Himal Southasian

Himal Southasian stands out as the first and only magazine in Southasia dedicated to reviewing politics and culture.

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Who is counting India's heat deaths?

3 days ago | himalmag.com | Raisa Wickrematunge

This week, Jeff Joseph writes that ineffective advisories and the undercounting of heat-related deaths leaves millions of Indians vulnerable to extreme heat and the climate crisis. Joseph notes that Southasia is home to 29 percent of people living in extreme poverty, who are most at risk from heatwaves, adding that it is imperative for the region’s governments to act to help them.
Bangladesh’s fragile media freedom – Southasia Weekly #61

1 week ago | himalmag.com | Raisa Wickrematunge

This week, Cyrus Naji writes about a Media Reform Commission set up by Bangladesh’s interim government to address press freedom, and the threats and patterns of control that remain. For the next episode of the State of Southasia podcast, host Nayantara Narayanan speaks with writer and editor Pranaya SJB Rana about the pro-monarchy protests and public discontent around political corruption in Nepal.
What’s fuelling Nepal’s pro monarchy protests? – Southasia Weekly #60

2 weeks ago | himalmag.com | Raisa Wickrematunge

Before we kick off this week's newsletter, we want to hear from you. Please fill out our short reader survey- it takes less than five minutes (we promise!)This week, Amish Mulmi writes about the recent violent pro-monarchy protests, which reveals Nepal’s incomplete transition from Hindu kingdom to secular republic, fuelled by nationalist myth and India’s Hindu Right.
How Bangladesh exploits the Rohingya crisis - Southasia Weekly #59

3 weeks ago | himalmag.com | Raisa Wickrematunge

This week, Shafiur Rahman writes that Bangladesh’s accommodation of the Rohingya, while seen as humanitarian, is part of an exploitative system that profits from their labour, denies them opportunities and locks them into dependence on foreign aid. For the next episode of the State of Southasia podcast, host Nayantara Narayanan speaks with journalist and documentary-maker Shafiur Rahman on Bangladesh’s continued exploitation of Rohingya refugees and the myriad other dangers these refugees face.
Shafiur Rahman

3 weeks ago | himalmag.com | Shafiur Rahman

Shafiur Rahman is a journalist and documentary maker. He writes the Rohingya Refugee News newsletter.
How Bangladesh is exploiting the Rohingya refugee crisis

3 weeks ago | himalmag.com | Shafiur Rahman

The village of Tula Toli was the site of one of the worst massacres of the Rohingya people that took place in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in 2017. On 30 August that year, the Myanmar military marched into the village. Survivor accounts detail how soldiers shot the men dead, threw babies onto burning pyres, raped women and locked them inside houses that they then set ablaze.
Sri Lanka’s ex-president in the hot seat over torture site

1 month ago | himalmag.com | Raisa Wickrematunge

This week, Frances Harrison revisits the Batalanda Commission Report detailing human rights abuses at the torture site in Sri Lanka during the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna uprisings in the 1980s, after a recent scathing interview with former president Ranil Wickremesinghe on Al Jazeera which revived questions of his role in alleged human rights abuses.
How Bangladesh’s pharma revolution succeeded against the odds

1 month ago | himalmag.com | Vidya Krishnan |Arshu John

This story is part of “Pills, Perils, Profits”, a Himal investigative series on Southasian pharmaceutical manufacturing and exports. Reporting for this story was supported by the Pulitzer Center. IN MAY 1982, a committee of eight experts submitted a report to Bangladesh’s health ministry proposing an overhaul of the country’s drug regulation regime.
Why India fails to stop dangerous drugs

1 month ago | himalmag.com | Raisa Wickrematunge

This week, Vidya Krishnan and Arshu John write about serious lapses in India’s drug regulatory powers that lead to substandard drugs being made and released to the market. Compounded by lax laws and loopholes, these drugs leave patients across Southasia and the world at risk – the second story in our investigative series on Southasian pharmaceuticals called ‘Pills, Perils, Profits’.
Trump’s approach to Southasia bolsters China’s regional sway

1 month ago | himalmag.com | Amantha Perera

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, responds to a question as US President Donald Trump, right, looks on during a joint press conference at the White House, in February 2025. In India, Trump’s return to the White House is likely to embolden the entrenched Narendra Modi regime. IT HAD BEEN four years since Myanmar’s military junta seized power in a violent coup executed on 1 February 2021. Yet the day marking the coup in 2025 passed with hardly a blip on the international news tickers.