Asia
Asia
Fair Observer provides insightful and informed analysis of the important issues, events and trends in the unique nations of Asia.
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360° Analysis / India / Mumbai / poverty / Poverty Free World / Rahool Gadkari / Social Development / Finance & Economics / BRIC / Global Change / AsiaAs India focuses on stimulating economic growth, it must not neglect the challenges facing its 360 million below the poverty line citizens. India has been the topic of much discussion in the recent past. Attracting much attention from investors and corporations alike for its high growth numbers last decade, India rode the capital markets boom of the 2000s. With the influx of FDI that followed, India experienced unprecedented economic growth and rapid urbanization that led to the creation of a growing class of nouveau riche. But India’s growth has not been inclusive. Commentators often refer to the country’s dichotomous nature, juxtapositioning India the emerging economic giant...
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361 security / China / insurgency / international security / Kuala Lumpur / malaysia / Nicholas A. Heras / Philippines / RAS / United States / Focus Article / Global Security / AsiaIncreased insurgency in Sabah would present the Filipino government with the difficult choice of participating militarily in an election year, or doing nothing and risking the ire of Malaysia. Malaysian security forces have been battling a militant Filipino organization called the “Royal Army of Sulu” (RAS) in Malaysia’s Sabah State, in the northeastern region of the Borneo island. RAS fighters, the majority of whom are ethnic Tausug from the Philippine islands of the Sulu Archipelago that border Sabah, claim fealty to the Manila-based Sultan Jamalul Kiram III. Sultan Jamalul III is one of nine competing descendants of the historical Sultanate of Sulu who claim control...
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This is the final article in the three part series: Pakistan Beyond Bomb and Burqas. It examines the Loom Workers’ Strike in Faisalabad, and how it challenges hegemonic discourses on Pakistan dictated by the War on Terror. Read part one of the series here. Faisalabad and its adjoining district Jhang are the hub of hardline Islamist movements Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Sipah-e-Sahaba (SS) which repeatedly target and direct popular agitations towards members of the Shia sect. The Faisalabad Loom workers’ strike, however, questions the potency and legitimacy of these sectarian divisions in everyday life. During this time, ordinary workers began to question such divisions...
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360° Analysis / Education / India / Manmohan Singh / Politics / BRIC / Global Change / AsiaIndependence to India, amongst other things, gave a boost to the education system in terms of the number of institutes that came up. But the concern over the quality of education catered in these institutions still troubles the policy makers. Nelson Mandela’s words describing the power of education as a weapon that can change the world finds truth in any society. In India, education system has been given its due share over the past decades. The number of institutions that have been established after 1990 has been unprecedented. This expansion on the other hand has concealed within itself several key issues ranging from quality to the access of such education. School Education Ever...
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Gandhi dynasty / India / Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act / Manmohan / Narendra Modi / Politics / Politics / Rahul / Focus Article / BRIC / AsiaBy Mayank SinghRahul Gandhi’s façade as a Prime Ministerial aspirant is disintegrating rapidly. His first public speaking foray in nearly a decade of political life only served to lay bare his inadequacies as a leader. In spite of the bravado exhibited by sycophants, Rahul, in his speech at the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) meet, displayed an amazing ignorance regarding the international and domestic issues confronting India. Scion of the Nehru –Gandhi dynasty which has ruled India for a major period since its independence, Rahul is considered a prime minister-in-waiting by loyalists. In 2004, Rahul’s mother and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson, Sonia...
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360° Analysis / Family / Gandhi dynasty / India / Indira Gandhi / Politics / Rahul / Sonia Gandhi / Global Change / Global Security / AsiaBy Saroj ChadhaEvents come and events go. Some events are more talked about before they take place while others give the luxury of discussion in hindsight. Rahul Gandhi’s speech at Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) falls in the later category. Did the speech and Gandhi scion leave a positive impact on industry captains? Did he renew confidence and optimism in an otherwise dull and gloomy industrial environment prevailing in India? Was there some hint of a road map that he visualized for the nation to get the economy back on its feet? There are many such questions that need urgent answers. The consensus is that he failed to deliver any answers or specific measures that the industry would expect...
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360° Analysis / India / Politics / Rape / sexual violence / Social Attitudes / BRIC / Arts & Culture / AsiaThe recent public outcry against the treatment of women in India is a song we’ve heard too many times before. Karl Marx once famously said that history repeats itself “first as tragedy, then as farce”. The gang-rape atrocity of a 23-year old woman in Delhi on 16 December 2012 for the most part appears nothing but a “tragedy”. The brutality of the incident in Delhi and the public mourning of that woman’s tragic death has set Indian society on a path on introspection of the treatment of women and on a mission to change the country’s legal system’s inefficacy in reporting and prosecuting sex attacks. The uncomfortable truth for India and Delhi,...
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360° Analysis / Ari Katz / Counter-Piracy measures / Global Piracy / Maritime Technology / Naval Collaborative Approach / United States / Europe / Africa / Global Security / Asia / Science & Technology / OceaniaBy Ari KatzSynergizing resources and technology from private and public stakeholders, can produce more effective and cost efficient counter-maritime piracy measures. In light of sequestration, analysts project that countering maritime piracy will take a back seat to the Asia rebalancing and other more existential US foreign policy issues. Unfortunately, this rationing of focus has the potential to undermine and reverse a recent downward trend in maritime piracy incidents, particularly along the Somali coast. However, with piracy still costing the world economy $7 to $12 billion a year, fiscal challenges should ideally spur innovative efficiency, rather than obstructive neglect. Further, even with...
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360° Analysis / bellicose rhetoric / China / DMZ / Kim Jong Un / Korea / Korean peninsula / Missile test / North Korea / Nuclear Missile / Park / Politics / Pyongyang / Tension / US / Global Security / AsiaAfter his first of four cultural diplomatic trips to North Korea, Michael Bassett discusses the interplay of rhetoric and reality in the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea. [View, In Picture: A Note From North Korea (Part 1)] I thought it was going to be a great risk for me to visit North Korea as an ex-soldier in the United States Army who had been deployed on the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ). The riskiness of the trip seemed even more threatening because the rhetoric of tension between the DPRK and the US and its allies in the region had escalated to a boiling point during my visit. When I returned to the DMZ, this time on the North Korean side of the border, I was worried...