Pulind Samant

India’s decision to pull out of the inaugural FIFA ASEAN Cup for a high-profile friendly with Brazil sends the wrong signal at a time when its Act East policy demands consistency and commitment. On the eve of India’s 80th Independence Day, Indian media carried the news of India’s withdrawal from the inaugural FIFA ASEAN Cup football tournament, as announced by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) a day before. Justification for the said decision explained that Indian participation in the...

The restoration of Indonesia’s Prambanan temple signals a new phase in India’s Act East policy, with heritage conservation as an instrument of diplomacy. Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto announced the collaborative project of conservation and restoration of Indonesia’s 9th century Prambanan temple complex during the former’s three-day state visit to Indonesia. The said project is about putting back into shape around two hundred ancillary...

From protecting Java’s fleeing Hindu-Buddhists to resisting pressures to abandon its own faith, Bali’s story is one of civilisation’s most remarkable acts of endurance. The last article in this column discussed how a tiny-dot-on-the-map Bali rose to the occasion by rescuing the endangered Javanese lives and over a millennium old Hindu-Buddhist heritage of theirs, and how it accommodated both in the manner of protecting and upholding the Dharma. While all that happened in the 16th century, it...