India’s emergence as an Asian powerhouse had been forecast since the end of the Cold War. After the liberalisation of the economy and its decision to finally look east, India found immense success in changing its image around the globe and being seen as a benign power that looks to abide and uphold the principles enshrined in international law. Under the Modi administration, India has enacted the Act East Policy that engages with Southeast Asian countries more actively across various sectors, including security. This article analyses the bilateral relations India shares with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other Indo-Pacific countries in order to assess the strength of its security architecture in its effort to create a mutually secure environment against traditional and non-traditional threats. The article explains that India’s position to its east is definitely improving, but in the context of current geopolitical trends and the omnipresence of its neighbour, China, it is not improving rapidly enough.

This article makes two principal arguments: First, the line between Nepali identity and Indian Nepali identity (and subsequently, their respective literatures) is still blurred. Secondly, historically, the Gorkhā have been regarded as a martial race serving as soldiers in the British East India Company from 1815. However, within this famed and fabled narrative of Gorkhā bravery and loyalty, Gorkhā women had no role to play. They were pushed into obscurity, giving rise questions such as: In a community where the term Gorkhā invokes the image of a brave Gorkhā soldier, where does the Gorkhā woman find herself? And what happens to the Gorkhā woman and her voice? Furthermore, can a woman be a Gorkhā at all? If yes, how is she supposed to assert her Gorkhā identity[1] and make herself be seen as a part of the community? This article addresses these questions through the poems composed by three women poets from two different generations within Indian Nepali Literature—Bindya Subba, Kamala Rai, and Pavitra Lama, whose works are rightful representatives of a distinct Gorkhā female identity. The author conducted interviews with the poets and did extensive fieldwork in the Darjeeling Hills[2] in order to properly understand the dynamics of the Gorkhā identity and the impact of the Gorkhāland agitation on the Gorkhā community.

This is first in a three-part series on Leng Sochea’s comprehensive study on demining in Cambodia. Part One presents the historical background, the research objectives, and local/global legal and regulatory framework. Dr. Sochea conducted this study with deminers and team leaders in five provinces of Cambodia. There is a sizeable volume of literature on the effectiveness of the multiple factors involved in demining in Cambodia, but empirical investigation into such factors is extremely sparse. There exists no research on the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), which is the primary focus of this project. The study explores the history of the laying of landmines and other ordnance by the United States and the Cambodian warring factions, the extent of destruction caused, and it identifies both strengths and weaknesses of the demining system. The author traces the difficult path that Cambodia took to gradually develop one of the most efficient and sophisticated mine action planning mechanisms in the world.