of humility. Ok, he didn’t really say that all big countries should be more humble. Just India. About Bangladesh. Rather than believing Henry Kissinger’s 1970s’ guff that Bangladesh is “an international basket case”, India … Continue reading “India vs Bangladesh. Bigger is not always better”
Read MoreBritish Columbia’s ‘first Indian-Chinese restaurant’ proudly serves up desi fare
by Rashmee
Posted on January 31, 2020
The sign outside the Green Lettuce, on Kingsway in eastern Vancouver, says it all: “Desi Chinese”. (Look to the far right on the red strip under the yellow shop sign.) Extraordinary, I thought. In India, where all the Chinese food on offer is “Indian Chinese”, they don’t describe it that way. But they’re doing … Continue reading “British Columbia’s ‘first Indian-Chinese restaurant’ proudly serves up desi fare”
Read MoreThe US and China are battling over a geographical concept
by Rashmee
Posted on January 15, 2020
To no one’s surprise, China doesn’t admit to being part of the “Indo-Pacific”. The strategy has potential – as well as its perils. Consider this. In the past decade, Indo-Pacific has become an established political and strategic concept for Australia, India, Japan and the United States. In the Trump era, the term “free and open … Continue reading “The US and China are battling over a geographical concept”
Read MoreRaisina Dialogue 2020 is a nod to multi-alignment
by Rashmee
Posted on January 14, 2020 / The National
Today, exactly 11 days after the targeted US strike on Iran’s top general Qassem Suleimani, Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif will be under the same patch of New Delhi sky and talking to the same people as US deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger and senior US diplomat Alice Wells. That is reassuring, after fears … Continue reading “Raisina Dialogue 2020 is a nod to multi-alignment”
Read MoreSunday rearview: Reforming capitalism, colonial restitution, Ivanka’s jargon
by Rashmee
Posted on December 8, 2019
As a news junkie, I live with the highs and lows, and ebb and flow of events near and far. In order for it not to become a monochrome blur, here are some picks from everything I wrote last week: ** Figuring out how to make capitalism work and philanthrocapitalism pay off. A five-point plan … Continue reading “Sunday rearview: Reforming capitalism, colonial restitution, Ivanka’s jargon”
Read MoreIndia, extra-judicial murder, and the theatre of public cruelty
by Rashmee
Posted on December 7, 2019
What a twisted way to approach justice. I’m referring, of course, to the response by some people to news that Indian police have shot dead the four men accused of the brutal gang rape of a young vet in Hyderabad. It’s hard to imagine how people can say “justice has been done” when the circumstances of the … Continue reading “India, extra-judicial murder, and the theatre of public cruelty”
Read MoreQuestions still linger about colonial-era artefacts
by Rashmee
Posted on December 3, 2019 / The National
Let’s face it, the treatment of colonial-era art can’t really ever be a science. Certainly not in the 21st century, with its increasingly acrimonious debate over race, sovereignty and historic injustice. Even so, politicians, academics and activists, both east and west, say that it’s a start to at least acknowledge the reasons African and Asian … Continue reading “Questions still linger about colonial-era artefacts”
Read MoreIs democracy really dying a slow, agonising death?
by Rashmee
Posted on November 25, 2019
It’s fashionable these days for commentators to lament the lingering death of democracy. It’s being strangled long and slow, so the narrative goes. How? By neutering democratic checks and balances – a judicious distance between governing party and the state. By packing the courts or preventing them from exercising judicial independence. By preventing the opposition … Continue reading “Is democracy really dying a slow, agonising death?”
Read MoreIndia’s internet gag in Kashmir has completed 105 days
by Rashmee
Posted on November 18, 2019
India’s internet gag completed 105 days on Sunday, November 17. The Wire’s Mudasir Ahmed reported the milestone – if 105 days can be called a milestone, being neither a nice round number, nor particularly memorable. But the report came in the context of a different sort of milestone – Kashmir’s local government departments were restive. … Continue reading “India’s internet gag in Kashmir has completed 105 days”
Read MoreSeveral recent stories paint a patchy portrait of India
by Rashmee
Posted on November 12, 2019 / The National
Some sense of what is happening in India can be gleaned from four news stories. On Wednesday, the Indian Supreme Court decides on whether it should be bound, like other public agencies, by the Right to Information Act; the Indian rupee last week fell by 0.5 per cent after ratings agency Moody’s lowered the country’s … Continue reading “Several recent stories paint a patchy portrait of India”
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Rashmee has lived and worked in several countries in the past decade, including Afghanistan, India, Haiti, Tunisia, the UAE, US and UK