Ashok swain

By Verified The most used data on violent conflicts was released last week by the Uppsala Conflict Data Programme for the year 2022. While the number of armed conflicts in which the state is a party had increased from 54 in 2021 to 55 in 2022, the number of deaths in these armed conflicts has almost doubled. In 2021, 120,000 people had died in armed conflicts, and in 2022, the number has reached 238,000. By Verified World Environment Day has been celebrated annually on 5 June for the past fifty years. This significant day aims to raise awareness and inspire action to protect our environment. It all began in 1972 during the UN Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm, where the concept of Environment Day first took shape. Since 1973, millions of people worldwide have united every year on this date to commemorate the event.

India and Nepal have long had close ties, but those have become strained in recent years. Recently, a road inauguration by India sparked a new round for an old border dispute between the two sides, adding to tensions. Ashok Swain is an Indian-born academic and professor of peace and conflict research at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Sweden’s Uppsala University. In 2017, he was appointed as the UNESCO Chair of International Water Cooperation and became the first UNESCO Chair of Uppsala University. Note: The Diplomat’s Arun Budhathoki spoke with Swain about the recent skirmishes between Nepal and India and what the future holds for them. The Diplomat: How do you perceive the recent land encroachment by India on Nepal’s claimed territory? Is this guided by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi or India’s foreign policy? Diplomat Brief Weekly Newsletter N Get briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch across the Asia-Pacific. Get the Newsletter Ashok Swain: I don’t see any difference between Indian Prime Minister Modi’s idea and India’s foreign policy. It is true that India’s foreign policy vis-à-vis Nepal in particular and other South Asian countries, in general, have been big-brotherly and less consultative and often lack mutual respect. With time and changing geopolitics, the policy was going through a slow change, but the transition has stopped with Narendra Modi being the prime minister. Modi, after coming to power in 2014, has furt...

Firstly, on November 14, 2022, Swain was challenging the Modi government to conduct the G20 meet in Kashmir. He praised Indonesia for holding the G20 summit in its "Hindu minority" district of Bali and preached that India should show the same religious tolerance by hosting the G20 Summit 2023 in "India’s Muslim minority, Kashmir." Now, when everything is good in the backdrop of G20 meet in Kashmir, he claimed government’s decision to host the G20 meeting in Kashmir had the same effect as the revocation of Article 370. He wrote, "Holding the G20 meeting in Kashmir has the same effect as the abrogation of Article 370. It doesn’t make India’s position stronger as the Kashmir issue gets internationalized more, it just makes Modi’s Hindu supremacist vote bank happy." Seems like, he is shocked to see the progress taking place in Jammu and Kashmir.

Premium Delhi HC seeks Centre’s response to Sweden-based professor Ashok Swain’s plea against cancellation of OCI card Swain claimed that he received a show cause notice from the Indian Embassy whereby his OCI card was arbitrarily barred on the alleged premise that he was indulging in “inflammatory speeches and anti-India activities”. The Delhi High Court Thursday sought the Centre’s response to Sweden-based professor Ashok Swain’s plea challenging the cancellation of his Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card by the Indian Embassy in Sweden. The matter was listed before a single-judge bench of Justice Prathiba Singh who at the outset said she will only issue notices at this stage. The respondents – the Ministry of Home Affairs, External Affairs Ministry and the Indian Embassy in Sweden and Latvia – have been given four weeks’ time to file their reply and the matter is next listed on February 7, 2023. Swain is a professor and the head of the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, Sweden. He is also a UNESCO Chair on International Water Cooperation since 2007. Swain, who has been living in Sweden for the past 32 years, was granted an OCI card on January 14, 2020, by the Centre. Swain claimed that he received a show cause notice on October 6, 2020, from the Indian Embassy whereby his OCI card was arbitrarily barred on the alleged premise that he was indulging in “inflammatory speeches and anti-India activities”. He said that no specific instances or...