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Himal Southasian
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Southasia’s magazine of politics and culture. Get our newsletters in your inbox: bit.ly/HimalNewsletters
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Himal Southasian @himalsouthasian.bsky.social · Sep 9
"For many young #Nepalis, this was their first large-scale protest. They will never forget that the very first protest they led was met with a hail of bullets," writes Pranaya Rana
Nepal’s K P Oli government has murdered 19 people
This story first appeared in Kalam Weekly. It has been republished with updates and edits. Monday, 8 September, started out optimistic. A Gen Z protest against
buff.ly
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
Despite the junta’s claims that the election mark a step towards democratic transition , two of the country’s previously elected leaders from the National League for Democracy remain imprisoned.
https://www.himalmag.com/politics/myanmar-political-prisoners-election-junta-nld
#MyanmarPolitics
Myanmar’s political prisoners belie the junta’s talk of democratic transition
Myanmar’s political prisoners expose junta’s lies of democracy
www.himalmag.com
January 26, 2026 at 6:25 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
Elsewhere in Southasia.
News roundup for the week of January 19. Sign up for Southasia Weekly, your radar on the region - https://www.himalmag.com/newsletters
January 25, 2026 at 3:30 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
For more writing and book recommendations from across Southasia, subscribe to the Southasia Review of Books : https://www.himalmag.com/newsletters
Suggestions for books, authors, or events are welcome at shwethas@himalmag.com
#SouthasiaReview #BookRecommendations #ReadSouthasia
January 24, 2026 at 11:30 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
Excerpts from Southasia Weekly. Subscribe to our newsletter here : https://www.himalmag.com/newsletters
#SouthasiaNews #CurrentAffairs #SubscribeNow #StayInformed
January 23, 2026 at 12:23 PM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
In India, Madhya Pradesh has seen the highest numbers of relocations of villages in the name of tiger conservation – both before and after the enactment of the Forest Rights Act.
https://www.himalmag.com/politics/madhya-pradesh-india-tiger-cheetah-conservation-adivasi
The huge human costs of Madhya Pradesh’s tiger and cheetah reserves
“WE NEVER WANTED to relocate, never consented either,” Dhani Singh Marvi, a resident of Ramkhiriya, told me when I visited his village in 2023. “But the forest
www.himalmag.com
January 22, 2026 at 11:49 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
From Panchayat-era moralism to donor-driven publishing and today a rising crop of local initiatives, the shifts in Nepal’s children’s literature reflect the difficult history of the country itself.

Niranjan Kunwar writes:
https://www.himalmag.com/culture/nepal-children-books-literature-publishing
January 20, 2026 at 1:27 PM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
Congratulations to Neha Dixit for winning the Ramnath Goenka Sahitya Samman (Best Debut) 2025 and the KLF Book Award 2025 for Debut Non-Fiction for 'The Many Lives of Syeda X : The Story of an Unknown Indian'.
Listen to the full conversation on Youtube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
January 19, 2026 at 12:31 PM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
Elsewhere in Southasia.
News roundup for the week of January 12. Sign up for Southasia Weekly, your radar on the region - https://www.himalmag.com/newsletters
January 19, 2026 at 5:42 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
Excerpts from Southasia Weekly. Subscribe to our newsletter here - https://www.himalmag.com/newsletters
January 18, 2026 at 4:30 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
Rohith Vemula, a #Dalit PhD scholar, died by suicide in January 2016. From the #HimalArchives: essays on #caste, #campuses and institutional violence.
January 17, 2026 at 11:30 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
With a narrow focus on security and a desire to perpetuate #Afghanistan’s dependence on #Pakistan, Islamabad has failed to recognise the Taliban’s new regional ambitions and geopolitical strategy, writes Salman Rafi Sheikh
https://ow.ly/j8Bx50XXRlH
Pakistan’s narrow view of Afghanistan has cost it dearly
FOR MORE THAN THREE YEARS, Afghanistan and Pakistan have been locked in a cycle of tension, cross-border strikes and fighting punctuated by sporadic attempts at
ow.ly
January 16, 2026 at 11:40 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
Calling all translators of Southasian languages! Original submissions for Himal Fiction Fest 2026: Southasian Fiction in Translation are now open. Please help us to spread the word to applicants. Deadline: 1 April.

#SouthasianFiction #Translation #CallForSubmissions #SouthasianLiterature
January 15, 2026 at 5:30 AM
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Submissions to Himal Fiction Fest 2026 open tomorrow!
January 14, 2026 at 1:05 PM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
From the archives.
Mahasweta Devi wrote against erasure - of land, labour and life at the margins. On her birthday, we return to our archival pieces on a writer whose politics were inseparable from her prose.
https://www.himalmag.com/culture/amma-and-budhan-theatre-tribute-mahasweta-devi
‘Amma’ and Budhan Theatre
On 21 August 2016, the body of Mahasweta Devi, "Amma" to the Denotified and Nomadic Tribes, was buried at the Adivasi Academy in Tejgadh, Gujarat. During one of
www.himalmag.com
January 14, 2026 at 11:44 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
What does it take to write about a figure as unsettling as V T Rajshekar?
Roman Gautam, Editor of Himal Southasian and writer Ashik Kahina discuss the making of 'Dalit Voice and V T Rajshekar’s frustrated revolution'.
Watch the full conversation on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/QLdm_1HkevQ
January 14, 2026 at 7:31 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
"Dalpat Chauhan has never tired of upholding education as a great enabler of Dalit emancipation, and hurdles to it are to him more damaging than material deprivations of various kinds."

Hemang Ashwinkumar writes: https://www.himalmag.com/politics/dalit-literature-gujarat-caste-dalpat-chauhan
January 13, 2026 at 11:30 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
Against the familiar image of Gujarati development and pride held up to India and the world, Dalpat Chauhan has spent his life writing another history, one shaped by Dalit memory, resistance and a vision of justice. https://www.himalmag.com/politics/dalit-literature-gujarat-caste-dalpat-chauhan
Dalpat Chauhan’s alternative Dalit history of Gujarat
ABOUT A DECADE AGO, as Gujarat seized the national imagination in India, with Narendra Modi touting it as a model to emulate while he went from ruling the state
www.himalmag.com
January 12, 2026 at 12:50 PM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
Elsewhere in Southasia.
News roundup for the week of January 5. Sign up for Southasia Weekly, your radar on the region - https://www.himalmag.com/newsletters
January 12, 2026 at 6:20 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
In this clip from the bonus episode of "Saffron Siege", Tanika Sarkar comments on how the RSS used interpersonal interactions as a substitute for a structural critique of caste, untouchability and anti-caste movements. #RSS #India #SaffronSiege
January 11, 2026 at 11:48 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
The true safeguards for the military in Myanmar's election are political. They are not to be found at the polling station, but in all that the military has done to re-engineer politics beforehand. https://www.himalmag.com/politics/myanmar-election-military-junta-nld
Fear and loathing greet Myanmar’s unfree election
Fear and loathing greet Myanmar’s unfree election
www.himalmag.com
January 10, 2026 at 11:30 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
Reporting on domestic abuse raises difficult questions about access, safety, and silence.

In Footnotes, Leena Reghunath talks to Romita Saluja about “The woman in the bathroom” and what went into telling this story.
Watch: https://youtu.be/kAFGBBI5oEM
January 10, 2026 at 5:00 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
Southasia weekly curated by our senior editor Raisa Wickrematunge is coming out with its 100th issue! Subscribe to the newsletter here : https://www.himalmag.com/newsletters
January 9, 2026 at 11:45 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
Read more about the continued impunity around attacks on journalists in Sri Lanka, including murders and enforced disappearances in our collaborative series with FMMSriLanka: https://www.himalmag.com/politics/sri-lanka-black-january-journalist-attacks
Sri Lanka’s Black January: Impunity and attacks on journalists
Sri Lanka’s Black January: Impunity and attacks on journalists
www.himalmag.com
January 8, 2026 at 5:28 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
Leena Gita Reghunath, Managing Editor of Himal Southasian talks to Romita Saluja about the story behind 'The woman in the bathroom' in our new segment - Footnotes.
January 8, 2026 at 5:22 AM
himalsouthasian.bsky.social
In the 17 years since my uncle’s death I have seen the crowds gathering at his grave every January grow and shrink. There has been little movement towards uncovering answers.
https://www.himalmag.com/politics/sri-lanka-journalism-lasantha-wickrematunge
Anatomy of a murder investigation – the Lasantha Wickrematunge case
The delays, denials and obfuscations in the investigation into the Sri Lankan editor’s murder reveals continued impunity around the killing of journalists in Sri Lanka
www.himalmag.com
January 8, 2026 at 5:21 AM