Official data from India and Nepal, which was released on Tuesday ( Aug 13 ), showed that hundreds of people have died as a result of violent storms that have been raging there since June, with flooding and landslides causing widespread destruction during the treacherous monsoon season. Results were recordedContinue Reading
Since 2020, dengue cases have increased rapidly in India. More than 32, 000 cases were reported in the first quarter of 2024, which is nearly twice as many as they were during the same time next year.
The country recorded about 290, 000 cases last month – 50, 000 more than the year before.
The subcontinent’s ongoing rain season, which usually lasts from June to September, has contributed to the increase in infections. In nations like Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, instances have been reported in much higher amounts throughout the year.
According to authorities, global warming is to blame for the longer rainfall time and higher humidity levels.
The Aedes mosquitoes thrives in ideal conditions thanks to the subtropical climate and common waterlogging during the rain season.
Some also cited South Asia’s fast, unregulated urbanization.
Hundreds live in densely populated communities without appropriate water supply, sanitation, or waste management techniques. Mosquitoes can easily reproduce in sluggish water that frequently collects in the streets.
Adarsha Kapoor, an industrial planner, suggested ensuring a constant supply of piped water so that no one needed to keep water in bottles and jars. Places that are prone to waterlogging could also be improved through repair, he added.
However, Ms. Bimla claimed that these methods do not address her and her neighbors ‘ issues right away.
They want authorities to make sure that all years, not just when circumstances rise, are treated for dengue and the drains are covered.
Puneesh Nayar, managing director, is joining Deutsche Bank (DB) as market head in Singapore in its private bank, effective August 12. The branch sits within DB’s global South Asia. private bank division.
The Global South Asia business serves non-resident Indian (NRI) clients, and other clients from the sub-continent, from Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Geneva and London.
Nayar (pictured) has over 20 years of industry experience, most recently at Julius Baer where he was a senior team head for global India since 2016. Prior to that, he was the head of non-resident Indians Southeast Asia (SEA) and Middle East at BSI Bank, also in Singapore. Nayar also previously held roles at Coutts Bank and HSBC.
In another move in the same private banking division, in March, Nick Malik rejoined DB as market head, ased in Dubai. Malik returned to DB this year from Credit Suisse. He was previously group head with DB for six years until 2022, and before that with Standard Chartered Private Bank in Singapore and Dubai. Prior to that, he was a senior advisor at Coutts’ in Singapore and the United Kingdom.
Both Nayar and Malik will report to Rajesh Mahadevan, DB’s head of Global South Asia & Africa, private bank emerging markets.
Mahadevan commented in a media release: “Our Global South Asia & Africa business is a market leader in this segment and a strong business pillar within our emerging markets franchise. DB’s global connectivity, balance sheet strength, combined with our corporate bank and investment bank offering gives our clients access to bespoke lending, banking and capital market solutions.”
Mahadevan added: “Puneesh and Nick’s breadth of experience and deep understanding of this client segment will further cement our market position as we broaden client coverage across core markets in Asia and the Middle East.”
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The good times did n’t last. A combination of the epidemic and financial , mismanagement , took their toll on the emerging market, and two years ago it reached out to the International Monetary Fund and other foreign creditors to reduce decline.
It’s the , third country  , in the region, after Sri Lanka and Pakistan, forced to knock on the International Monetary Fund’s ( IMF)  , door in recent times. All the , volatility is adding to uncertainty in South Asia.
Not just the financial situation was the problem. The political protests over the last quarter have been a lightning rod for a wide range of problems from severe poverty to a failing private sector, Lutfey Siddiqi, visiting professor , at the London School of Economics ‘ , international coverage think tank, told me.
” There’s also anger at the sheer lack of empathy and condescension with which Hasina has  , responded to those worries”, he said.
The prime minister ‘s , ruling Awami League has most recently , been in authority since , 2009, but elections have  , been often boycotted by the opposition, and widely , condemned , as being poorly free and fair.
She capitalised on , a storied legacy , as the daughter of Sheikh , Mujibur , Rahman, Bangladesh’s foundation parents, going on to become the world’s longest-serving sexual president, but in recent years has clamped down on media freedom , and quashed , public debate. The incompetence of the economy simply exacerbated the issues.  ,
Getty ImagesImran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, has been imprisoned for a time, though there are times when you can hardly tell.
Mr Khan is still the strong force of Pakistan’s opposition politicians, his label still in the paperwork and the courts. His social internet followers have been unrelenting.
The few people who are often allowed to see the former cricket star have evolved from his personal contacts to the outside world, with only his household and lawyers. They want to spread the message that he has been unpaid for his 365 days in jail.
” There is still a cockiness about him”, Aleema Khanum, Imran Khan’s girl, says. ” He’s got no wants, no wants- only a reason”.
According to those who visit him, Mr Khan spends his days on his workout cycle, reading and reflecting. He spends an hour walking in the yard each day. There have occasionally been disagreements over how fast the family can get him fresh books.
” He has said’ I’m not wasting a moment of my time in jail, it’s an option for me to find more information ‘”, Ms Khanum tells the BBC.
However, Mr. Khan and his family Bushra Bibi are also imprisoned and have no indication when they will be released.
According to some, this is not a wonder.
ReutersAccording to Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center think reservoir in Washington,” there was no desire that Mr. Khan would do anything that would make it simple for him to get out of jail.”
And the defense- Pakistan’s strong behind-the-scenes gamer- “do n’t comfortable up when they decide there’s a political find that they want to switch up”, says Mr Kugelman. ” That is especially the case with Khan,” he says.
However, the government has been vital to many of the ups and downs of Mr Khan’s living in the last century. Some analysts believe that his first support for the defense establishment contributed to his ascendancy.
But by 9 May last time, that was in shambles. Mr. Khan’s followers staged a protest after he was ousted from office in a vote of no confidence in 2022.
In some of those demonstrations, violence was elicited and there were fires at military installations, including the most mature military official’s official residence in Lahore, which was set on fire.
In the aftermath, BBC sources said Pakistan’s media companies had been told to stop showing his picture, saying his name or playing his voice.
Mr. Khan was let go, but only for a short while.
He was jailed once more on August 5th for making errors in how to properly consider the purchase of express gifts.
Getty ImagesIn the run-up to the vote, the circumstances against him mounted, by the start of February- only weeks before the voting- the 71-year-old had acquired three long jail sentences, the last for 14 years.
By the election, many of the candidates standing for Mr Khan’s PTI party were also in prison or in hiding, the party stripped of its well-recognised symbol of a cricket bat – a vital identifier in a country with a 58% literacy rate.
Despite this,” we were determined and wanted to make a declaration”, Salman Akram Raja, Mr Khan’s attorney and a candidate in the election, says.
” It was very constrained, many could n’t campaign at all. The system blow caused the sign for a cricket bat to disappear.
All applicants stood as centrists, but hopes- even within the gathering- were n’t higher.
However, Imran Khan’s political rivals forged an alliance to prevent them, despite having won more votes than anyone else. The PTI, however, was left to fight for many of their chairs in judge, alleging the results were skewed.
Supporters see the election of February 8 as a turning level, proof of Mr. Khan’s powerful message, yet from detention centers.
” There is a change, that was expressed on 8 February”, says Aleema Khanum. ” Change is coming, it is in the weather”.
Others say that practically, the result has n’t changed the status quo.
” We are definitely where we might hope to be given prior precedent”, Mr Kugelman says.
“PT I did n’t form a government, its leader is still in jail and the coalition in power is led by parties backed by the military”.
But more recently, things have definitely seemed to be looking away for Mr Khan and his followers.
Getty ImagesA panel of experts from the United Nations declared his confinement to be arbitrarily, and Pakistan’s supreme court ruled that PTI was an established party and does get “reserve seats,” which are seats assigned to women and non-Muslims based on the proportion of seats the party has won.
None have yet had a practical impact because Mr. Khan is still behind bars and has n’t received any reserve seats.
His wife Bushra Bibi is also facing new costs, including the addition of her jail sentence, which was overturned when the appeal for their wedding was overturned.
The government has also made it clear that it views Mr. Khan and his group as a threat to the general public. Despite receiving instructions from organizations like the Pakistani Human Rights Commission, it made it known earlier this month that it plans to try to outlaw PTI.
Additionally, there is no evidence that the war has changed. There would be no compromises with the “planners, mediators, and executioners” and they would not be permitted to “hoodwink the law of the land,” according to a declaration from the organization’s public relations flap on the 9 May celebration of this year.
Most experts believe that Mr. Khan really needs to clean out his transition to freedom from prison.
” I think we can come up with an agreement that gives people a way out and allows the system to function”, says Khan’s solicitor, Mr Raja.
However, from jail, Mr Khan has been delivering his personal information. According to Alekseema Khanum, who has told the military to” be neutral… let this state work,” the core of Pakistan is now known as the “backbone of Pakistan.”
Some commentators have criticized it as an olive tree, but some have pointed out that the use of the term natural was appropriate given that the army had recently declared itself balanced by taking sides in politics. He ridiculed the phrase, saying “only an animal is neutral”;
Some people believe that his recent request for immediate elections constitutes one of his obligations to the military.
” I do n’t think that’s very realistic”, says Mr Kugelman. ” Over time, Khan may relent a bit. It is one of the truisms of Pakistani politics: if you want to be prime minister you need to be in the good graces, or at least not the bad graces, of the military”.
For now at least, the stalemate continues.
Getty ImagesAt least 32 children have died during scholar protests that engulfed Bangladesh last month, the UN’s children’s company has said.
According to a Unicef director, the youngest child who died was still in his fifth year of birth, adding that the majority of the victims were spectators.
According to statistics provided by BBC Bangla, they were one of more than 200 individuals who were killed in civil service demonstrations against work restrictions.
The quota system has now been scaled back by the government following a Supreme Court ruling, but students have continued protesting – now demanding justice for those who died or have been injured or detained.
The state is struggling to contain the rising tide of rage over how it first handled the demonstrations, despite the smaller scale of the protests.
Why are our boys buried in the murders ‘ yards and the murders hiding out? asked a group which had gathered outside the largest dome in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, following Friday prayer, according to the AFP news agency.
According to Reuters news organization, safety makes responded to the tens of thousands of people strewn with rubber bullets and tear gas. It reported that at least 20 people were injured.
Unicef’s regional director for southern Asia, Sanjay Wijesekera, acknowledged that he had been informed of information of children being detained while on a trip to Bangladesh this year.
He continued, claiming that the organization had declared” a horrible reduction” of the 32 deaths.
One child under five and one infant between six and twelve were among the most fatalities, according to a UN agency spokesperson.
” Kids must be protected at all times”, Mr Wijesekera said. ” That is one’s duty”.
Mohammad Ali Arafat, the government’s young information minister, responded that there is no data on the death toll from Unicef.
” We do n’t know where they] Unicef ] got the numbers from”, he told the BBC, adding:” Our position is clear: Whoever has been killed, we are going to investigate and bring the perpetrators to book”.
According to specialists who spoke to the BBC, many of the dead and injured suffered gunshot wounds as a result of security forces ‘ use of excessive force to halt the first protests.
However, the government has attributed the unrest to political critics, who have claimed a number of police officers were killed as well.
On Thursday, it banned the government’s major Islamist gathering- Jamaat-e-Islami and its student aircraft, Islami Chhatra Shibir- which it claimed was behind some of the violence.
” We have proof that they have participated in the deaths and in the loss of government and private parameters”, Anisul Huq, Bagladesh’s law secretary, told the BBC.
The opposition group’s chief described the proceed as “illegal, illegal and unconstitutional”.
EPAAccording to officials, the scholar protest’s leaders were also taken for a week for their own safety. However, their discharge on Thursday has done much to soften the anger.
The kids questioned the conditions of their confinement in a mutual statement released on Friday.
The group alleged “harassment, rape and crisis” towards them and their families during their seven nights of confinement.
The statement called on people to continue taking to the streets and said,” No one is safe in the prison of those who kill armed students and individuals.”
Since the authorities began cracking down on the rallies, apparently, almost 10,000 people have been detained.
However, the student officials’ statements Mr. Arafat refrained from refuting.
He claimed that because the government was conscious of a possible threat to their lives, the authorities were forced to detain the scholar leaders.
” Their defense became our best priority”, he added.
Getty ImagesHeavy rains and floods have affected several parts of India in recent weeks, killing scores of people and displacing thousands of others.
Floods are not uncommon in the country – or South Asia – at this time of the year, when the region receives most of its rainfall.
But climate change has made monsoon rains more erratic, with massive rainfall in a short span of time followed by prolonged periods of dryness.
Now scientists say that a type of storm, known as an atmospheric river, is making things worse with a significant increase in moisture because of global warming.
Also known as “flying rivers”, these storms are huge, invisible ribbons of water vapour that are born in warm oceans as seawater evaporates.
The water vapour forms a band or a column in the lower part of the atmosphere which moves from the tropics to the cooler latitudes and comes down as rain or snow, devastating enough to cause floods or deadly avalanches.
These “rivers in the sky” carry some 90% of the total water vapour that moves across the Earth’s mid-latitudes and, on an average, have about twice the regular flow of the Amazon, the world’s largest river by the discharge volume of water.
As the earth warms up faster, scientists say these atmospheric rivers have become longer, wider and more intense, putting hundreds of millions of people worldwide at risk from flooding.
In India, meteorologists say the warming of the Indian Ocean has created “flying rivers” that are influencing monsoon rains between June and September.
A study published in the scientific journal Nature in 2023 showed a total of 574 atmospheric rivers occurred in the monsoon season in India between 1951 and 2020, with the frequency of such extreme weather events increasing over time.
“In the last two decades, nearly 80% of the most severe atmospheric rivers caused floods in India,” it said.
A team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and the University of California, who were involved in the study, also found that seven of India’s 10 most severe floods in the monsoon seasons between 1985 and 2020 were associated with atmospheric rivers.
The study said evaporation from the Indian Ocean had significantly increased in recent decades and the frequency of atmospheric rivers and floods caused by them has increased recently as the climate has warmed.
“There is an increase in the variability [more fluctuations] in the moisture transported towards the Indian subcontinent during the monsoon season,” Dr Roxy Matthew Koll, an atmospheric scientist with the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, told the BBC.
“As a result, there are short spells when all that moisture from the warm seas is dumped by the atmospheric rivers in a few hours to a few days. This has led to increased landslides and flash floods across the country.”
An average atmospheric river is about 2,000km (1,242 miles) long, 500km wide and nearly 3km deep – although they are now getting wider and longer, with some more than 5,000km long.
And yet, they are invisible to the human eye.
“They can be seen with infrared and microwave frequencies,” says Brian Kahn, an atmospheric researcher with Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“That is why satellite observations can be so useful for observing water vapour and atmospheric rivers around the world,” Mr Kahn added.
There are other weather systems like westerly disturbances, monsoon and cyclones that can cause floods as well.
But global studies have shown that atmospheric water vapour has increased by up to 20% since the 1960s.
Scientists have associated atmospheric rivers with up to 56% of extreme precipitation (rainfall and snowfall) in South Asia, although there are limited studies on the region.
In neighbouring Southeast Asia, there have been more detailed studies on the links between atmospheric rivers and monsoon-related heavy rains.
A 2021 study, published by the American Geophysical Union, found that up to 80% of heavy rainfall events in eastern China, Korea and western Japan during early monsoon season (March and April) are associated with atmospheric rivers.
“In East Asia there has been a significant increase in frequency of atmospheric rivers since 1940,” says Sara M Vallejo-Bernal, a researcher with the University of Potsdam in Germany, who led a separate study.
“We found that they have become more intense over Madagascar, Australia and Japan ever since.”
Getty ImagesMeteorologists in other regions have been able to link a few recent major floods to atmospheric rivers.
In April 2023, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait and Jordan were all hit by catastrophic flooding after intense thunder, hailstorms and exceptional rainfall. Meteorologists later found that the skies across the region were carrying a record amount of moisture, surpassing a similar event in 2005.
Two months later, Chile was hit by 500mm of rain in just three days – the sky dumped so much water that it also melted snow on some parts of the Andes mountain, unleashing massive floods that destroyed roads, bridges, and water supplies.
A year earlier parts of Australia had been hit by what politicians called a “rain-bomb”, with more than 20 people killed and thousands evacuated.
Given the risks of catastrophic floods and landslides they can trigger, atmospheric rivers have been categorised into five types based on their size and strength – just like hurricanes.
Not all of them are damaging though, especially if they are of low intensity.
Some can be beneficial if they land in places that have suffered from prolonged droughts.
But the phenomenon is an important reminder of a rapidly warming atmosphere that holds much more moisture than in the past.
At the moment, the storm is relatively under-studied in South Asia, compared to other weather events like western disturbances or Indian cyclones that are the other major causes of floods and landslides.
“Effective collaborative efforts among meteorologists, hydrologists and climate scientists is currently challenging as the concept is new in this region and difficult to introduce,” said Rosa V Lyngwa, a research scholar at IIT Indore.
But as heavy rains continue to pummel parts of India, it’s become more important to study this storm and its potential devastating impact, she adds.
16 hours earlier
By Sudha G Tilak, Delhi
DAGA recent exhibition in Delhi that features rare works by German artists provides insight into how the British ruled the nation.
Called Destination India: Foreign Artists in India, 1857-1947, the exhibit focuses on artists who travelled to imperial India from around the globe.
In an entry to the present, Indian MP and artist Shashi Tharoor says that the picture of India through the German and British artists has “long been a subject of intrigue and exploration.”
” The fascination with India’s unique scenery, magnificent statues, attractive practices and rich history has drawn many to its shores, seeking to capture the essence of this multifaceted state”.
Mr Tharoor notes that the present is “refreshing and important” as it explores the less-explored, but a powerful phase of the late 19th and early 20th generations, rather than just the first pioneers.
The museum showcases sculptures, including from American actor William Carpenter, that give flashes into not only the royal authorities, but also daily lifestyle in the Empire.
DAGCarpenter usually did watercolour, but this 1857 artwork, pictured above, is wood engraving on paper that depicts the busy back streets of Delhi’s Jama Masjid ( mosque ).
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, countless well-known artists from Europe and England came to India. They were primarily traditional artists producing works of art in various print media, including oil and paint.
” They were attracted to the people, and not just to the grandees, but to ordinary people in the streets. If there was still a sense of the picturesque, Ashish Anand, managing director of DAG, a renowned craft company that produced the present, says it was a more personal and active variation of that aesthetic.
” In their functions, if we can put it this way, we find an India that we can hear and smell as well,” they say.
DAGWilliam Simpson painted another colour of the Jama Masjid in 1864, the same as the one above.
Simpson, who was primarily a war artist, was sent to India in 1859 by a publishing firm to depict the repercussions of the harsh rebellion two years prior. American warriors, known as colonists, had in 1857 set off a revolt against the English law, often referred to as the initial war of independence.
Simpson’s job halted when the printing company went bankrupt. He referred to it as the “biggest hazard of my living.” However, he continued travelling and sketching his excursions across the sub-continent.
DAGThis is a 1900 beige portrait of old Indians by Olinto Ghilardi, an European designer.
A major German musician, Ghilardi shaped contemporary Indian art in the first 20th Century.
He oversaw the development of the Bengal School of Art, which is the ancestor of contemporary American painting, Abanindranath Tagore, brother of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Ghilardi encouraged him to experiment with watercolours, acrylic, and hues, which he thoroughly used afterward in his job.
Ghilardi also held the position of vice principal at the Government School of Art in Calcutta ( now Kolkata ).
DAGThis 1896 mural of a young American girl was even made by Ghilardi.
Before he arrived in Kolkata, there was not much information about the European painter’s career. His connection with Tagore indicates his understanding as a performer among Kolkata’s wealthy Bengalis.
Many later, in 1911, Ghilardi became a popular part of an avant-garde group of European designers.
DAGUnofficial colour painting of an Indian city landscape by American artist Carlton Alfred Smith.
Smith lived in India between 1916 and 1923. He frequently combined portraiture with surroundings to create portraits of people.
Smith, a intensive who emigrated from Camden Town in London to paint in the late Victorian period, first pursuing a career as a lithographer. He is a member of the Royal Academy of Art and is renowned for his drawings of the designs of houses and the British countryside.
DAGThis is a 1894 colour decoration of Kashmir’s Wular Lake by George Strahan, a European military expert and designer.
Strahan, a talented scholar from Surrey, enlisted in the army and left for India in 1860, working in Roorkee and Haridwar.
He began mapping northern India, Rajasthan, and the Himalayas two years later when he joined the Topographical Survey of India.
In 1888, he became supervisor of the Great Trigonometrical Survey, which mapped the Indian continent.
At the Survey, Strahan drew comfort maps before color producing was introduced.
After retirement, he lived in the highlands of Dehradun and travelled to Kashmir every summers.
DAGThis colour of Hyderabad in southeastern India was created in 1887 by European designer Woldemar Friedrich.
A traditional painter and designer, Friedrich spent much of his profession teaching at renowned German artwork academies. In the late 1880s, he travelled to India and created a series of landscapes and images, published in the 1893 text” Six Month in India”.
DAGCarpenter’s 1857 wood carving on paper painting on Benaras ( above ) shows Varanasi- one of the nation’s oldest towns and and India’s religious capital- teeming with life.
Carpenter studied at the Royal Academy Schools in London before establishing himself as a well-known portrait and landscape artist in the 19th century.
Arriving in India in 1850, he travelled extensively, painting rulers, street scenes, landscapes, and locals across Bombay ( now Mumbai ), Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab, Kashmir, Lahore, Ceylon ( Sri Lanka ), and Afghanistan.
DAGThis is British designer Charles William Bartlett’s 1919 woodcut printing on paper version of Punjab’s Golden Temple, a spiritual shrine for Sikhs.
Dover-born Bartlett was one of the world’s leading Chinese block painting, and afterward switched to fine arts.
In 1913, he travelled to India, Indonesia and China. From 1916 to 1925, he produced 38 woodblock designs for his Chinese publication, many of which feature views from his walks in South Asia.
DAGBritish musician Edwin Lord Weeks painted this bright oil on canvas of a bullock-cart in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, in 1882.
Weeks was one of the first British artists to travel to India, having been born in Boston to a powerful family. His company family supported his creative endeavours.
Weeks second travelled to India between 1882 and 1883, painting places largely in Rajasthan. He returned in 1886, when he visited at least seven places. Weeks also wrote a travelogue account of his travels through Persia ( present-day Iran ) and India in 1896. He is renowned for his realist style and attention to detail.
11 days before
By Anbarasan Ethirajan, South Asia Regional Editor
Getty ImagesBangladesh is in tumult.
This West Asian country of 170 million people has not always experienced street protests, but recent rallies have been characterized as the worst in living memory.
For weeks, thousands of college students have voiced their opposition to a limit method for government jobs.
Veterans of the nation’s 1971 liberation struggle are the subjects of a third of the open sector’s jobs.
The kids are arguing that the system is unfair, and are asking for selection based on merit.
What started as peaceful protests on college campuses has now turned into turmoil across the country.
Protest organizers claim that police and the student organization of the ruling Awami League, also known as the Bangladesh Chhatra League, have been brutally beating quiet demonstrators, causing widespread outcry.
The federal denies these claims.
Since next Monday, there have been altercations. The most fatal morning of crime since protests started this month on Thursday was when at least 25 people were killed.
At least 32 people have died in full.
Unheard of internet access has been blocked and phone services are revoked by the state.
” It’s not individuals nowadays, it seems that people from all walks of life have joined the opposition motion”, Dr Samina Luthfa, associate professor of sociology in the University of Dhaka, tells the BBC.
The rallies have taken a long time to start. Although Bangladesh has one of the world’s fastest-growing economy, experts contend that college graduates ‘ employment has not increased as a result.
Around 18 million fresh Bangladeshis are looking for employment, according to projections. Higher levels of unemployment are experienced by school alumni compared to their less educated peers.
Bangladesh has become a superpower of ready-to-wear clothes exports. The nation exports clothing worth about$ 40 billion to the world market.
The industry employs more than four million people, many of them women. However, the younger generation’s desire to succeed is never enough.
Getty ImagesUnder Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year law, Bangladesh has transformed itself by building new bridges, roads, businesses and perhaps a rail road in the investment Dhaka.
Its per-capita income has increased by three to ten dollars per year, and according to the World Bank, more than 25 million individuals have been rescued from hunger in the past 20 years.
However, many claim that some of this growth is just enhancing those who are close to Ms. Hasina’s Awami League.
Dr Luthfa says:” We are witnessing but little problem. particularly those who are close to the ruling group. Fraud has been persisted for a long time without being punished.
New conversations about corruption allegations against some of Ms. Hasina’s former top officials, including a former army captain, former police chief, senior revenue officers, and express selection officers, have been the focus of social media in Bangladesh.
Ms Hasina last week said she was taking action against corruption, and that it was a long-standing problem.
She claimed at the same press conference in Dhaka that she had taken legal action against a household assistant ( or peon ) after he allegedly amassed$ 34 million.
” He ca n’t move without a helicopter. How does he make so much money? I immediately took action as soon as I became aware of this”.
She did not identify the individual.
The Bangladeshi media reported that this much money could only have been obtained by lobbying for government contracts, corruption, or bribery.
Former police chief Benazir Ahmed, who was once seen as a close ally of Ms. Hasina, has been the subject of an investigation by the anti-corruption commission in Bangladesh after allegedly amassing millions of dollars through illegal means. He denies the allegations.
The country’s typical citizens who are struggling with the rising cost of living did n’t escape this news.
Many rights activists point out that over the past 15 years, there have n’t been as many opportunities for democratic activity as there are for corruption allegations.
” For three consecutive elections, there has been no credible free and fair polling process”, Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, told the BBC.
Ms. Ganguly said,” [Ms. Hasina ] has perhaps underestimated the level of dissatisfaction people had with being denied the most fundamental democratic right to choose their own leader.”
MONIRUL ALAM/EPAThe main opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( BNP ), staged elections in 2014 and 2024, protesting the results of their election boycotts, claiming that free and fair elections were impossible under Ms. Hasina and that they wanted the elections to be conducted under a neutral caretaker administration.
This demand has always been rejected by Ms. Hasina.
Rights groups also say more than 80 people, many of them government critics, have disappeared in the past 15 years, and that their families have no information on them.
In light of concerns that Sheikh Hasina has become more autocratic over the years, the government is accused of stifling dissent and the media. But ministers deny the charges.
According to Dr. Luthfa,” the anger against the government and the ruling party has been accumulating for a long time.”
” People are now expressing their anger. People use protest if they have no other options left.
Ms. Hasina’s ministers claim that despite what they perceive as provocative actions by protesters, the government has shown extreme restraint.
They claim that Islamist parties, who they claim sparked the violence, have infiltrated demonstrations and that their political opposition has led to the violence.
Anisul Huq, the government’s attorney, stated that the government was ready to discuss the issues.
The government has been contacting student protesters, the statement read. When there is a reasonable argument, we are willing to listen”, Mr Huq told the BBC earlier this week.
The student protests are probably Ms. Hasina’s biggest challenge since January 2009.
How they are resolved will depend on how she handles the unrest and, most importantly, how she addresses the public’s growing anger.
Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh, and Narendra Modi, her Indian counterpart, just signed 10 notes of knowledge, including three new ones, and three renewed ones, to further strengthen the relationship between the two neighbors. But, Sheikh Hasina’s four-day visit to India ended without a milestone in the pending Teesta Water Sharing Treaty.
However, Narendra Modi stated in a press release that” a technical staff will quickly explore Bangladesh to explore protection and control of the Teesta River in Bangladesh.” Sheikh Hasina, on the other hand, has expressed her assumption about the Teesta River as she said,” We hope that all remarkable issues, including the Teesta Water-Sharing Treaty, may be concluded at an early time”.
These two prime minister’s remarks indicate that the agreement will be the subject of serious discussions between Delhi and Dhaka.
Although the past of Teesta negotiations, which began in 1947, just after the separation, has not yet been successful due to India’s non-cooperation, this period the political situation in South Asia compels India to join the table.
India has expressed its interest in financing the Teesta River job, mainly to counter China’s growing effect in Bangladesh. By investing in this task, India aims to reduce Bangladesh’s dependent on Chinese opportunities, thus maintaining its regional hegemony and strengthening diplomatic relations with Bangladesh.
Although both China and India are interested in funding the Teesta River task, India’s dedication to a water-sharing agreement with Bangladesh may enhance both India’s strategic and political standing in the region by ensuring local stability and preventing Chinese influence. Because it addresses longtime local water problems, India’s involvement is more significant than China’s, which directly affects both countries ‘ agricultural and financial stability. Also, as the Teesta is a transnational valley between India and Bangladesh, effective management of the Teesta will not be achievable without India’s assistance.
Amid the positive expectation of the Teesta water-sharing convention, Mamata Banerjee, the deputy minister of West Bengal, in a text expressed her “deep pain” over her country’s being excluded from ongoing conversations with Dhaka regarding the Teesta water-sharing deal.
Mamata urged Bangladesh to sign a Teesta water sharing agreement in a letter to Narendra Modi, saying that” the Teesta has seen a decrease in water flowing over the years.” If Bangladesh receives any more water, it is estimated that crore [hundreds of thousands ] of people in North Bengal may be severely impacted by the lack of water water. Teesta waters is also required to supply North Bengal’s having water needs. Thus, it is impossible to discuss Teesta lakes with Bangladesh.
This position has raised concerns that Mamata is preventing cooperation between the two nations by preventing Bangladesh from using Teesta waters in an equitable and reasonable manner, as required by international waters rules. Her weight echoes past obstacles, somewhat in September 2011 when a proposed deal allocating 37.5 percentage of Teesta lakes to Bangladesh was blocked by Mamata’s concerns, prioritizing West Bengal’s needs over Bangladesh’s legitimate communicate.
The Teesta has been clean in Bangladesh during the dry season, causing severe pain for the farmers in Northern Bangladesh who rely on its water because of Mamata’s persistent resistance and the canal’s drainage through the Teesta-Mahananda hyperlink canal in addition to climate change and hydropower projects.
However, excessive release of water during rainy season creates severe flooding in Northern Bangladesh, severely affecting the economy, lives, and communities and causing damage of crops. India has responded to Bangladesh’s persistent and urgent pleas for the finalization of the long-awaited Teesta River water-sharing treaty with an indifferent and dismissive response.
Mamata’s steadfast commitment to not share any water with Bangladesh and refrain from entering any agreement threatens to undermine diplomatic efforts and upcoming international law compliance with equitable water-sharing and cooperation at a time when the central government of India seeks to advance positively toward the Teesta water-sharing treaty.
The Teesta water-sharing treaty is a significant threat to the fundamentals of international water law due to Mamata’s unwavering opposition to it, which could stifle Bangladesh’s human rights and efforts to promote regional cohesion and stability.
All riparian states must have equal access to shared water resources in accordance with the principle of equitable and reasonable use. This rule is regarded as customary international law, reflecting a state-wide consensus regarding transboundary watercourse management and fairness and sustainability.
The statement made by Mamata Banerjee that” It is not feasible to share Teesta water with Bangladesh because the people of the northern region of West Bengal need the water for irrigation and drinking” is contrary to this principle, obstructing Bangladesh’s right to an equitable share of the Teesta waters. Her stance undermines the need for a balanced and equitable water distribution, which is required by international standards, by placing West Bengal’s needs before Bangladesh’s needs. This cooperative approach risks going against the customary practice of just and equitable use, which seeks to avoid significant harm and ensure the interests of all involved riparian states.
Mamata’s steadfast defense of not participating in the Teesta water-sharing treaty with Bangladesh is in stark violation of international water law’s principle of cooperation. Riparian states are required to work together to manage shared water resources in an equitable and sustainable manner under the guidance of this principle. This kind of cooperation requires active participation in discussions and the exchange of information, which are necessary to avoid and settle disputes.
This obligation is essential to sustainable water management and regional stability. By prioritizing West Bengal’s interests over Bangladesh’s, Banerjee obstructs the necessary dialogue for mutual understanding and compromise. Her stance encourages unilateral actions that go against the IWL’s fundamental requirement of good faith cooperation. This jeopardizes regional harmony and sustainable development as well as severing the legal framework. Thus, Mamata’s position undermines the core principles of international water diplomacy, threatening both equitable resource management and regional stability.
The Teesta Water-Shared Treaty offers India a number of strategic advantages in addition to fulfilling its obligations under international law.
From a geopolitical perspective, India must consider the growing influence of China in Bangladesh. China has been actively investing in Bangladesh’s infrastructure, including the Teesta River project, under its Belt and Road Initiative. By entering into a water-sharing treaty with Bangladesh, India can counterbalance China’s influence, strengthening its strategic position in South Asia. This action would strengthen India’s reputation as a trustworthy regional partner and show its commitment to diplomatic and cooperative resolution of long-standing bilateral disputes.
India must weigh its geopolitical considerations and broader strategic interests in the face of this domestic opposition in order to move forward.
Md. The University of Dhaka’s Department of Law is where Jahid-Al-Mamun teaches.
