India is listed as 95 out of 182 in Transparency International’s 2011 list of countries graded from 1 to 10 – with 10 being the least corrupt. India is graded at 3.1 out of 10 in terms of how clean it is from corruption, and shares this position with Albania, Kiribati, Swaziland and Tonga. This statistic gives us a broad idea of how Indians perceive corruption in their
country, but the story of corruption in India is a dynamic one, and how it affects the freedom of Indians is complex. Read more...

Sri Lanka has achieved fast growth with falling unemployment and poverty There is visible change in post war Sri Lanka with new roads, high rise buildings, designer boutiques and fast cars. According to the Central Bank economic growth has moved up to the 8 percent per annum region. Most recent data suggests that the economy picked up in 2010 and sustained the growth rate in 2011. Agriculture was estimated to have grown by 2.0 percent contributing 12 percent to GDP while industry and services had expanded by 10.1 and 8.6 percent contributing 30 and 58 percent to GDP respectively. Read more...

Since the assassination of Osama bin Laden there has been a great deal of media and intelligence chatter on who would replace bin Laden as the leader of Al Qaida. One name, that of Ilyas Kashmiri, generated a certain amount of interest in South Asia, not least because it seemingly establishes the interconnectedness of the networks from Kashmir through Pakistan, Afghanistan and all the way to the Al Qaida’s Western collaborators including in Europe and the United States. His death, after a drone strike on June 3, 2011, gives us a chance to examine the details of the life of one of the most dangerous militants to arise out of South Asia. Read more