Bangladesh has been in news for radicalisation, extremism, and brutal political violence since the August 2024 coup, but the lesser-known story is the economy, which is in a downward spiral. The country is facing a banking crisis, a shortage of foreign exchange and a weak business environment. The economic hardship may worsen other existing problems. A foreign exchange shortage is usually an early warning sign of deeper economic problems. From a peak of $46 billion in 2020-21, Bangladesh’s forex reserves read more

On December 18, Sharif Osman Hadi, a prominent leader of the 2024 student-led uprising, was assassinated. What began as protests against civil service quotas became a leaderless uprising. As Western powers celebrated a “democratic dawn”, Bangladesh slid into structured anarchy. Dhaka now faces two futures with terrifying clarity: one with elections skewed by military advantage and Islamist mobilisation, and the other by acknowledging that democracy cannot be airlifted. read more

The dramatic turn of events in Bangladesh since August 5 has shifted the geopolitical tectonic plates of the subcontinent. Just as it seemed like Asia was largely sheltered from the deadly wars in West Asia and the European region, the same forces arrived at India’s immediate border in the form of the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. The primary reason for the riots that led to regime change was a leader who was not responsive to the read more

One approach to understanding Bombay’s overseas spheres of influence is to trace the history of its multicultural migrant trading communities and their overseas networks. Some of these diasporas were created before Bombay, the trading city existed but were transposed here when these communities made the city their spiritual and community headquarters. The city became attractive to these internal migrants from the 18th century onwards because of its relative security, trade, commercial and connectivity advantages on the west coast – both overseas read more