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News<\/span><\/b>: Recently, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Pakistan have been facing a lot of hardship. All the South Asian countries are facing the problem of <\/span>higher oil<\/span><\/b> and <\/span>food inflation<\/span><\/b>. This has resulted in <\/span>popular unrest<\/span><\/b> across the region<\/span>.<\/span><\/b> This underlines the <\/span>geographic imperative<\/span><\/b> that binds India to its neighbours in the Subcontinent.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n India has had a long tradition of <\/span>hosting political exiles<\/span><\/b> from the region. Delhi has welcomed leaders from the neighbourhood taking shelter in India. For example, Dalai Lama from Tibet or Prachanda from Nepal.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n India\u2019s emerging <\/span>neighbourhood policy<\/span><\/b> requires the Indian leadership to provide support and assistance at such crisis time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n India-Sri Lank relations<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the past, India has been involved in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. It has caused deep distrust between <\/span>Delhi<\/span><\/b> and the <\/span>Sinhala nationalists<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n India-Nepal relationship<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n The <\/span>Chinese influenc<\/span><\/b>e is growing in Nepal. For example, China has built a new airport near Lumbini, Nepal.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n India is facing the challenge of <\/span>turbulent triangular dynamics<\/span><\/b> between Delhi, Kathmandu, and Beijing.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There is a <\/span>deep political discomfort<\/span><\/b> between India and Nepal. Nepal\u2019s politics have been dominated by the <\/span>communists<\/span><\/b> in the last two decades.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n India-Pakistan<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n India-Paksitan <\/span>bilateral relationship<\/span><\/b> has been <\/span>frozen<\/span><\/b>. Islamabad\u2019s policies are deliberately <\/span>anti-geographic<\/span><\/b>. For example, the recent controversy in Pakistan over the routine appointment of a \u201ctrade officer\u201d in its high commission in Delhi.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Pakistan is unwilling to <\/span>expand trade ties<\/span><\/b> or at least have a <\/span>limited trade liberalisation<\/span><\/b> with India. For example, Pakistan said it can\u2019t trade with India unless Delhi reversed its <\/span>2019 constitutional changes in Kashmir<\/span><\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Pakistan Army<\/span><\/b> has been long viewed as a <\/span>decisive arbiter<\/span><\/b> in Pakistan\u2019s political and policy disputes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At present, Pakistan is facing a <\/span>political cri<\/span><\/b>sis. Delhi had little reason to believe that Pakistan\u2019s new government can alter its self-defeating policy towards India.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Overall<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n All the countries in South Asia should work with the <\/span>logic of geography<\/span><\/b> amidst the <\/span>deepening regional<\/span><\/b> and <\/span>global crises<\/span><\/b> accentuated by <\/span>Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine<\/span><\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The <\/span>cultural geography<\/span><\/b> can help in reshaping the <\/span>Subcontinent\u2019s regional relations<\/span><\/b>. <\/span>Religion<\/span><\/b> and <\/span>culture<\/span><\/b> are deeply interconnected in South Asia. Therefore, all <\/span>religious<\/span><\/b> pilgrimage sites<\/span><\/b> should be developed across the region.\u00a0 They should be made accessible. This will improve <\/span>tourist revenues<\/span><\/b> and also calm the <\/span>troubled political relations<\/span><\/b> between nations.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Subcontinent can be reconnected through <\/span>sacred geographies<\/span><\/b> \u2014 including the Ramayana trail and Sufi shrines.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A more <\/span>intensive regional cooperation <\/span><\/b>is one of the tools for managing the new dangers by the countries in the region.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n India-Sri Lanka Relations<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Sri Lankan current crisis raised hopes for <\/span>transcending<\/span><\/b> the <\/span>internal ethnic divide<\/span><\/b> in the island nation. This can rebuild <\/span>political confidence<\/span><\/b> between Colombo and Delhi.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n India\u2019s has provided both material and financial support during this <\/span>unprecedented economic and political crisis<\/span><\/b> in Sri Lanka. This has generated much <\/span>goodwill<\/span><\/b> in Sri Lanka.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n India-Nepal Relations<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The <\/span>Nepal congress<\/span><\/b> has returned and its readiness to deepen ties with India has opened the door for a <\/span>recalibrating India-Nepal ties.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to <\/span>revitalising<\/span><\/b> cultural geography<\/span><\/b>, better management of <\/span>economic geography<\/span><\/b> is inevitable.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Prime Minister\u202fModi visited Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha in Nepal. There is an idea of a \u201c<\/span>Buddhist circuit<\/span><\/b>\u201d across the India-Nepal border. There is wider <\/span>international interest<\/span><\/b> in the <\/span>Buddhist\u2019s historic sites<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Indian government should accelerate <\/span>transborder transport<\/span><\/b> and <\/span>energy connectivity<\/span><\/b> in the eastern subcontinent.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHow is India at the centre of geographic imperative in the South Asia region?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n
What are the challenges in the South Asian Regions?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n
Way Forward<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n