epubdos : Afghanistan
SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO:
SCA & Staff
DATE:
Friday, February 21, 2025 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan
Trump’s foreign aid pause imperils education programs for Afghan women (Washington Post)
Washington Post [2/21/2025 2:00 AM, Rick Noack, 6.9M]
Banned from school by the Taliban, Afghan women fear President Donald Trump’s suspension of foreign assistance will deny them a last chance at an education.

After the U.S. military withdrawal from the country in 2021, and the Taliban’s subsequent closure of secondary schools and universities for women, American aid had allowed thousands of female students to continue their studies online or seek scholarships abroad.

But many of those programs have now been suspended, according to students and administrators, following a 90-day pause on most international aid. The executive order, signed by Trump hours after his return to the White House, accused the “foreign aid industry and bureaucracy” of “promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.”

In response to questions about the suspension of education funding, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said: “Afghan women are suffering because Joe Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal allowed the Taliban to conduct a hostile takeover of the country’s government and impose medieval Sharia law policies."

For Afghan women, many already disillusioned by what they view as America’s broken promises, there is a searing sense of abandonment.

“It’s history, happening again,” said a 19-year-old student, recalling the “dark days” more than three years ago when the new Afghan government began shuttering schools. “Now, President Donald Trump did the same thing,” she said.

She was thrilled to start an online computer science course through the American University of Afghanistan last month. The next day, classes were canceled.

“We encounter a new closed door,” she said, “and we’re very tired.”

Like other Afghan women interviewed for this story, she spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing regime scrutiny. Though the Taliban has not explicitly outlawed online education, and would likely struggle to enforce such a ban, students are wary of drawing the attention of authorities.

Since its return to power, the group has imposed increasingly draconian rules on women. They are not allowed to look at men other than their husbands or relatives, or to travel long distances without a male companion. The morality police patrol parks and shopping malls to enforce strict gender segregation rules, effectively erasing women from much of public life.

The change is especially jarring for women who came of age during America’s 20-year war against the Taliban. Between 2005 and 2019, the United States invested about $167 million in the American University of Afghanistan — its flagship academic institution in the country. Now exiled to Qatar, the university has a small campus in Doha but is mostly dedicated to remote learning, and is among the largest providers of online classes for Afghan women. A notice on its website says it “decided to suspend the Spring 2025 semester,” impacting about 700 female students. The university declined to comment for this story.

The U.S. aid pause has also dashed the hopes of those desperate to study abroad. The Asian University for Women in Bangladesh had become a lifeline for many of them.

After the chaotic U.S. withdrawal, “we knew what awaited women in Afghanistan,” said Kamal Ahmad, the university’s founder. “So, we decided that we would go back and try to launch a very significant program to recruit more Afghan women,” he said.

The university has helped more than 600 women leave Afghanistan and pursue a higher education since 2021. About 330 more were expected to arrive in Bangladesh in the coming weeks, but those plans have been put on hold in the wake of Trump’s executive order.

Even studying abroad came with risks. A 21-year-old student recounted how, when she arrived at the Kabul airport to fly to Bangladesh, Taliban agents kept asking her why she was leaving the country. She lied and said she was traveling for a wedding. “I was so scared,” she recalled.

Last month, in the waning weeks of the Biden administration, the Asian University for Women was recognized for its work during an event at the State Department.

“So it came as a shock when 10 days later, we got a notice that all U.S. government support for our Afghan program will be suspended for a period of three months,” Ahmad said. In the past, he said, support for his university had transcended political divides — former first lady Laura Bush still sits on its council of patrons.

Ahmad is now appealing to other donors — including Germany and Canada — to step up their contributions. “But nobody, it seems, has the extra resources to fill the void left by the Americans,” who contributed roughly 20 percent of the university’s operating costs, he said.

Afghan women who are given a chance to study — whether online or abroad — often rise to the top of their classes, Ahmad said. Many speak in flawless, American-accented English. A lucky few have won scholarships to U.S. colleges and universities.

But even that narrow path may now be closing. Another executive order signed by Trump on Jan. 20 ordered U.S. officials to identify nations with vetting and screening information that are “so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries.” Afghan women worry they may no longer be eligible for student visas.

A 23-year-old student, recently granted a full scholarship at a major U.S. university, spoke of a daily “battle with uncertainty.”

She is still waiting on documents before applying for her American visa and now worries it could be rejected. She’s hiding in Peshawar, in northwestern Pakistan, trying to avoid deportation to Afghanistan. Pakistani officials have yet to renew her expired visa and have warned of a looming crackdown on Afghan refugees.

She wants to study political science in the United States, “to be an advocate for my own country, to bring change,” she said in a phone interview. “But suddenly, this feels out of reach.”

Women’s rights activists worry the suspension of U.S. foreign aid could trigger a wholesale economic collapse in Afghanistan. The Center for Global Development, a D.C.-based think tank, estimated last week that the country’s gross national income could shrink by 7 percent if U.S. assistance is frozen for a full year.

A 22-year-old who teaches online courses from Kabul said she is already seeing the impact. “People are losing their jobs and unemployment is rising,” she said. “More girls are withdrawing from the classes because they can’t afford mobile data packages.”

Only a small fraction of Afghans have internet access at home, so many women rely on these data packages to sign onto online classes.

Afghan Female Student Outreach, a volunteer nonprofit group, has relied on private donations and is one of the few remaining providers of online education. But the team is struggling to cope with surging demand as other options disappear, said Lucy Ferriss, one of the organization’s leaders.

“Students are panicking,” Ferriss said, and “they’re very afraid that all their work will be for naught.”
Rubio warns Taliban’s limited control in Afghanistan creates opportunities for terror groups (Amu TV)
Amu TV [2/20/2025 4:14 PM, Habib Mohammadi]
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned that the Taliban’s lack of full control over Afghanistan’s territory creates opportunities for terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIS-K to operate in the country.

In an interview with Catherine Herridge on X, Rubio noted that unlike a decade ago, the U.S. no longer has forces on the ground to monitor and counter these threats directly.

Asked whether al-Qaeda and ISIS-K have established safe havens in Afghanistan similar to the pre-9/11 era, Rubio responded:

“Well, I wouldn’t say it’s the pre-9/11 landscape. But anytime you have contested territory where the government does not fully control every part of the country, it creates opportunities for these groups.”

Rubio acknowledged that the Taliban’s response to terrorist activity has been inconsistent.

“In some cases, the Taliban have cooperated when told that ISIS or al-Qaeda operatives are in certain areas. In other cases, not so much,” he said. “So, while I wouldn’t compare it to pre-9/11, the situation is far more uncertain—and it’s not just limited to Afghanistan.”

Rubio’s comments come amid a recent U.N. report stating that the Taliban continue to provide shelter and protection to al-Qaeda operatives across Afghanistan.

According to the report, low-profile al-Qaeda members are living under the watch of Taliban intelligence in Kabul neighborhoods, including Qala-e-Fathullah, Shahr-e-Naw, and Wazir Akbar Khan. Meanwhile, senior al-Qaeda leaders have been relocated to rural strongholds in Sar-e-Pul, Kunar, Ghazni, Logar, and Wardak provinces.
Taliban withdraw Afghanistan from International Criminal Court (VOA)
VOA [2/20/2025 6:58 AM, Ayaz Gul, 2717K]
Afghanistan’s radical Taliban leaders on Thursday rejected the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) over their country, declaring as ‘unlawful’ the decision in 2003 by their predecessors to join the Hague-based court’s founding treaty.

The decision follows the ICC chief prosecutor’s announcement last month, seeking arrest warrants for the reclusive Taliban supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, and a close associate, accusing them both of being "criminally responsible for persecuting Afghan girls and women.".

The Taliban militarily regained power in August 2021, succeeding the internationally recognized government in Kabul, which collapsed alongside the withdrawal of U.S.-led NATO troops after nearly two decades in Afghanistan.

The Taliban, now governing as the Islamic Emirate, have imposed their strict interpretation of Islamic law, known as Sharia, placing sweeping restrictions on freedom of speech and women’s access to education and public roles in society.

No country has recognized the Taliban as a legitimate government primarily over their harsh treatment of Afghan women and girls.

"As an entity that upholds the religious and national values of the Afghan people within the framework of Islamic Sharia, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan does not recognize any obligation to the Rome Statute or the institution referred to as the ‘International Criminal Court,’" the Taliban stated in an English-language declaration.

It accused the ICC of political bias and failing to take any "substantive measures against the war crimes perpetrated in Afghanistan by occupying forces and their allies.".

"Given that many of the world’s major powers are not signatories to this ‘court,’ it is unwarranted for a nation such as Afghanistan, which has historically endured foreign occupation and colonial subjugation, to be bound by its jurisdiction," the Taliban asserted.

In October 2001, Western forces led by the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, overthrowing the then-Taliban government for sheltering al-Qaida leaders held responsible for the terrorist attacks in the United States that occurred in September of that year.

In February 2003, the Washington-backed successive government in Kabul formally deposited its instrument of accession to the Rome Statute, which founded the ICC, thereby granting the court jurisdiction over crimes committed within its territory or by Afghan nationals.

"In light of the aforementioned considerations, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan formally asserts that it does not recognize any legal obligation under the Rome Statute and deems the previous administration’s accession to this statute to be devoid of legal validity," said Thursday’s Taliban statement.

Karim Khan, the ICC prosecutor, stated in his January 23 announcement that his decision to seek arrest warrants for Akhundzada and Taliban chief justice, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, was based on a thorough investigation and evidence collected into their alleged crimes against humanity.

The ICC is mandated to rule on the world’s worst offenses, such as war crimes and crimes against humanity. The court has no police force and relies on 125 member states to execute its arrest warrants.

Akhundzada seldom leaves his office in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar and rules the country through religious decrees. He has banned girls’ education beyond the sixth grade and prohibited women from most public as well as private sector employment, among other restrictions on their rights.

In a speech he delivered in Kandahar last week, the Taliban chief again dismissed criticism of his governance, asserting that it was rooted in divine commands. A government spokesperson quoted Akhundzada as stating that "every decree he issues is based on consultation with scholars and derived from the Quran and Hadith [sayings of Islam’s prophet] and represents commands of Allah.".
Pakistan
Pakistan arrests 30 suspects over attacks in the northwest. 2 officers are killed in the southwest (AP)
AP [2/20/2025 1:02 PM, Javed Hussain, 47097K]
Pakistani security forces raided several villages Thursday in a troubled northwestern region, arresting at least 30 suspects accused of deadly attacks on the country’s troops, police said. In the restive southwestern province of Balochistan, separatists attacked a police post, killing two officers.

The arrests were made during a search operation in Kurram, a district in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where at least 130 people have died in recent months there in clashes between rival Shiite and Sunni tribes.

The district has been cut off from the rest of the country since November after authorities blocked roads following clashes between heavily armed Shiite and Sunni tribes. Road closures around Kurram has caused a shortage of food and medicines there.

The operation was launched days after insurgents attacked aid trucks and killed five soldiers and a truck driver, according to Abbas Majid, a senior police official. He said officers also recovered some of the supplies looted by the suspects during recent attacks on aid trucks.

In the attack Thursday night in Balochistan, militants targeted a police post on the outskirts of Quetta, the provincial capital, triggering a shootout in which two officers were killed, local police chief Qasim Rodini said. He said an exchange of fire was still ongoing.

Earlier in the day, the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the killing of seven passengers in an attack on buses in Balochistan on Tuesday.

The group said in a statement that its fighters attacked the buses in the town of Rakhni and claimed those killed were affiliated with the military and intelligence services. Local authorities dismissed the claim, saying the victims were civilians with no ties to security forces.

The Baloch Liberation Army, which operates mostly in Balochistan, has also targeted Chinese nationals working on multi-billion-dollar projects in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Last year, the group killed dozens of people in three separate attacks on vehicles.

Balochistan has been the scene of a long-running insurgency with the separatists seeking independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although Pakistani authorities say they have quelled the insurgency, violence has persisted.
IMF, Pakistan to open $1 billion climate finance talks next week, says adviser (Reuters)
Reuters [2/20/2025 6:15 AM, Asif Shahzad and Ariba Shahid, 48128K]
An International Monetary Fund mission will arrive in Islamabad next week to discuss around $1 billion in climate financing for Pakistan, an adviser to the country’s finance minister said on Thursday.

Khurram Schehzad told Reuters that the mission would visit from February 24 to 28 for a "review and discussion" of climate resilience funding.

The disbursement will take place under the Fund’s Resilience and Sustainability Trust, created in 2022 to provide long-term concessional cash for climate-related spending, such as adaptation and transitioning to cleaner energy.

Pakistan made a formal request in October last year for around $1 billion in funding from the IMF under the trust, to address the nation’s vulnerability to climate change.

Pakistan’s Geo News TV had earlier reported that the IMF would issue the $1 billion for climate financing next week.

The country’s economy is on a long path to recovery after being stabilized under a $7 billion IMF Extended Fund Facility it secured late last year.

Another IMF mission will arrive in Pakistan in the first week of March for a first review of that facility, Schehzad said.

The Global Climate Risk Index places Pakistan among the countries most vulnerable to climate change.

Floods in 2022, which scientists said were aggravated by global warming, affected at least 33 million people and killed more than 1,700. The country’s economic struggles and high debt burden impinged its ability to respond to the disaster.
India
Trump’s ‘$21m for voter turnout’ claim triggers political row in India (BBC)
BBC [2/21/2025 3:26 AM, Cherylann Mollan, 76.2M]
US President Donald Trump’s remark that his country spent $21m to boost voter turnout in India’s elections has triggered a political slugfest in the country.

He made the remark days after a team led by Elon Musk said it had cancelled the payout as part of its crackdown on a US agency providing foreign aid.

India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called the payout an "external interference" and accused the opposition Congress party of seeking this intervention.

The Congress denied the allegation, calling Trump’s claims "nonsensical". The US has not provided any evidence to support its claim.

Trump vowed to boost the US economy and soon after returning to office, he created the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), led by Musk, to slash federal spending and jobs. Musk says Doge’s mission is to save taxpayer money and cut national debt.

One of its biggest moves - now making global headlines - is a crackdown on USAID, the US agency overseeing humanitarian aid since the 1960s. Musk, who has called USAID a "criminal organisation", announced on Sunday that funding for several projects had been cancelled.

The cuts included $486m for the "Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening", with "$21m for voter turnout in India" and "$22m for inclusive and participatory political process in Moldova".

Defending Doge’s cuts, Trump said India "had a lot of money" and was among the world’s highest-taxing nations.

On Thursday, he doubled down, questioning the $21m spend on "India’s voter turnout".

The latest comments came a week after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first Washington visit under Trump’s second term, where Trump announced expanded military sales, increased energy exports and plans for a trade deal and new defence framework.

"I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected. We have got to tell the Indian government," the US president said at a summit in Miami.

The same day, BJP leader Amit Malviya shared a clip of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi speaking at an event in London before the 2024 general election.

In the clip, Gandhi can be heard saying that major democracies like the US and European countries were "oblivious that a huge chunk of democratic model has come undone [in India]".

"Rahul Gandhi was in London, urging foreign powers - from the US to Europe - to intervene in India’s internal affairs," Malviya alleged in his post on X.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh dismissed the claim and urged the government to report on USAID’s decades-long support to governmental and non-governmental institutions during PM Modi’s tenure.

Did USAID really donate $21m to India?

Despite widespread reports, neither Doge nor Trump has provided evidence that USAID gave India $21m for voter turnout.

India’s poll panel has not responded, but former election chief SY Qureshi denied receiving such funding during his tenure, which ran from 2010 to 2012.

Earlier, Malviya claimed that in 2012, under Mr Qureshi, the panel signed an agreement with a group linked to George Soros’ foundation - primarily funded by USAID - to support a voter turnout campaign.

Mr Qureshi dismissed the allegation as "malicious", stating that the agreement explicitly imposed "no financial or legal obligation on either side".

On Friday, the Indian Express newspaper said in an investigative report that the $21m was sanctioned for Bangladesh and not India.

It was meant to run for three years until July 2025 and that $13.4m had already been spent, according to records accessed by the newspaper.
Trump’s Steel Tariffs Threaten to Worsen Glut of Metal in Asia (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [2/20/2025 9:39 PM, Katharine Gemmell and Martin Ritchie, 129344K]
Vietnam and India are among fast-growing Asian steel producers at risk of being hurt if President Donald Trump goes ahead with blanket tariffs on all US imports of the metal.

The global steel industry is braced for the impact of Trump’s planned 25% levies, due to start on March 12. They’re aimed at bolstering protection for US producers, but also risk intensifying global steel tensions fueled by rampant Chinese exports. In Asia, there are concerns that at least some steel will add to a saturated regional market, if it doesn’t go to the US.

"We may see more steel from these countries being sold to Vietnam as the new target would deter them from exporting to the US," Nghiem Xuan Da, chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association, told Bloomberg by telephone. The Southeast Asian nation has become a major steel consumer and exporter in recent years.

Steelmakers from Asia to Europe and Latin America are already reeling from a flood of cheap Chinese steel, with the nation’s 2024 exports touching a nine-year high above 110 million tons. That surge triggered a swathe of trade complaints — most recently from South Korea — and has pushed steel from other Asian nations further afield.

Trade Tensions

China’s exports are "displacing production in other countries and forcing them to export greater volumes of steel" to the US, Trump’s executive order said. The European Union is revising its protections in response to growing flows. In Asia, meanwhile, India is mulling safeguards, Vietnam is investigating Chinese steel, and South Korea may probe more of China’s products.

Asia-Pacific nations including Japan, South Korea and Australia all currently have exemptions from existing US tariffs launched in Trump’s first term, as do Canada, Mexico and a few others. Much hinges on whether those countries manage to negotiate exclusions from any fresh round of tariffs.

If not, "there will be a diversion of exporter inventory to other importer nations at aggressive prices, especially in a milieu of increasing global competition," said Sehul Bhatt, a director of research at Indian researcher Crisil Intelligence. That could then bring down prices of steel in India, which are already close to four-year lows, he said.

There are caveats. Trump’s new metals tariffs — he’s also targeting aluminum — have yet to be finalized. In the Asia-Pacific, it’s a relatively small volume of flows that stand to be affected: a total of about 3.75 million tons from South Korea, Japan and Australia last year, according to US government data. The overall volume subject to tariff changes globally is more than 20 million tons.

Special Steels

Also, some of the affected volumes stand to include niche steel products that are set to keep flowing to the US even in the event of full-scale tariffs. Customers will just pay more.

Japan and Korea supply some of the high-grade and specialized steel types used in energy infrastructure and the automotive industry in the US, which companies there depend on, according to Wood Mackenzie Ltd. analysts Lawrence Zhang and Tiago Vespoli.

And there’s also the possibility that producers will simply have to rein in output rather than find alternative homes in oversupplied markets.

"The rest of the world could hardly absorb those volumes as global steel demand is pretty muted, which means the rest of the world, including China, will have to cut production," said Xu Xiangchun, an analyst with Mysteel Global.
India’s ruling party takes control of capital as chief minister sworn in (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [2/20/2025 3:05 AM, Staff, 129344K]
A member of India’s ruling Hindu-nationalist party was sworn in Thursday as chief minister of Delhi after an election landslide handed it control of the capital for the first time in decades.

Rekha Gupta, 50, of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the fourth woman to serve as chief minister of the sprawling megacity of more than 30 million people.

The BJP is in government nationally but has not controlled the local legislature in Delhi since 1998, so its sweeping victory taking more than two-thirds of seats in the February 5 polls was both symbolic and strategically important.

Gupta, who has a law degree and began her career in student politics in the city, was selected for the post by party members late Wednesday.

"I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office," Gupta said while taking the oath of office in front of a crowd of cheering supporters.

Modi, who was present at the ceremony, said in a post on X that Gupta had "risen from the grassroots" to become the chief minister.

"I am confident she will work for Delhi’s development with full vigour," he added.

The elections ousted the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), whose leader Arvind Kejriwal had governed Delhi for much of the past decade and was a prominent critic of Modi.

Kejriwal rode to power as an anti-corruption crusader but spent several months behind bars last year over accusations his party took kickbacks in exchange for liquor licences.

He has denied wrongdoing and characterised the charges as a political witch hunt by Modi’s government.

The win is a boost for the BJP and 74-year-old Modi, who won a third term in office after elections last year but with a reduced vote that forced him to rely on coalition partners to govern.

Gupta faces major challenges including Delhi’s monumental air pollution crisis, which smothers the city in hazardous fumes for months during the winter.

New Delhi is regularly ranked the worst capital in the world for choking smog, which often surges as much as 60 times the World Health Organization’s recommended daily maximum.

Years of piecemeal government initiatives have failed to measurably address the problem, with the smog blamed for thousands of premature deaths annually and particularly affecting the health of children and the elderly.

None of the key parties made tackling the health crisis a focal point of their campaigns.
India considering bailout for indebted power distribution utilities, document says (Reuters)
Reuters [2/21/2025 3:51 AM, Sarita Chaganti Singh, 48128K]
India is considering injecting cash into heavily indebted government-owned power distribution utilities, according to a document from the Ministry of Power reviewed by Reuters, to ensure the stability of the sector amid surging power demand.

In the document circulated this week, the ministry mentioned the formation of a group of ministers to identify states that urgently need cash for their utilities, design a "fiscal discipline program to enable them to avoid a debt trap", and suggest measures to bring private investment.

This would be the first time since 2021 that the federal government has injected money to state power utilities, which cost the government $35 billion then.

The Ministry of Power document also recommended privatising the power distribution utilities, mostly run by states and which cannot easily increase tariffs but face rising power-purchase costs, high transmission and distribution losses, and delays in payment from customers.

The distribution companies had accumulated losses of $75 billion as of the fiscal year that ended in March 2023, about 2.4% of the states’ gross domestic product, according to a December 19 report by the Reserve Bank of India. There are 65 power distribution companies run by states.

"The financial health of distribution companies (DISCOMS) is crucial for sustaining a reliable and uninterrupted electricity supply to consumers," the document said.

"DISCOMs face challenges such as inadequate tariff structures, rising power procurement costs, high transmission and distribution losses, and delayed payment collections, which can lead to revenue shortfalls and operational inefficiencies."

The ministerial group mentioned in the document met for the first time on January 30 and are expected to meet again this month to further discuss a financial package for the utilities, said two government sources who did not want to be named as they were not authorised to talk to the media.

Reuters could not immediately identify the ministers who are part of the panel. The power ministry did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
India insurers look to hike health premiums as pollution stings (Reuters)
Reuters [2/21/2025 3:19 AM, Ashwin Manikandan, 48128K]
Indian insurers are considering making New Delhi residents pay 10% to 15% more for new health policies after an extraordinary spike in claims related to air pollution in 2024 in India’s capital, according to nine executives aware of the matter.

The plan, now in discussion amongst insurers and which would need approval from the insurance regulator, follows record-breaking air pollution in New Delhi last year. If approved, it would be the first time air pollution was used as a direct factor in figuring health insurance premiums in India, and could be used to justify price hikes in other cities as well.

Toxic air led to more Delhi residents seeking treatment for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cardiovascular conditions in 2024, higher than in any prior year, five of the executives said.

All the executives spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to speak with media.

"We have to start thinking about pollution as a separate factor in the pricing in the sense that can we then start executing a particular charge for the areas which are impacted by it," said Amitabh Jain, the operating chief of Star Health (STAU.NS) India’s No.1 standalone health insurer.

In 2024, the number of patients with respiratory ailments who needed to be hospitalized rose to 17%-18% in the second half of the year versus 5%-6% in the first half, Jain said.

Also, respiratory claims rose 8.3% from fiscal year 2023 to fiscal year 2025 in the state of Delhi, which recorded the highest rise in healthcare costs in India during that period, according to a joint report from Boston Consulting Group and Indian healthcare administrator Medi Assist.

Star Health and ICICI Lombard (ICIL.NS) said pollution could soon become a direct factor in determining health insurance premiums if poor air quality persists. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance said the industry could also add new clauses specifically addressing pollution-related health concerns.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and prominent Indian insurers including Aditya Birla Health Insurance, Tata AIG, New India Assurance (THEE.NS), opens new tab and Go Digit (GODG.NS) did not respond to requests seeking comment.

For 2023/24, Indian insurers collected $12.4 billion in health insurance premiums, an increase of about 20% over the previous year, according to the latest IRDAI annual report.

NOT JUST DELHI

New Delhi chokes on smog every winter due to a blend of vehicle emissions, construction dust and smoke from illegal farm fires. In November, Delhi overtook Pakistan’s Lahore as the world’s most polluted city in Swiss group IQAir’s live rankings, with Mumbai and Kolkata also making it to the list of top 10 cities with the most toxic air.

On November 18, India’s pollution control authority said the national capital territory’s 24-hour air quality index (AQI) score touched a season-high of 491 on a scale of 500. Anything over 400 is "severe", affecting healthy people as well as "seriously impacting" those with existing health issues.

In India, insurers can vary health insurance premiums by city based on factors ranging from hospitalization costs to demographics.

Getting the regulatory nod to include air pollution as a factor would depend on insurers submitting proof to back the assertion that toxic air is leading to an increase in claims.

"The frequency and severity of hospitalization purely due to the toxicity in the air needs to be isolated," PwC India Financial Services Advisory Leader Joydeep Roy said.

"That involves commissioning longer-term studies."

It is not known how long it would take to conduct such studies or to get the needed approvals from IRDAI.

Senior citizens, children, outdoor professionals and those with preexisting respiratory conditions would likely pay the highest premiums. The plan, if approved, would likely make health insurance unaffordable for many who need it most.

New Delhi’s per capita income was $5,331 in 2024 according to the Delhi Statistical Handbook, and under current guidelines health insurance with a coverage limit of $10,000 for a family in the city would cost between $100 to $400 per year.

"In India, owning health insurance cover is a luxury," said Delhi resident and COPD patient Aniket Tiwari, 28, who decided against getting coverage in 2024 because it was too pricey.
Search for missing India miners ends as bodies recovered after 44 days (BBC)
BBC [2/20/2025 9:55 AM, Nikhil Inamdar, 714K]
Rescuers have ended a 44-day search operation after they found the bodies of five men who were trapped inside a flooded coal mine in India’s north-eastern state of Assam.

DNA tests will be conducted to identify the men as the bodies are in a decomposed state, a state official told the BBC.

On 6 January, nine miners were trapped after water flooded the so-called "rat-hole" mine, which is a narrow hole dug manually to extract coal.

Four bodies were recovered within the first week, and search operations had continued until Wednesday, when the remaining bodies were found.

"The process to identify the remains has been initiated," Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on the social media platform X.

The families of the miners have also been called to identify the bodies. They will be given compensation by the state government, said Riki Phukan, an official from Assam’s District Disaster Management Authority.

The search operations - at the Umrangso coal mine in Assam’s Dima Hasao district - were jointly conducted by special disaster forces alongside the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, the state police and the district disaster authority.

Divers and helicopters were also deployed but the remote, hilly terrain of the mine had posed severe challenges.

Earlier, one of the men rescued from the mine had shared with the BBC a harrowing account of the moments after the tunnel was suddenly engulfed by water.

Ravi Rai, a worker from Nepal, said that he was working inside the mine when water entered the pit.

"We were holding on to a rope in 50-60ft (15-18m) deep water for at least 50 minutes before being pulled out," he said.

Despite a ban on "rat-hole" mining in India since 2014, small illegal mines continue to be operational in Assam and other north-eastern states.

Six workers were killed in January 2024 after a fire broke out in a rat-hole coal mine in Nagaland state.

In 2018, at least 15 men were trapped in an illegal mine in Meghalaya after water from a nearby river flooded it.

After the recent accident, police in Assam have said they are investigating illegal mining activities in the state.
Pilgrims make offerings to Hindu deities at a biennial festival in southern India (AP)
AP [2/20/2025 10:24 PM, Mahesh Kumar A. and Ashwini Bhatia, 456K]
Chants of “Om Linga, Om Linga” resonated as barefoot Hindu pilgrims, many balancing offering-filled baskets and clay pitchers on their heads, climbed more than 100 steps to a hilltop shrine in southern India.

One family led a goat wearing a marigold garland around its neck. A burly man carrying two young children in his arms gripped a live chicken in his free hand while another man carried a goat across his shoulders.

The animals were offered as sacrifices to Lingamanthula Swamy, believed to be a form of Lord Shiva, and his sister Choudamma, in return for prosperity and protection.

A box in which idols of Lingamanthula, his sister, and other deities are stored was brought to the Lingamanthula Swamy temple during the pilgrimage and opened ceremoniously in front of the devotees.

Their pilgrimage, known as the Peddagattu Jatara, takes place every two years. During the five-day festival that ended Thursday, tens of thousands visited the temple in Suryapet, in the southern state of Telangana.

Women wore bright clothes and flowers in their braided hair. Tumeric, an Indian cooking staple but also essential in Hindu rituals, was made into a paste and smeared on the temple steps and walls, as well as the foreheads of the goats before they were sacrificed.

The pilgrimage is believed to have originated in the 16th century — before the temple was built on the huge rock that gave the pilgrimage its name Peddagattu, or “large rock” in the local Telugu language.

At the central shrine, clay pitchers filled with bonam — rice cooked with the coarse sugar known as jaggery — were offered. Devotees walked clockwise around the shrine, under the dappled light filtering from bamboo canopies shielding them from the blazing sun. Some played drums, danced and enacted scenes from Hindu epics. Others chanted prayers and walked reverently with folded palms.

A woman wearing a holy mark on her forehead went into a trance shouting and swaying violently. The words out of her mouth were guttural and slurred but the pious surrounded her and asked for blessings.

Devotees, who arrived from faraway places, cooked their sacrificed animals on open fires outside their tents on the grounds surrounding the temple. The food was then shared among family and friends with much merriment and cheer.
Exposing an Indian pharma firm fuelling West Africa’s opioid crisis (BBC)
BBC [2/20/2025 7:55 PM, Staff, 714K]
An Indian pharmaceutical company is manufacturing unlicensed, highly addictive opioids and exporting them illegally to West Africa where they are driving a major public health crisis in countries including Ghana, Nigeria, and Cote D’Ivoire, a BBC Eye investigation has revealed.

Aveo Pharmaceuticals, based in Mumbai, makes a range of pills that go under different brand names and are packaged to look like legitimate medicines. But all contain the same harmful mix of ingredients: tapentadol, a powerful opioid, and carisoprodol, a muscle relaxant so addictive it’s banned in Europe.

This combination of drugs is not licensed for use anywhere in the world and can cause breathing difficulties and seizures. An overdose can kill. Despite the risks, these opioids are popular as street drugs in many West African countries, because they are so cheap and widely available.

The BBC World Service found packets of them, branded with the Aveo logo, for sale on the streets of Ghanaian, Nigerian, and Ivoirian towns and cities.

Having traced the drugs back to Aveo’s factory in India, the BBC sent an undercover operative inside the factory, posing as an African businessman looking to supply opioids to Nigeria. Using a hidden camera, the BBC filmed one of Aveo’s directors, Vinod Sharma, showing off the same dangerous products the BBC found for sale across West Africa.

In the secretly recorded footage, the operative tells Sharma that his plan is to sell the pills to teenagers in Nigeria "who all love this product". Sharma doesn’t flinch. "OK," he replies, before explaining that if users take two or three pills at once, they can "relax" and agrees they can get "high". Towards the end of the meeting, Sharma says: "This is very harmful for the health," adding "nowadays, this is business."

It is a business that is damaging the health and destroying the potential of millions of young people across West Africa.

In the city of Tamale, in northern Ghana, so many young people are taking illegal opioids that one of the city’s chiefs, Alhassan Maham, has created a voluntary task force of about 100 local citizens whose mission is to raid drug dealers and take these pills off the streets.

"The drugs consume the sanity of those who abuse them," says Maham, "like a fire burns when kerosene is poured on it." One addict in Tamale put it even more simply. The drugs, he said, have "wasted our lives".

The BBC team followed the task force as they jumped on to motorbikes and, following a tip off about a drug deal, launched a raid in one of Tamale’s poorest neighbourhoods. On the way they passed a young man slumped in a stupor who, according to locals, had taken these drugs.

When the dealer was caught, he was carrying a plastic bag filled with green pills labelled Tafrodol. The packets were stamped with the distinctive logo of Aveo Pharmaceuticals.

It’s not just in Tamale that Aveo’s pills are causing misery. The BBC found similar products, made by Aveo, have been seized by police elsewhere in Ghana.

We also found evidence that Aveo’s pills are for sale on the streets of Nigeria and Cote D’Ivoire, where teenagers dissolve them in an alcoholic energy drink to increase the high.

Publicly-available export data show that Aveo Pharmaceuticals, along with a sister company called Westfin International, is shipping millions of these tablets to Ghana and other West African countries.

Nigeria, with a population of 225 million people, provides the biggest market for these pills. It has been estimated that about four million Nigerians abuse some form of opioid, according to Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics.

The Chairman of Nigeria’s Drug and Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig Gen Mohammed Buba Marwa, told the BBC, opioids are "devastating our youths, our families, it’s in every community in Nigeria".

In 2018, following a BBC Africa Eye investigation into the sale of opioids as street drugs, Nigerian authorities tried to get a grip on a widely abused opioid painkiller called tramadol.

The government banned the sale of tramadol without prescription, imposed strict limits on the maximum dose, and cracked down on imports of illegal pills. At the same time, Indian authorities tightened export regulations on tramadol.

Not long after this crackdown, Aveo Pharmaceuticals began to export a new pill based on tapentadol, an even stronger opioid, mixed with the muscle-relaxant carisoprodol.

West African officials are warning that opioid exporters appear to be using these new combination pills as a substitute for tramadol and to evade the crackdown.

In the Aveo factory there were cartons of the combination drugs stacked on top of each other, almost ceiling-high. On his desk, Vinod Sharma laid out packet after packet of the tapentadol-carisoprodol cocktail pills that the company markets under a range of names including Tafrodol, the most popular, as well as TimaKing and Super Royal-225.

He told the BBC’s undercover team that "scientists" working in his factory could combine different drugs to "make a new product".

Aveo’s new product is even more dangerous than the tramadol it has replaced. According to Dr Lekhansh Shukla, assistant professor at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences in Bengaluru, India, tapentadol "gives the effects of an opioid" including very deep sleep.

"It could be deep enough that people don’t breathe, and that leads to drug overdose," he explained. "And along with that, you are giving another agent, carisoprodol, which also gives very deep sleep, relaxation. It sounds like a very dangerous combination."

Carisoprodol has been banned in Europe because it is addictive. It is approved for use in the US but only for short periods of up to three weeks. Withdrawal symptoms include anxiety, insomnia, and hallucinations.

When mixed with tapentadol the withdrawal is even "more severe" compared to regular opioids, said Dr Shukla. "It’s a fairly painful experience."

He said he knew of no clinical trials on the efficacy of this combination. Unlike tramadol, which is legal for use in limited doses, the tapentadol-carisoprodol cocktail "does not sound like a rational combination", he said. "This is not something that is licensed to be used in our country."

In India, pharmaceutical companies cannot legally manufacture and export unlicensed drugs unless these drugs meet the standards of the importing country. Aveo ships Tafrodol and similar products to Ghana, where this combination of tapentadol and carisoprodol is, according to Ghana’s national Drug Enforcement Agency, unlicensed and illegal. By shipping Tafrodol to Ghana, Aveo is breaking Indian law.

We put these allegations to Vinod Sharma and Aveo Pharmaceuticals. They did not respond.

The Indian drugs regulator, the CDSCO, told us the Indian government recognises its responsibility towards global public health and is committed to ensuring India has a responsible and strong pharmaceutical regulatory system.

It added that exports from India to other countries are closely monitored and that recently tightened regulation is strictly enforced. It also called importing countries to support India’s efforts by ensuring they had similarly strong regulatory systems.

The CDSCO stated it has taken up the matter with other countries, including those in West Africa, and is committed to working with them to prevent wrongdoing. The regulator said it will take immediate action against any pharmaceutical firm involved in malpractice.

Aveo is not the only Indian company making and exporting unlicensed opioids. Publicly available export data suggest other pharma companies manufacture similar products, and drugs with different branding are widely available across West Africa.

These manufacturers are damaging the reputation of India’s fast-growing pharmaceutical industry, which makes high-quality generic medicines upon which millions of people worldwide depend and manufactures vaccines which have saved millions of lives. The industry’s exports are worth at least $28bn (£22bn) a year.

Speaking about his meeting with Sharma, the BBC’s undercover operative, whose identity must remain concealed for his safety, says: "Nigerian journalists have been reporting on this opioid crisis for more than 20 years but finally, I was face to face… with one of the men at the root of Africa’s opioid crisis, one of the men who actually makes this product and ships it into our countries by the container load. He knew the harm it was doing but he didn’t seem to care… describing it simply as business."

Back in Tamale, Ghana, the BBC team followed the local task force on one final raid that turned up even more of Aveo’s Tafrodol. That evening they gathered in a local park to burn the drugs they had seized.

"We are burning it in an open glare for everybody to see," said Zickay, one of the leaders, as the packets were doused in petrol and set ablaze, "so it sends a signal to the sellers and the suppliers: if they get you, they’ll burn your drugs".

But even as the flames destroyed a few hundred packets of Tafrodol, the "sellers and suppliers" at the top of this chain, thousands of miles away in India, were churning out millions more - and getting rich on the profits of misery.
Google close to picking sites in India for first retail stores outside US, sources say (Reuters)
Reuters [2/20/2025 6:26 AM, Aditya Kalra, 48128K]
Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google is close to deciding on locations in its key market of India where it will open its first physical retail stores outside the United States, three sources familiar with the matter said.

Google counts India as a key growth market, where it has committed to investing $10 billion. It currently has only five physical stores, all in the United States, which sell its products such as Pixel phones, watches and earbuds.

It is aiming to mirror a retail approach that helped Apple Inc (AAPL.O) rake in billions of dollars in the last two decades by showcasing its own products. Apple has 500 plus stores worldwide.

Google is in advanced stages of finalising locations in or around the capital of New Delhi, and the financial capital Mumbai, said three sources, who declined to be named as the process is confidential.

Google declined to comment on the matter.

The first source said the stores are likely to be around 15,000 square feet, and will take at least another six months to open, though the timeline could change.

The IT hub of Bengaluru in south India was also considered, but New Delhi and Mumbai are the frontrunners, the person added.

"The idea is to compete with Apple ... especially to target the luxury segment," said the person, adding more stores will be considered if the initial ones do well.

Google currently sells it products in India through authorised retailers, as does Apple. But in 2023, Apple CEO Tim Cook visited India to open its first company-run stores in Mumbai, and then in New Delhi.

Pixel phones in India cost from about $370 to $2,000 for top-end models. Apple’s iPhones cost from about $520-$2,130. Google has also started making Pixel smartphones in India.

In 2024, Apple dominated the local market for premium phones, priced above $520, with a roughly 55% share, compared with Pixel’s 2% share, research group Counterpoint said. The fast-growing Indian market has about 712 million smartphone users currently.

Google’s plan to open the stores is firm and will be executed soon, there are some standard regulatory and compliance processes to clear before the stores can be set up, said the second source, without elaborating on the issues.

A third source said one of the possible locations Google is considering near New Delhi is in the satellite city of Gurugram, where many global corporations such as Uber and Meta have offices and the likes of Uniqlo have retail outlets.

In India, Google is battling many regulatory and legal challenges. Among them are ongoing antitrust cases related to its in-app billing system and abuse of market position in the market for smart TVs.

In a top-level departure, Google lost its India head of public policy this month, marking the second departure in around two years from the critical role which is key to government engagement.
India’s EV Race With China Depends on Trains (Bloomberg – opinion)
Bloomberg [2/20/2025 5:00 PM, Andy Mukherjee, 5.5M]
The road to faster adoption of electric vehicles in India will pass through the railways — not the romantic train travel that stirred the imagination of writers for over a century and continues to inspire Bollywood, but efficient high-speed journeys.

If linking trains to EVs seems odd, that’s only because the complementary nature of the two modes of transport has gone unexplored. That’s changing. A recent study of 328 cities in China shows that there may indeed be a connection.

The research covers the period from 2010 to 2023. Those were crucial years, both for China’s world-beating EV penetration — 48% currently, including hybrids — and the expansion of its high-speed rail. What began with a single line in 2008 now covers 96% of areas with 500,000 or more people. Meanwhile, Tesla Inc. arrived in China in 2014, and by 2023 the country had 22 million plugin cars on its roads, more than half of the global total.

However, EV adoption rates weren’t the same everywhere. Cities that got newly connected to the rail network saw an extra bump. “HSR connectivity significantly increases EV market share and sales (volume), with average increases of 1.22 percentage points and 91.39%,” the researchers from University of Pennsylvania, Fudan University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong conclude. An extensive and well-integrated high-speed-rail system, they note, serves as a “reliable complement to EVs.”

This finding has implications for India, where less than 3% of cars sold last year were purely battery-operated. Buyers’ reluctance stems from insufficient public charging stations. There are only 25,000 to serve a sprawling geography. Companies have little incentive to build a network like China’s 3 million charging points because most car owners in India power up at home. While that’s fine for city driving, getting on the highway causes extreme range anxiety.

India has made highways the centerpiece of its transport infrastructure. The railway tracks, first laid by the sub-continent’s British colonial rulers, have suffered from decades of underinvestment. So-called express services ran at an average speed of 32 miles per hour (51 kilometers per hour) between April and November 2023, while ordinary trains clocked 22 miles. At 220 mph, China’s high-speed rail is up to 10 times faster.

The Chinese network will exceed 31,000 miles (50,000 kilometers) this year. India’s is yet to get going. The first bullet train, connecting the commercial hub of Mumbai with Ahmedabad in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat on India’s western coast, was expected by 2022. The 316-mile line being built with Japanese money and technical assistance is now scheduled for a 2026 launch.

India has many competing uses for the $100 billion-plus China has invested in its high-speed rail, though the argument for prioritizing fast long-distance mass transport is also strong. Previously, I have highlighted research that shows a connection between a Chinese city getting on the high-speed network and a jump in its exporters’ access to global markets. The link with EVs bolsters the investment case.

For a sugar rush among Indian EV buyers, however, don’t look to trains. Leave that to Donald Trump. Under pressure from the US president, New Delhi may be forced to slash its 110% import tax on cars. Following Elon Musk’s meeting with Modi in Washington recently Tesla is set to bring in a few thousand cars into India over the coming months, according to Bloomberg News. More competition from Tesla, Suzuki Motor Corp. and BYD Co. will shake up a market dominated by two players: Tata Motors Ltd. controls 58%; JSW MG Motor, a joint venture between China’s SAIC Motor Corp and India’s JSW Group, has a 25% share.

New models may get EV penetration up to American or European levels of 10% to 25%, but to follow China’s 45% lead, subsidies or tax rebates won’t be enough. India needs fast trains. Modi’s party has promised three high-speed rail lines — in east, north and south — in addition to the one in western India. Even if the the 74-year-old leader is unable to bring them to fruition in his political career, he should get them started.
India’s New Tax Bill a ‘Lost Opportunity’ (Bloomberg – opinion)
Bloomberg [2/21/2025 2:13 AM, Menaka Doshi, 714K]
Mere Housekeeping

My phone has been buzzing all week with tax chatter as debates break out in WhatsApp groups over language in India’s new income tax bill, just presented in parliament.

The new bill is a reminder that reform in India often runs only skin deep.

At a time when the country urgently needs to step up its game to attract more investment and trade, the Modi government has picked form over substance in its rewrite of the six-decade-old law.

The bill, almost half the size and better organized than the bulky Income Tax Act, 1961, definitely makes for easier reading as intended. But it does little to cut compliance and litigation burdens for the millions of local and foreign businesses and individuals governed by it.

As I called around for views the dismay was evident.

This exercise amounts to “housekeeping when renovation, if not redevelopment, was needed,” Ketan Dalal, founder of Katalyst Advisors, said to me.

Senior tax and constitutional lawyer Arvind Datar put it even more bluntly. “The indiscriminate reopening of tax assessments, currently done under Section 147, will soon be done under a new section, that’s all,” Datar said over the phone between court appearances in Mumbai and Delhi.

“It’s a missed opportunity,” agreed former tax bureaucrat Akhilesh Ranjan, who’s spent some four decades across the aisle from Dalal and Datar.

This is a major simplification exercise but it’s not the comprehensive review the finance minister promised in the budget, said Ranjan, who now serves as advisor at Price Waterhouse & Co.

It does nothing to make India more competitive and move towards Prime Minister Modi’s Viksit Bharat (developed nation) vision for 2047, he added.

Change is no doubt difficult, especially when it involves a law that impacts almost everyone. As chartered accountant Ameet Patel wrote to me, “taxpayers are rarely happy with the tax department.”

But disappointment with this legislative overhaul has little to do with the adversarial response India’s litigious tax system has bred.

It comes down to an unfavorable cost-benefit analysis.

First, the proposed law fixes language but not substantive problems.

Taxing employee stock option plans at the point of exercise rather than monetization; tax roadblocks to corporate restructuring and M&A; frequent reopening of tax assessments and transfer pricing assessment challenges — the list of pending problems ran long when I asked for illustrations.

The fear is these will remain unresolved as the government may not want to make large-scale amendments to a new law any time soon. On the other hand, if it does stick to its amending nature (this year’s budget has 86 amendments) then the simplification will be short-lived.

Second, the transition to a new law costs time and money.

It’s taken 150 tax officers 60,000 hours to draft this new bill. It will take several times that effort for businesses to adapt to a new law, from parsing the language for changes in tax liability and paperwork to adapting internal accounting and software systems. All for no immediate gain.

Third, new language may spark new litigation.

The draft law uses “irrespective” in places where the current law says “notwithstanding.” Just that one change has sparked a flurry of expert commentary in the chat groups.

“Over the years, the language of law becomes terms of art,” said Datar. When language changes, new interpretations arise that could even unsettle previously decided disputes — as has happened with the GST laws, which taxpayers are still adjusting to seven years after they were enacted, he said.

At least the draft bill contains no intended new tax burden, I said to my interviewees. It didn’t wash.

Datar responded: “At a time when FDI is falling, manufacturing is stagnant, the rupee is sliding to 90 to a dollar and Trump’s tariffs may roil the economy, does this new bill make life any easier for Indian businesses?”
NSB
Interns expose dark side of medical training in Nepal (South China Morning Post)
South China Morning Post [2/20/2025 8:00 PM, Bibek Bhandari, 9355K]
Healthcare workers at one of Nepal’s leading university hospitals are demanding an investigation into the suicide attempt of a colleague in an alleged case of academic and workplace harassment.

The case underscores the gruesome training, mental anguish, and power imbalances that plague the country’s medical residency programmes, according to the healthcare workers.

Interns at Dhulikhel Hospital on Tuesday exposed details of the grim working conditions many resident doctors experience at its psychiatry department, a day after a social media post raised alarms over their well-being. The anonymous post came after what it said was a suicide attempt by a first-year psychiatry resident on Sunday, urging people to pressure the authorities and prioritise the well-being of healthcare professionals.

"The situation is worse than what has been revealed," the interns wrote in a letter addressing Doctorstory Nepal, a social media account sharing information about the country’s medical field. "Every single resident in the department has either thought about dying or leaving their residency because of how harsh it is. The professors have told them to go and kill themselves in the rounds and presentations in front of us all.".

Two doctors and an intern at Dhulikhel Hospital confirmed the veracity of the social media posts to This Week in Asia. Speaking anonymously, the doctor said that hospital staff had not been able to discuss the issue openly, fearing retribution from the hospital administration, while commending the interns for sharing the truth. The doctors accused a professor and an associate professor at the psychiatry department of using threatening language and encouraging consultants to verbally harass residents while the intern called the behaviour of the two professors "mental torture".

An independent not-for-profit medical facility, Dhulikhel Hospital is located nearly 30km from Kathmandu, in Sindhupalchok district. Started in 1996, the hospital and Kathmandu University collaborated in 2001 to establish the latter’s School of Medical Sciences.

The social media posts have highlighted the plight of Nepal’s resident doctors who face excruciating long work hours of up to 110 hours a week on average and inadequate stipends, resulting in burnout and mental health issues. A 2020 study published in the medical journal BMC Psychiatry suggested that nearly half of the 651 surveyed residents and medical students suffered from burnout and anxiety, with 31 per cent of them reporting depression.

Six doctors whom This Week in Asia spoke with said there needed to be more discussions on the power dynamics between professors and residents that had often led to harassment. They said it was an “open secret” many were not ready to discuss, as questioning or calling out teachers might impact their exam scores and careers in the long run.

One of the doctors at Dhulikhel Hospital described the conditions many residents at the psychiatric department experienced as “insufferable”. They said the professors hurled abusive language, calling slow responders in classes “intellectually disabled”, students who were dating “characterless and hypersexual”, and dismissing mental health issues. The professors even monitored the residents’ social media accounts, spread false rumours about them, and frequently mocked one of them who attempted suicide last year, the doctors added.

“It’s very ironic that the teachers who help treat mental conditions are the ones inflicting mental anguish on their students,” the doctor said. “Psychiatry is already a stressful department, and instead of receiving empathy, the residents are being harassed.”

Sanjay Baral, a resident doctor at a different hospital and spokesman for the Safe Workplace for Health Worker Struggle Committee, said the Dhulikhel case could be just the tip of the iceberg, with such incidents occurring in almost all institutions. He added that abuse of authority among a few professors had somewhat become a tradition over the years.

“It’s intolerable and needs to change,” he said. “That’s why we are demanding reforms in the residency programme, not just to secure a scientific work hour and pay for residents but also to address issues including internal harassment and mental health issues.”

Currently, resident doctors and medical students can lodge an official complaint to the Nepal Medical Council, a government regulatory body, and the Medical Education Commission. However, doctors said a dedicated and effective mechanism to handle such grievances with utmost confidentiality had yet to be developed, making many hesitant to file complaints.

A consultant psychiatrist based outside Kathmandu said there had been cases of resident doctors harassed by their assistant professor at another medical college during the first few months of their residency. The professor verbally abused them in front of patients, made them run his errands and even asked for money.

Their complaint about the professor had yielded no result until they were accompanied by a lawyer, according to the consultant psychiatrist.

“His behaviour changed drastically after that,” said the consultant psychiatrist who wished to remain anonymous fearing possible professional obstacles. “We usually don’t speak up fearing it might harm our profession. But my small step and courage have helped my juniors, and they’ll not be subject to the same torture I experienced. However, so many of them suffer in silence.”

A number of residents at The Dhulikhel Hospital said they had written to their dean about their experiences of harassment, but it did not lead to any remedial actions.

Manoj Humagain, the dean of Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, did not respond to This Week in Asia’s email seeking comment by the time of publication. In a response to a post on X that had flagged the issue, the university’s registrar Achyut Wagle said he was “serious” about looking into the allegations and was “updating” the case.

Meanwhile, the National Resident Doctors Association on Wednesday said in a statement that the “mental stress of resident doctors has reached a critical point”, leading to self-harm. The body called for urgent intervention, demanding comprehensive interventions and an investigation into the case at Dhulikhel Hospital.

An official from the Nepal Medical Council told This Week in Asia the council had started investigating without elaborating due to the sensitive nature of the case.

Bibhav Acharya, co-founder and mental health adviser at the non-profit Possible Health, said that hospital residents in the United States faced a similar situation before work hour limits and other protections were implemented. He said it was important to ensure standards for residency training across Nepal.

“There is a large power differential between residents and faculty, so without standards and protections, there is a real risk of residents being overworked, burnt out and sometimes exploited,” Acharya said. “Many times, even the faculty are unaware of the impact they have on residents because residents are often hesitant to speak up.”

The resident who attempted suicide is in an intensive care unit but in a stable condition, according to one of the Dhulikhel Hospital’s doctors.

As a result of this case and poor working conditions at Dhulikhel, some students are either considering or have already left the psychiatry programme for which they spent months studying and shelled out millions of rupees.

The Dhulikhel Hospital doctors who spoke to This Week in Asia said the staff were hopeful for a change though not entirely confident. They added that incidents of self-harm could have been prevented had the hospital management taken actions earlier.

“We are scared that there won’t be any changes and that we need to consistently face these situations,” one of the doctors said.

“Those responsible feel they’re invincible, but they need to be held accountable. The professors in the psychiatric department should be held responsible – they must have known for years and their silence makes everyone complicit even if they weren’t involved directly.”
Six elephants killed after passenger train collides with wild herd in Sri Lanka (AP)
AP [2/20/2025 9:33 PM, Bharatha Mallawarachi, 47097K]
At least six elephants were killed when a passenger train hit a herd near a wildlife sanctuary in Sri Lanka, an official said on Thursday.

Four baby elephants and two adults died in the collision near Minneriya, about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the capital, Colombo. The area is renowned for its nature park and wildlife, said Hasini Sarathchandra, a spokesman for the government’s wildlife department.

Local television channels showed the train engine and several compartments had derailed following the collision. No passenger was injured, said a railway official, who declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Sarathchandra said the wildlife department has commenced an investigation into the incident.

Minneriya National Park draws thousands of tourists each year hoping to see elephants in their wild habitats. It is part of the "elephant corridor" that connects Kaudulla and Wasgamuwa National parks.

Train collisions involving elephants have increased in recent years in Sri Lanka, with wild elephants attempting to cross over railway tracks in search of food and water. They are increasingly vulnerable because of the loss and degradation of their natural habitat and many venture closer to human settlements in search of food. Some are killed by poachers or farmers angry over damage to their crops.

According to government statistics, nine elephants died in 2024 after being knocked down by trains, compared with 24 in 2023.

Though elephants are revered in the Indian Ocean island nation, they are endangered with their numbers dwindling from about 14,000 in the 19th century to 6,000 in 2011, according to the country’s first elephant census.
Sri Lanka Passenger Train Kills Six Elephants (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [2/20/2025 6:36 AM, Amal Jayasinghe, 660K]
A Sri Lankan passenger train derailed Thursday after smashing into a family of elephants, with no passengers injured but six animals killed in the island’s worst such wildlife accident, police said.

The express train was travelling near a wildlife reserve at Habarana, some 180 kilometres (110 miles) east of the capital Colombo, when it hit the herd before dawn.

Videos shot of the aftermath showed one elephant standing guard over an injured youngster lying beside the tracks, with the tips of their trunks curled together.

"Three baby elephants were among the six killed," government spokesman and media minister Nalinda Jayatissa told reporters.

"Elephants being runover by trains is something that is not uncommon, but our attention is focused on this case because of the sheer numbers.".

Local police said two other elephants escaped with serious injuries.

Jayatissa said the government was working on a new mechanism to reduce the number of wild animals hit by trains in sparsely populated jungle areas of the island.

"All systems that were in place, like reducing speed, have failed," he said.

Killing or harming elephants is a criminal offence in Sri Lanka, which has an estimated 7,000 wild elephants.

The animals are considered national treasures, partly due to their significance in Buddhist culture.

In August 2016, three elephant calves and their mother were run over by an express train and killed at Cheddikulam, about 260 kilometres (162 miles) north of Colombo.

One the baby elephants was dragged about 300 meters (990 feet) along the track after being hit by the train which was allowed to travel at speeds up to 100 kilometres an hour (60 mph).

Two baby elephants and their pregnant mother were killed in a similar accident by a train in Habarana, the scene of Thursday’s tragedy, in September 2018.

Since then, the authorities ordered train drivers to observe speed limits to minimise injury to elephants when going through areas where they cross the lines.

The elephant deaths comes days after the authorities expressed concern over the growing impact of conflict between humans and elephants due to habitat encroachment.

Farmers scratching a living from smallholder plots often fight back against elephants raiding their crops.

Deputy environment minister Anton Jayakody told AFP on Sunday that 150 people and 450 elephants were killed in clashes in 2023.

"We are planning to introduce multiple barriers -- these may include electric fences, trenches, or other deterrents -- to make it more difficult for wild elephants to stray into villages," he said.

A study last year in the Journal of Threatened Taxa detailed how Asian elephants loudly mourn and bury their dead calves, reminiscent of human funeral rites.

Asian elephants are recognised as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

An estimated 26,000 of them live in the wild, mostly in India with some in Southeast Asia, surviving for an average of 60-70 years outside captivity.
Sri Lankan sex offender allowed to stay in Britain because he is gay (The Telegraph)
The Telegraph [2/20/2025 1:27 PM, Charles Hymas, 714K]
A convicted Sri Lankan sex offender has been allowed to remain in Britain because he is gay and would be at risk of persecution if he was returned to his home country.

The convicted paedophile, jailed in 2012 for four years for molesting three young teenage boys, has been fighting a 12-year legal battle against Home Office efforts to deport him.

Successive judges up to the Court of Appeal have disagreed over the validity of his claim that his deportation would be a breach of his Article 3 rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Article 3 has been used by asylum seekers to fight deportation through its protection against “torture, inhuman treatment and degrading punishment”.

The 50-year-old Sri Lankan, who has been granted anonymity, was described as a “danger to the community” when he was jailed but sought asylum from prison, claiming his life would be at risk if he were to return to Sri Lanka because he is gay.

In the latest legal move, the Court of Appeal has referred the case back to the upper immigration tribunal after it backed a challenge by the Home Office against a decision to allow the man to remain in the UK.

Was told he faced deportation

The case, disclosed in court papers, is the latest example exposed by The Telegraph in which migrants or convicted foreign criminals have won the right to remain in the UK or halt their deportations, often by citing breaches of the ECHR.

Others included an Albanian criminal who avoided deportation after claiming his son had an aversion to foreign chicken nuggets, and a Pakistani paedophile who was jailed for child sex offences but escaped removal from the UK as it would be “unduly harsh” on his own children.

There are a record 34,169 outstanding immigration appeals, largely on human rights grounds, which threaten to hamper Labour’s efforts to fast-track the removal of illegal migrants.

In the latest hearing, the Court of Appeal was told that the Sri Lankan, who is of Tamil ethnicity and was born in Jaffna, came to the UK in 2008 on a student visa to study a three-year degree in fashion design and marketing at London Reading College.

In 2011, the man, named only as PG, was arrested for abusing three boys, aged 13 to 15, and a year later was convicted of five counts of sexual activity with a child and one attempted rape. When he was jailed, he was told he faced deportation once he had completed his sentence.

However, in June 2012, while David Cameron was prime minister, a “decision was made not to pursue PG’s deportation at that time”. A year later, he was told that “in line with Home Office policy” he had been given “discretion in his favour” and was granted limited leave to remain.

He was told that it was “because it is accepted that as a homosexual man it would be unreasonable to expect you to live discreetly in Sri Lanka to avoid inhuman or degrading treatment”.

New hearing must take place

However, in 2017, the Home Office told PG he was to be deported after a change in its asylum guidance on the reduced risks for gay people in Sri Lanka, but that he could appeal against the decision. Since then, there have been at least four appeals at British courts, with judges reaching different conclusions as to whether it is lawful to deport him.

At the latest Court of Appeal hearing, overseen by Lord Justice Jeremy Baker, it was ruled that a new deportation hearing must take place. Lord Justice Baker said the 2023 judge – Upper Tribunal Judge Perkins – had not provided “any reasoned analysis” as to why PG could not return to Sri Lanka.

“I consider that there was insufficient analysis of the evidence to enable the judge to be in a position to be able to determine whether there were sufficiently strong grounds for not following the guidance,” the judge said.

“Moreover, I consider that insufficient reasons were provided as to whether PG, as a gay man, would face persecution on return to Sri Lanka either as a result of the treatment of gay men in that country per se, or in combination with his personal circumstances.”

Lord Justice Baker said more consideration needed to be given regarding the current state of the law in Sri Lanka concerning the prosecution of gay men. A new hearing will take place at the Upper Tribunal in the future.
Central Asia
State Department keeping foreign assistance on hold (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [2/20/2025 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K]
US foreign assistance to Eurasian states and elsewhere remains in limbo as the State Department pushes back on a federal court order to lift a funding freeze and resume full operations.

Federal Judge Amir Ali issued a temporary order on February 13 to lift a funding freeze on foreign aid programs around the world, including USAID-sponsored operations. Since then, administration officials have not issued any instructions to implementing organizations concerning the resumption of programmatic activities, or on accessing already appropriated funds.

In a filing February 18, lawyers for the State Department contended that the government is in compliance with the court order, claiming that a comprehensive review of thousands of contracts and grants showed that officials had the authority to suspend them at will.

In response, lawyers for plaintiff organizations filed a motion calling on top officials from the State Department, USAID and the Office of Management and Budget to be held in contempt. The motion cited anonymous sources within USAID who say no comprehensive review of agreements has occurred. The plaintiffs accuse officials of “brazen defiance” of the court order, adding that the assertion of a comprehensive review “strains credulity.”

Judge Ali set a February 20 deadline for the government to respond to the contempt motion.

Meanwhile, a lengthy commentary published February 19 by a leading independent news outlet in Central Asia, the Tajik-based Asia-Plus news agency, praised USAID and laments the agency’s pending demise, calling it harmful to US interests.

The commentary notes that USAID had provided roughly $20 million in assistance over the past two years to help “to vulnerable households facing growing food insecurity in Tajikistan,” adding that about 200,000 individuals had benefited from the program. It also lauded programs to help farmers produce more nutritious crops to help expand export markets, and highlighted the agency’s key role in helping contain the spread of HIV/AIDS.

“The current administration’s vision of the importance of this organization [USAID] is strategically short-sighted, since in these times, soft power instruments are the most important factor in international affairs, and abandoning them will seriously affect America’s [global] standing,” the commentary states. “Most importantly, we must take into account the fact that the termination of USAID and American aid in general will seriously affect efforts to solve [social and economic] problems facing countries like as Tajikistan.”
Kazakh oil output at record high after pipeline damage in Russia (Reuters)
Reuters [2/20/2025 9:04 AM, Staff, 48128K]
Kazakhstan has pumped record high oil volumes despite damage on its main export route via Russia, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), industry sources said on Thursday.

Oil and gas condensate production in Kazakhstan was around 2.12 million barrels per day (bpd) on February 19, the sources said, citing official data, which has not been made public.

Russia said this week CPC capacity was down 30-40% after an attack by Ukrainian drones.

It was not immediately clear how Kazakhstan had been able to pump record volumes given output increases need to correspond with export pipeline capacity.

Кazakhstan relies on the Caspian pipeline for more than 80% of its exports and lacks alternative routes.

It ships more than 1% of daily global supply, stretches over 1,500 km (939 miles) and carries crude from Kazakhstan’s vast Tengiz oilfield on the northeastern shores of the Caspian Sea as well as from Russian producers.

Record high oil output in Kazakhstan in February follows a rise in production at the giant Tengiz oilfield, operated by Tengizchevroil, led by Chevron, which has embarked on a $48 billion expansion of Tengiz.

Oil output stood above 920,000 barrels per day (bpd) on February 19, up from some 900,000 bpd early in February and an average of 640,000 bpd in January.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the drone attack damage would affect global energy markets and that restoring the facility quickly would be challenging as it would require Western equipment.

A 30-40% flow reduction would amount to some 500,000-680,000 bpd of installed capacity of CPC pipeline, Reuters calculations showed.

Kazakhstan’s energy ministry said on Tuesday the country was supplying oil without restrictions. The ministry has yet to reply to a request for comment on Kazakh oil output.

Shareholders in the CPC include U.S. majors Chevron (CVX.N), and Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), as well as the Russian state, Russian firm Lukoil (LKOH.MM), and Kazakh state company KazMunayGas.
3 Tajik Migrants ‘Killed In Russian Security Forces Raid’ (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [2/20/2025 4:14 PM, Gulbahor Murodi, 235K]
Three Tajik migrants have been killed in a Russian security forces raid, relatives and friends said, after local authorities claimed they had uncovered a terrorist plot in Russia’s western Pskov region.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on February 13 that it had “neutralized” three members of an unnamed “international terrorist organization” who had been preparing an attack to “blow up the main railway station” in the provincial capital, Pskov, with makeshift bombs.

Footage released by the FSB shows heavily armed law enforcement agents raiding a house where the suspects had allegedly been making explosive devices. The video also depicts knives, nails, several bottles of a flammable chemical, acetone, and other items that the suspects had purportedly gathered to use as components for homemade bombs.

The recording also shows the body of a man on the floor, with what appears to be a gunshot wound to his stomach and a rifle beside his right hand.

Describing the men as “citizens of one of the Central Asian countries,” the FSB said in a statement that they had been acting “on the instructions of a foreign-based emissary” of a terrorist organization and had planned to flee to “a Near East county” after carrying out the attack.

The statement did not name the suspects, but several days later relatives and acquaintances of the men identified them as Tajik migrant workers Azizjon Azamqulzoda, Jovid Jumaev, and Parviz Rustamov.

They disputed Russian authorities’ claim that the migrants were members of a foreign terrorist group.

Fear Of Backlash

“I knew these young men very well, they had so many plans and dreams for the future,” said a Pskov-based Tajik migrant worker, who gave only his first name, Behzod.

“No one [among those who knew them] believes that they would be engaged in [terrorist] activity. Also, they were not the kind of people who would do something like this for money,” Behzod said, adding that he believes the Tajik workers “were made scapegoats” by Russian authorities.

Bozorboi Azamqulzoda, the father of one of the suspects, told RFE/RL’s Central Asian Migrants Unit on February 17 that his son, Azizjon Azamqulzoda wasn’t religious and "did not pray."

The three men used to work together as waiters at the Chaikhona restaurant in Pskov, but Rustamov quit to become a taxi driver, while Azamqulzoda found a job at a shopping center.

Behzod and several other Tajik workers in Pskov told RFE/RL that the migrant community is concerned about a potential backlash following the FSB announcement.

Behzod said many Tajiks are too afraid to leave their homes.

Tajik and other Central Asian migrants reported a spike in xenophobic attacks after a terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue in the Moscow region killed 145 people in March 2024.

Russian authorities said the massacre was carried out by four Tajik nationals.

Tens of thousands of Central Asians have been deported or denied entry to Russia following the attack.
Turkmen ambassador highlights 2025 as international year of peace and trust (Korea Times)
Korea Times [2/20/2025 6:15 AM, Kim Hyun-bin, 1004K]
Turkmen Ambassador to Korea Begench Durdyyev emphasized Turkmenistan’s foreign policy goals for 2025, proclaimed as the International Year of Peace and Trust, during an event held at the Embassy of Turkmenistan in Seoul, Thursday.

The United Nations has designated 2025 as the International Year of Peace and Trust. This designation aims to promote peaceful and trustworthy relations between nations.

"We come together on the occasion of introducing Turkmenistan’s foreign policy plans for this year, an especially notable period as 2025 has been proclaimed as the International Year of Peace and Trust. This year, we also take pride in celebrating the 30th anniversary of our nation’s permanent neutrality," Durdyyev said.

The ambassador highlighted Turkmenistan’s long-standing policy of peaceful neutrality, which is built on principles of noninterference in the internal affairs of other states, abstaining from military alliances and advocating for conflict resolution through diplomatic means.

"Over the three decades since gaining its independence, Turkmenistan has adhered to a peaceful neutral policy," he said. "By championing diplomacy over conflict, we have made an enormous contribution to the cause of promoting peace throughout the world.".

One of the key diplomatic achievements in this regard, Durdyyev noted, was the adoption of the United Nations Resolution titled "2025 International Year of Peace and Trust" on March 21, 2024. The resolution, co-sponsored by 86 U.N. member states, highlights the U.N. Charter’s fundamental commitment to peaceful dispute resolution.

"The resolution represents the practical embodiment of the philosophy of the new international relations — ‘Dialogue is a guarantee of peace,’ as announced by the national leader of the Turkmen people," he said.

Durdyyev pointed to several significant anniversaries coinciding with this initiative, including the 30th anniversary of Turkmenistan’s permanent neutrality, the 80th anniversary of the U.N. and the 33rd anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Turkmenistan.

Bilateral ties

Durdyyev also highlighted the deepening diplomatic and economic ties between the two nations commemorating the 33rd anniversary of diplomatic relations.

"The historical intergovernmental document titled ‘Protocol of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Turkmenistan and the Republic of Korea’ was signed on Feb. 7, 1992, followed by the opening of the embassies in the capitals of our two countries," he said.

"Over the past three decades, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Korea have worked hand in hand to advance our common goals, deepening ties in various fields, including politics, economy, culture and education.".

The ambassador outlined Turkmenistan’s plans to expand cooperation this year with a comprehensive cooperation program aimed at elevating bilateral relations in the political and economic realm, starting from arranging political consultations and ending with a state visit.

"At least two large-scale projects will start to be implemented by leading Korean companies in Turkmenistan this year, and we will work to increase this number," he said.

"Since in the coming months we plan to launch direct passenger flights between Ashgabat and Seoul, we would like to encourage representatives from the aviation and tourism sectors to actively work together on facilitating tourism exchange between our countries.".
Indo-Pacific
Group of mostly Asian migrants deported from US arrive in Costa Rica (Reuters)
Reuters [2/20/2025 9:19 PM, Alvaro Murillo, 48128K]
Costa Rica’s government received its first group of mostly Asian migrants deported from the United States on Thursday, part of a deal with Washington to temporarily house up to 200 deportees from other nations.

The deportations are part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on unlawful migration that includes a growing number of flights to nations cooperating with him on the multinational repatriations.

The latest group of expelled migrants were flown from the city of San Diego to Costa Rican capital San Jose, from where they were sent by bus to a migrant shelter near the border with Panama.

The migrants will be allowed to stay in Costa Rica for one month, during which time officials will coordinate their voluntary return to their home countries, Deputy Security Minister Omer Badilla told reporters at the San Jose airport.

"Most of them want to return to their countries," Badilla said, adding that those who declined would have their cases addressed on an individual basis.

The group - all part of family units - were from Uzbekistan, China, Armenia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Russia, Georgia, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan and Ghana.

Up to 200 migrants from other nations deported by the U.S. are expected to be sent to Costa Rica as part of the most recent deal, President Rodrigo Chaves announced on Wednesday, citing the threat of U.S. tariffs on Costa Rican goods.

Also on Thursday U.S. authorities ordered 177 Venezuelan migrants flown from Guantanamo Bay to Honduras. They will later be sent to Venezuela.

Meanwhile, the Panamanian government said that three of the migrants it had received from the U.S. from other nations had requested asylum and that they could ultimately be received by other countries such as Canada.
Twitter
Afghanistan
Habib Khan
@HabibKhanT
[2/20/2025 11:24 AM, 247.6K followers, 44 retweets, 232 likes]
The three leaders at the forefront of the fight against the Taliban for a democratic Afghanistan at the Vienna Conference—Fawzia Koofi leading Afghan women’s fight against gender apartheid, while Yasin Zia and Ahmad Massoud lead the armed resistance against the regime.

Habib Khan
@HabibKhanT
[2/20/2025 7:12 AM, 247.6K followers, 45 retweets, 235 likes]
Responding to the Vienna conference in panic mode, the Taliban chief of military staff admits they’d rather break the country apart than lose power. Afghanistan existed before the Taliban and will outlast them—but this time, they’ll be uprooted for good.

Beth W. Bailey
@BWBailey85
[2/19/2025 12:42 PM, 8K followers, 36 retweets, 167 likes]
Shawn VanDiver and Kate Kovarovic with an update on breaking news that State has been told to present plans for dismantling Operation Enduring Welcome platforms by April. The time for advocacy is now. Latest from The Afghanistan Project Podcast. Please listen, share, and subscribe: https://youtu.be/m3SDiDlXzzw
Pakistan
Government of Pakistan
@GovtofPakistan
[2/20/2025 10:44 AM, 3.1M followers, 9 retweets, 60 likes]
Islamabad: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif chairs a meeting regarding Exports Development Roadmap.

Government of Pakistan
@GovtofPakistan
[2/20/2025 10:32 AM, 3.1M followers, 12 retweets, 78 likes]
Islamabad: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif chairs a meeting on Health and Pharmaceutical Sector reforms.
India
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[2/21/2025 12:57 AM, 105.4M followers, 2K retweets, 9.6K likes]
Addressing the SOUL Leadership Conclave in New Delhi. It is a wonderful forum to nurture future leaders. @LeadWithSoul https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1ynJOlQDEOVxR

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[2/20/2025 12:05 PM, 105.4M followers, 6K retweets, 44K likes]
Had a great interaction with NDA allies earlier this afternoon.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[2/20/2025 5:43 AM, 105.4M followers, 3.5K retweets, 25K likes]
Greetings to the people of Arunachal Pradesh on their Statehood Day! This state is known for its rich traditions and deep connection to nature. The hardworking and dynamic people of Arunachal Pradesh continue to contribute immensely to India’s growth, while their vibrant tribal heritage and breathtaking biodiversity make the state truly special. May Arunachal Pradesh continue to flourish, and may its journey of progress and harmony continue to soar in the years to come.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[2/20/2025 5:42 AM, 105.4M followers, 3K retweets, 20K likes]
Warm greetings to the people of Mizoram on their Statehood Day! This vibrant state is known for its breathtaking landscapes, deep-rooted traditions and the remarkable warmth of its people. The Mizo culture reflects a beautiful mix of heritage and harmony. May Mizoram continue to prosper, and may its journey of peace, development and progress reach even greater heights in the years to come.

President of India
@rashtrapatibhvn
[2/21/2025 2:53 AM, 26.4M followers, 28 retweets, 341 likes]
Governor of Goa, Shri P.S. Sreedharan Pillai called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

President of India
@rashtrapatibhvn
[2/21/2025 2:54 AM, 26.4M followers, 122 retweets, 1K likes]
Chief Minister of Delhi, Smt Rekha Gupta called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[2/20/2025 5:00 PM, 3.3M followers, 140 retweets, 897 likes]
Spoke at the G20 FMM session on Global Geopolitical Situation. Highlighted that the global geopolitical situation remains difficult and G20’s ability to harmonize viewpoints is key to advancing an agreed agenda. Presented India’s position on the Middle East, maritime security, Ukraine conflict, Indo-Pacific and UN reforms. Geo-politics is a reality, as is national interest. There are lessons from the last few years for all of us to reflect on. But equally, an experience to draw upon as we seek to lead the world to a better place. : https://mea.gov.in/Speeches-State

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[2/20/2025 12:43 PM, 3.3M followers, 640 retweets, 5.4K likes]
Glad to meet FM Sergey Lavrov of Russia this evening in Johannesburg. Reviewed the continued progress of India-Russia bilateral cooperation. Discussed recent developments pertaining to the Ukraine conflict, including his Riyadh meeting. Agreed to remain in touch.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[2/20/2025 3:56 AM, 3.3M followers, 344 retweets, 3.5K likes]
Congratulate @gupta_rekha on taking oath as the Chief Minister of Delhi. Confident that under PM @narendramodi’s guidance, your team will usher in a new era of good governance, fulfilling the aspirations of people of Delhi. Wish the Government a very successful tenure. #ViksitDelhi #ViksitBharat

Sidhant Sibal
@sidhant
[2/21/2025 3:25 AM, 306.3K followers, 4 retweets, 10 likes]
Indian EAM Dr S Jaishankar, Chinese FM Wang Yi set to hold bilateral meeting on the sidelines of G20 FMs meet in South Africa. 2nd bilat (after Nov Rio meet) btwn the 2 ministers since Kazan meet-PM Modi, Chinese Prez Xi Jinping.
NSB
Tshering Tobgay
@tsheringtobgay
[2/21/2025 2:56 AM, 101.1K followers, 11 retweets, 78 likes]
My heartfelt gratitude to PM @narendramodi for your kind words and warm hospitality. It is an honor to join the inaugural SOUL Leadership Conclave and celebrate this special occasion with you.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maldives
@MoFAmv
[2/21/2025 1:15 AM, 55.4K followers, 20 retweets, 27 likes]
Minister Dr. Abdulla Khaleel pays courtesy call on President of Sri Lanka Press Release | https://t.ly/lx5MV

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maldives
@MoFAmv
[2/20/2025 6:44 AM, 55.4K followers, 30 retweets, 40 likes]
Foreign Minister @abkhaleel pays a courtesy call on the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Hon. @Dr_HariniA, and reaffirms MV commitment to strengthening the close friendship between both countries. Press Release | https://t.ly/UTSo0

Abdulla Khaleel
@abkhaleel
[2/21/2025 1:54 AM, 33.7K followers, 22 retweets, 26 likes]
It was a distinct honor to call on the President of Sri Lanka, Hon. @anuradisanayake. I conveyed greetings and best wishes from President Dr. @MMuizzu and the people of Maldives. We discussed the positive trajectory of the long-standing bilateral and historical relations between the #Maldives and #SriLanka. I expressed my sincere gratitude to the Government of Sri Lanka for the special consideration and support accorded to the Maldives and reaffirmed the commitment of the Government of Maldives to continue working with Sri Lanka on all issues of mutual interest.

Abdulla Khaleel
@abkhaleel
[2/20/2025 12:34 PM, 33.7K followers, 24 retweets, 28 likes]
Pleased to have an opportunity to interact with the Maldivian community in Sri Lanka. I noted the concerns raised by some of our citizens and conveyed our commitment to address any challenges faced by Maldivian community in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka generously hosts a large community of Maldivians and is second home for many Maldivians. Maldivians reside and travel to #Sri Lanka mainly for education and medical purposes.

Abdulla Khaleel
@abkhaleel
[2/20/2025 12:29 PM, 33.7K followers, 21 retweets, 30 likes]
It was a pleasure to engage in productive interactions with Ambassadors accredited to Maldives based in Colombo. We had meaningful discussions on enhancing our ties and exploring new areas of collaboration. Looking forward to deepening our partnerships and working together on areas of mutual interest.

Abdulla Khaleel
@abkhaleel
[2/20/2025 6:27 AM, 33.7K followers, 30 retweets, 35 likes]
It was an honour to call on Prime Minister of #Srilanka, Hon. @Dr_HariniA today. Discussion focussed on our longstanding bonds of friendship and cooperation, with a particular focus on enhancing bilateral and economic ties. The #Maldives and #SriLanka have always enjoyed a historic and neighbourly relationship, and we are committed to explore ways to enhance these relations through mutual cooperation.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake
@anuradisanayake
[2/21/2025 1:45 AM, 145.8K followers, 5 retweets, 40 likes]
Yesterday (21), I attended the Innovation Island Summit - 2025 at the ITC Ratnadeepa Hotel in Colombo. I shared our vision for transforming Sri Lanka into a competitive player in innovation, emphasizing the crucial role of digitalization. Together, we can create a thriving environment for innovation that benefits all!

Anura Kumara Dissanayake
@anuradisanayake
[2/20/2025 1:18 PM, 145.8K followers, 39 retweets, 132 likes]
Yesterday (20), I met with @abkhaleel, the Maldivian Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the Presidential Secretariat. I appreciate his kind words about our electoral victory and the positive changes in Sri Lanka. Together, we will strengthen our bilateral relations for a brighter future!

Harsha de Silva
@HarshadeSilvaMP
[2/20/2025 6:37 AM, 360.6K followers, 13 retweets, 68 likes]
Devastating loss of 6 elephants today near Minneriya (home to Asia’s largest #gathering). 66 elephants lost in < 3 months. This wake-up call demands urgent action to find the right balance. Beyond #tourism value, protecting these majestic beings & communities is paramount #lka
Central Asia
MFA Kazakhstan
@MFA_KZ
[2/20/2025 9:59 AM, 57K followers, 3 likes]
The Kazakh Foreign Ministry Hosted Talks on Ensuring Security in the SCO Area

Uzbekistan MFA
@uzbekmfa
[2/21/2025 12:22 AM, 8.7K followers, 1 like]
On February 20, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan Bakhromjon Aloev met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Ahmad Farooq. https://gov.uz/en/mfa/news/view/37202

{End of Report}
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