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In this episode, our guest Ambassador Shivshankar Menon is in-conversation with Professor C Raja Mohan, Director of ISAS to discuss some of the key issues before the new Biden administration in relation to the subcontinent, including security and trade. Ambassador  Menon is a Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow at ISAS, former National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India and a career diplomat.

In this episode of South Asia Chaat, we speak with Dr Iqbal Singh Sevea, Visiting Research Associate Professor at ISAS, who provides a preliminary progress report on continuity and change under the Imran Khan-led Government. He discusses the constraints imposed by a struggling economy, new emerging relations between the military and civilian sectors, and the massive plague of locusts that is now confronting South Asia.

For over 11 years, Dr Anuradha has studied, taught and conducted research on the relationship between new technologies, society, politics and security in Asia at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and other higher education institutions in Singapore. Anuradha holds a PhD in Communications and New Media from NUS, and an MA in Political Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), India. She can be reached at anuradha.rao@cybercognizanz.com

In this episode, we speak to HE Rukhsana Afzal about what the Singapore government, local Pakistani community, and global financial organisations are doing to help. This involves, among other things, the development of a mobile app, the diaspora sending home critical supplies, and a global initiative for debt relief.

 He commends the Singapore government’s handling of the situation within dormitories and said that even small needs like providing proper interpreters and enuring these workers get Bangladeshi food are being looked into, especially since this is the month of Ramadan.

This conversation between Dr S Narayan (Visiting Senior Research Fellow, ISAS) and Mr Vikram Mehta (Executive Chairman of Brookings India), looks at the impact and challenges that the dive in crude oil price will have on South Asia’s oil and energy sector, as well as the economic impact (consumption and net exports) on India. For India, there is also an urgent need to build linkages and pipelines between oil and gas producers in other parts of the region such as Bangladesh.

In her talk, Professor Maclean discusses the Immigration Restriction Act, which earned the country the name ‘White Australia’ for its prevention of non-white migrants from settling there—often by linguistic means! She touches on racism under the Empire; the positive legacy left by Indian hawker settlers; and social bonds transcending the ‘commonwealth’ commonalities most often evoked in celebrations of the countries’ shared histories. Through a careful archival reading, Kama Maclean’s book paves the way for a nuanced, social history of old colonial ties.

In this episode, we speak with Dr Iftekhar Chowdhury, Principal Research Fellow, ISAS, and former Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, to understand what the Taliban wants now that the crown appears within reach. He argues that a Taliban in power may have good working relations with the international community, and that the world should engage the Taliban to ensure that certain universal rights and values are respected.