August 8, 2025
Sundar Singh Institute of South Asian Studies, Prayagraj, India

Earlier this month, the Sundar Singh Institute hosted a three-day grassroots workshop aimed at equipping faith leaders from across South Asia with the skills and strategies needed to counter hate speech and foster community cohesion. The event drew participants from Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, and Buddhist communities in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

Facilitated by the Institute’s Interfaith Engagement Unit, the workshop provided practical training in conflict-sensitive communication, social media literacy, and legal frameworks related to hate speech regulation. Sessions also included role-playing exercises to simulate real-world scenarios, enabling leaders to practice de-escalation and dialogue techniques in tense situations.

Dr. Isaac S. Sato, delivering the keynote address, underscored the moral responsibility of faith leaders to protect vulnerable communities from targeted discrimination. He emphasized that silence in the face of inflammatory rhetoric can contribute to cycles of violence and mistrust.

Participants collaborated to produce a “Community Charter for Respectful Dialogue,” committing to regular interfaith forums, joint public statements against hate speech, and coordinated outreach in times of crisis. The charter will be formally launched at the Institute’s January 2026 conference on interfaith dialogue and peacebuilding.

Feedback from attendees indicated that the workshop not only enhanced practical skills but also deepened trust among leaders of diverse traditions, laying the groundwork for future collaboration in promoting peace and social harmony across the region.

July 9, 2025
Sundar Singh Institute of South Asian Studies, Prayagraj, India

In July, the Sundar Singh Institute released a comprehensive report detailing the persistent digital literacy gaps across rural South Asia. The study, based on two years of field research in India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, revealed that while internet connectivity has expanded rapidly, the ability to effectively use digital tools remains uneven and often limited by socio-economic factors.

Lead researcher Dr. Farida Alam presented the findings at a press conference held at the Institute’s main campus. She noted that gender disparities were particularly stark, with women in rural areas being 38% less likely than men to possess basic digital skills. The report also highlighted that limited access to affordable devices and inadequate training programs have hindered the full realization of digital inclusion initiatives.

The publication calls for a multi-pronged approach, combining infrastructure investment, localized training programs, and policy measures aimed at integrating digital skills development into school curricula. It also emphasizes the role of civil society organizations and faith-based institutions in delivering community-level training, particularly for marginalized groups.

The report has already attracted attention from regional development agencies and was cited in a policy briefing submitted to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) earlier this month. Implementation discussions are expected to continue in upcoming forums, including the Institute’s September conference on climate resilience and community empowerment.

Publication Summary

The Role of Religion in South Asian Politics: A Contemporary Analysis

Dr. Rajiv K. Menon
Date of Publication: June 10, 2025

Abstract

Dr. Rajiv K. Menon’s The Role of Religion in South Asian Politics: A Contemporary Analysis is one of the most nuanced and extensive works to date on the subject relative to religion and a developing political atmosphere in South Asia. Blending field research, comparative political theory, and election data, his work contradicts the foundations of pluralistic secular democracy by exploring how politicians from India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka weaponized—and specifically embraced—religious identity.

Main Findings

Menon discovers that politicians as entrepreneurs have rendered religion as something more than devotional or ideational expressive culture but as politicized rhetorical performative acts of faith with larger ideological intentions. This is especially true for politically motivated acts of engagement surrounding elections and the nation-building goals of hegemonic political parties. Therefore, Menon’s findings reflect that such rhetorical construction is responsible for the diminishing institutional secularism in contemporary South Asia.

These findings are derived from a postcolonial historical and geopolitical assessment of modernity. Therefore, relevant to this perspective, Menon underscores an increasingly empowering disempowerment of religious minorities across South Asia with a consistent focus on the needs of dominant religious majorities.

Policy Implications

Where many academic assessments stop to leave the populace without critical next steps, Menon continues to offer a theory-to-practice policy implication. He suggests a myriad of prescriptions to create a sense of interreligious esteem and preservation of pluralistic democratic institutions. His recommendations imply that religion does not have to be a private matter when understood through the political assessment of responsible citizenship.

Additional Notes

Since publication, Menon’s book has become a launchpad for academic dialogue among interfaith scholars, politicians, and civil society practitioners, reinvigorating debate about ethical democracies in South Asia and what it means for the future of religious pluralism.

Launch of the South Asian Peace and Conflict Resolution Journal Successfully Completed
Date: June 30, 2025

By June 30, 2025, the Institute was prepared to publish an international peer-reviewed South Asian Peace and Conflict Resolution Journal. The concept of the journal arose from an interdisciplinary means through which peace operations and conflict resolutions could be better understood and articulated from the South Asian perspective.

Volume 1 contained articles connected to the theme, written by reputable scholars and practitioners, empirically driven to articulate a better understanding of the structural, geopolitical, and historical foundations of conflict in the region. Among these was a lens into why Kashmir is a never-ending site of conflict, the India-China border as a territorial conflict and a cross-border conflict, and the Afghanistan-Pakistan corridor through a geostrategic lens.

It also assessed findings in attempted transitional justice and reconciliation efforts in Sri Lanka and an evaluation of federal reconstruction and peace agreement implementation in Nepal, for while these cases represent micro examples of conflict-induced paths, the findings were transferable to greater South Asian lessons learned.

Rather than take a standoffish approach between academia and practice, this journal fostered the active dialogue between the two, open-access and inclusively relative to educated discourse regarding ethics, approaches, and possibilities for peace-rendering efforts. While print copies would be distributed, an open-access version online would allow for international ears for professional and practical endeavors.

International Workshop on Sustainable Urbanization in South Asia (June 15, 2025)

On June 15, 2025, the Institute successfully held the International Workshop on Sustainable Urbanization in South Asia in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). This transdisciplinary workshop allowed researchers, urban policymakers, development practitioners, and multilateral agency representatives to evaluate the current and future trends of urbanization across South Asia. Particular focus was placed on the necessity of urbanization that is sustainable, equitable, and climate-resilient given the pressures anticipated demographically and environmentally from within the region.

The workshop sought to evaluate population growth and infrastructure development as attributes of urbanization. For example, mega-cities such as Delhi, Dhaka, Karachi, and Kathmandu are increasing, revealing certain paths for economic development, yet at the same time, exposing vulnerabilities in climate change, energy waste, and informal settlements. Interdisciplinary panels sought to address potential solutions for sustainable means of infrastructure development, accountability of governance, and inclusive arenas of policymaking.

The workshop was facilitated by Dr. Anjali R. Kapoor, a leading expert on the political ecology of urban agglomerations. Her esteemed background lent the workshop a data-rich context from which cities undergoing hyper-urbanization operate and what policy trade-offs may be assessed. For example, development driven by property acquisition tends to yield economic gains, yet Dr. Kapoor suggests that cities that undergo such rapidity of change often forfeit decision-making on issues related to environmental law that have contentious implications for the ability to retain quality of life.

Furthermore, in addition to Dr. Kapoor’s findings, members of local government, civil society, and urban planning practitioners provided lessons learned and recommendations from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. For example, those from Dhaka, Kolkata, and Lahore provided insights into air and water pollution, stresses on sustainability in infrastructure, and uneven realities of spatial equity. While some offered successful examples of localized engagement through decentralized governance, others lamented successful socio-environmental stressors that irrefutably impact decision-making.

By the close of the workshop, it was agreed upon by all that a working group in conjunction with UNEP and the Institute would be positioned to undertake longitudinal region-based comparative studies and policy experiments. Therefore, this workshop helped set the tone for future international cross-talk based on empirically supported findings gleaned from ecologies of South Asian urban centers.

June 18, 2025
Sundar Singh Institute of South Asian Studies, Prayagraj, India

In June, the Sundar Singh Institute hosted a high-level policy dialogue on cross-border water management, bringing together government officials, environmental scientists, and legal experts from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. The meeting addressed the pressing challenges of equitable water sharing in transboundary river systems such as the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Teesta.

Opening the dialogue, Dr. Sanjeev Kapoor, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute, highlighted that climate change, population growth, and unsustainable infrastructure development have intensified disputes over water allocation. He stressed the urgency of cooperative frameworks to prevent resource scarcity from escalating into conflict.

Participants engaged in focused sessions on hydrological data sharing, legal frameworks for water treaties, and community-based flood management strategies. Case studies from Nepal and Bangladesh demonstrated the benefits of early warning systems and local participation in reducing flood-related damage.

One key outcome of the dialogue was the formation of a working group tasked with drafting a “South Asia Water Cooperation Roadmap” to be presented at the November 2025 ministerial summit in Dhaka. Delegates expressed optimism that this roadmap could pave the way for more transparent, equitable, and sustainable water governance in the region.

Seminar on Water Security and Cross-Border Cooperation in South Asia (May 20, 2025)

The Sundar Singh Institute held a high-powered academic seminar on Water Security and Cross Border Cooperation in South Asia on May 20, 2025. The seminar was a response to climate change, population pressures, and uneven developmental resources putting added stress on transboundary waterways across the region. The seminar was co-chaired by Prof. Helena von Strauss, a leading expert in the field of hydropolitics, and Dr. Ravi Iyer, a prominent scholar of environmental governance in South Asia.

The seminar sought to explore the intersection of legal constructs, hydropolitical conflict, and ecological responsibility within South Asia. Issues related to relative and future agreements for water sharing, downstream challenges when upstream problems are addressed without negotiation, and transcendental jurisdictional control over water resources based on scientific evidence and equitable treatment were explored.

In-person and remote participants from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan included both academic and field practitioners who championed topical discourse with case study evidence and theoretical justification for continued approaches to cooperation. The Asian Development Bank and the World Water Council sent representatives to provide keynote addresses emphasizing that trust between institutions/factions remains ever critical, as does appropriate watershed-based management and policy negotiations with all stakeholders.

Thus, this seminar was a multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder effort that increased awareness of the need for water diplomacy as a mechanism for regional peace and sustainability.

Launch of the South Asia Digital Transformation Forum (May 5, 2025)

The South Asia Digital Transformation Forum, spearheaded by the Sundar Singh Institute of South Asian Studies, has successfully convened on May 5, 2025, under the direction of Dr. Sunita Rao and Prof. Andrew Hyunwoo Kim. This effort has been put together to not only provide an interdisciplinary collaborative forum of South Asian policymakers, academics, and specialists in technology but also to critically assess the trajectory and speed of digital transformation across South Asia and what it means for governance, equity in education, and socioeconomic progress with sustainability efforts in mind.

The outcomes of this unprecedented event promoted a collaborative atmosphere for give-and-take between empirical and research-based findings and policy suggestions regarding how potential new digital infrastructures could, for example, reduce deep-rooted inequities. Equity of access was a primary agenda discussion; virtual classrooms could offer access to educational resources otherwise unavailable, while telehealth could provide access to medical services, otherwise remote or stigmatized, and through financial technologies, access to previously marginalized populations could be cut off from appropriate banking procedures. Simultaneously, however, many reminders of the digitally inequitable divide were assessed in relationship to digital competencies and gaps in infrastructure. Likewise, a good portion of the discussions revolved around the ethics of surveillance and bureaucratic algorithmic authority with a cautionary note that any type of digital transformation in South Asia should also uphold democratic standards and human rights.

May 22, 2025
Sundar Singh Institute of South Asian Studies, Prayagraj, India

The Sundar Singh Institute of South Asian Studies successfully launched its inaugural Regional Fellowship Program this May, aimed at nurturing the next generation of scholars across South Asia. The program, designed to support research on pressing social, economic, and political issues, welcomed twelve fellows from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

During the opening ceremony, Institute Director Dr. Kavita Menon emphasized the importance of fostering academic collaboration across borders in an era marked by both unprecedented connectivity and deepening geopolitical tensions. She noted that the fellowship would provide not only financial support but also mentorship and access to the Institute’s extensive research network.

The first week of the program included orientation sessions, research methodology workshops, and discussions on ethical considerations in fieldwork. Fellows also participated in a policy roundtable with representatives from regional think tanks, NGOs, and government bodies, exploring how academic research can directly inform policy decisions.

By the end of the month, several fellows had already begun preliminary field visits in their respective countries, with topics ranging from climate adaptation strategies in coastal Bangladesh to the role of faith-based organizations in urban poverty alleviation in India. The program will culminate in a public symposium scheduled for March 2026, where fellows will present their research findings.

Personnel Announcement (Effective April 1, 2025)

The Sundar Singh Institute had announced that Dr. Isaac Shunsuke Sato had been appointed as the Director of the newly established Centre for the Study of Religion, Politics and International Relations, an advanced interdisciplinary research centre that had been launched with strategic funding from the Ministry of Home Affairs. As part of this transition, Dr. Sato had concluded his tenure as Acting Director, a role in which he had overseen the Institute’s research agenda with distinction and intellectual leadership during a pivotal period of institutional consolidation.

He had been succeeded by Dr. Rajiv K. Menon, who had previously served as Assistant Director and had been promoted in recognition of his substantial contributions to the Centre’s policy research initiatives and his leadership in developing its international academic partnerships.