In Asia recently spoke with Indian journalist Indrani Bagchi, diplomatic editor for The Times of India, the country’s largest English-language daily, on her way back from Washington, D.C., where she finished conducting research on U.S.-China relations and their impact on India, as an Asia Foundation Chang-Lin Tien Visiting Fellow. Bagchi speaks on rising print newspaper readership in India, President Obama’s upcoming visit to India, and more.

Q: What domestic and international issues are the Indian media covering well?

India’s domestic issues still remain the biggest thing that we cover. There is so much to cover within India on any given day in terms of crises, developments, politics. The quantum of stories from the domestic sector is just enormous. But for those of us who cover foreign policy, it’s always a fight for space with the domestic editors. At night, when everybody’s lobbying for last minute space, it’s a battle.

Q: Is this a reflection of a decrease in foreign coverage globally?

Possibly, but in India it also has to do with our newspaper’s revenue model. We are completely advertisement-led.
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By John J. Brandon

For the past 23 years, May 31 has held significance that few are even aware of – World No Tobacco Day. Started in 1987 by the World Health Organization (WHO), World No Tobacco Day has for almost a quarter century encouraged 24 hours of abstinence from all forms of tobacco around the globe, in an attempt to shine a light on the negative health effects of tobacco use.  But smoking is on the rise in Asia – sharply – so clearly not everyone is heeding the message.

Of the world’s 1.3 billion tobacco smokers, 700 million live in Asia. China, India, and Indonesia are the world’s largest consumers of tobacco. China’s 350 million smokers puff on 2 trillion cigarettes a year. Cigarette smoking in Indonesia has increased by 26 percent over the past 15 years. Increased smoking is having considerable public health consequences across the region. As life spans increase across Asia, diseases caused by smoking – cardiovascular disease, lung disease, and various forms of cancer – are overtaking infections as a leading cause of premature death. Of the 5.5 million people who die from smoking-related illnesses each year, half are in Asia. China and Indonesia alone account for 1.7 million smoking deaths. By 2050, researchers estimate that smoking deaths in Asia will be four times what they are today.
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By V. Bruce J. Tolentino

On Earth Day 2010, Asia has much to be thankful for. While the recent global financial crisis hit Asia hard, most of Asia’s governments acted swiftly and decisively and succeeded, against prevailing expectations, to limit the impact of the financial debacle. They had learned the hard way from the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Intertwined with the global financial crisis was the food price crisis of 2007-2009: long-term global trends in population growth, rising incomes, competing non-food use of crops, falling investments in agricultural productivity, and lower food stocks were jarred by sudden supply shocks in key producing countries. The panicky procurement and knee-jerk trade bans hurriedly implemented by several governments, particularly India and the Philippines, sparked a food price spiral – that spiraled out of control.
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By Kim McQuay

There is an instant before the start of a large event when, with logistical arrangements set and the agenda fine tuned, attention shifts to participants. One draws a breath and wonders what the chemistry of personalities, perspectives, and experience will yield. So I reflected at the start of last week’s regional conference on the role of leaders of influence in national development efforts in Dhaka. Over 80 participants representing 14 South, Southeast, and Central Asian nations sat in country teams, a human landscape of traditional white and saffron robes, capes, and headscarves, elegant saris and shalwar kameez, colorful batiks, and jackets and ties. Microphones crackled to life from the podium, and the session began.

Convened by The Asia Foundation and USAID, the conference provided a forum where those gathered could share views and experience drawn from different country contexts and working environments.
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Upon their return from the Leaders of Influence (LOI) regional conference in Dhaka March 21-24 that convened over 80 participants from 14 countries, In Asia spoke with Rosita MacDonald, program officer for The Asia Foundation’s Governance, Law, and Civil Society program, and Russell Pepe, chief of party for the LOI program in Bangladesh, on what they heard.

Q: Was there a sense from conference participants that progress has been made since U.S. President Obama’s much-heralded Cairo speech last year in which he declared the U.S.’s commitment to reengage with the Muslim community?

Rosita MacDonald: There was a lot of talk from the U.S. delegation about the shift to enhanced engagement with the Muslim community as well as with other religious communities. This point was acknowledged by several of the delegates, but they also made the point that the U.S. needs to be more effective in its public diplomacy efforts in Asia and to highlight tangible examples of engagement with, and support for, the Muslim world. There is optimism to be sure, but still a lot of uncertainty as to what this “engagement” actually involves and how deep it runs.

Russell Pepe: Participants were encouraged by President Obama’s speech, but several also expressed a need to see more concrete actions. LOI was cited as a very good example of how the U.S. can support a wider engagement with the Muslim community, and can effectively build bridges between different faiths and secular groups.
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When President Obama declared in his Cairo speech last year “Americans are ready to join with citizens and governments, community organizations, religious leaders, and businesses in Muslim communities around the world to help our people pursue a better life,” a new sense of optimism charged those dedicated to building bridges between the two communities.

In direct response to President Obama’s call for greater engagement and his Global Engagement Initiative in which the United States has committed to work with Muslim-majority countries to advance democracy and development, USAID and The Asia Foundation convened a regional conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh, March 21-24 that attracted nearly 70 religious and traditional leaders from 14 countries to candidly exchange views and ideas on the critical role that “leaders of influence” play in promoting positive change in their communities and the power they have to affect national development.
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By Rajendra Abhyankar

Defence Secretary Robert Gates’ three-day visit to New Delhi last month not only bolstered India’s role in promoting security and stability in Afghanistan and the region, but also boosted bilateral defence cooperation and trade. His visit helps pave the way for President Barack Obama, who is expected to visit India this summer, and helps answer an important question the two countries have asked each other since India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington last year: Do we take a “strategic pause” to heal some rising negativity brewing in the relationship, or do we look for the “next big idea” to keep up the momentum?
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By Nina Merchant

Photo: Rita Banerji, Flickr

As a student of economics and a development practitioner, I had always assumed that economic development, measured by rising per capita incomes, implied greater gender equality. I had made this assumption because, as Figure 1 below illustrates, there is a strong positive linear relationship between per capita country GDP and the Status of Women, as measured by the Gender-Related Development Index constructed by the United Nations to evaluate the achievement of women in terms of life expectancy, education, and access to income.

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The Asia Foundation, the India Community Center, the Center for South Asia at Stanford University, and the World Affairs Council of Northern California will host Monday, Oct. 5, 2009, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. an evening of conversation at Stanford University on former U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Asia Foundation Trustee Teresita Schaffer’s new book India and the U.S. in the 21st Century: Reinventing Partnership. Also participating is Professor Pradeep Chhibber, Director of the Institute of International Studies, the University of California, Berkeley. To see full details please click here. Seating is limited. Please register by Oct. 2, 2009, to Vishnu@indiacc.org.

By Rajendra Abhyankar

Rajendra Abhyankar, former Indian Ambassador, is currently an Advisor with The Asia Foundation in India. He can be reached at rabhyankar@asiafound.org.

For a country where job-creation has always been more important than wealth creation, the idea of a jobless recovery just does not exist. To meet the needs of its vast population, 65 percent of whom are below age 35, the government is under constant pressure to create (literally) new jobs and succeeds by bringing in 12 to 15 million jobs each year. Yet, India is running to standstill. Hence the crucial importance of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) that assures 100 days employment to every able-bodied person in the countryside. With the economic forecast looking up, the scheme has just been restructured to cover a larger segment of the population.
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